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• — . $ Here and There on the Turf Reigh Count Is Best. Belmont Comes Next. Line Through Preakness. Return of Fairmount. 4- J It may be a bit hazardous to proclaim a three-year-old champion as early in the year as May. There are still " many chances for the best colt at this time of the year being discredited before the end of the racing season. There are still some gruelling experiences that will more thoroughly try any aspirant to the top of the age. The champion must prove himself over the mile and a half route and until that has been done there is always a chance for a revision of the May estimate. Taking all of that into consideration, conviction is forced that Mrs. John Hertz Reigh Count is the one that will have to be bsaten to determine the championship. Starting in only two races this year, the son of Sunreigh and the Count Schomberg mare Contessina has thoroughly proved his superiority over those that have been raced. The manner in which this sterling colt won the Kentucky Derby gives him the undisputed call over all the other three-year-olds that have raced, and it does not appear that there are any others, not yet heard from, that have any more than a remote chance to threaten his throne. Reigh Count was an easy winner in this richest of all the Kentucky Derby renewals. He raced through particularly difficult going and he was at all times master of the situation. The Derby was a truly run race and no real excuse could be offered for any of those that fell before this colt. And taking a line through the Preakness Stakes, which was won by Victorian, also winner of the Withers Stakes, at Belmont Park Saturday, it would appear that Mrs. Hertz* champion holds the Whitney colt perfectly safe. This line is furnished in the fact that E. B. McLeans Toro ran Victorian to a short head in the Preakness Stakes, while in the Derby he was beaten five lengths, and with ease, by Reigh Count. That seems to definitely establish Reigh Counts superiority over the Preakness Stakes winner. As for the others that raced- both at Pimlico and Churchill Downs, there is no chance for comparison, Reigh Count proved himself so much better. And, remember, Toro had no mishaps in the running of the Derby. The surprise to many in the Kentucky Derby was Misstep, which races for Leo J. Marks. This colt was sent along through the deepest going all the way by jockey Garner and through the stretch he hung on with remarkable gameness, though at the end he was soundly beaten. Giving Misstep every credit for his performance, it is still predicted that he will be beaten by Reigh Count, with the same ease, every time the two may meet. Whon trainer Rowe ordered Victorian back to Belmont Park, rather than sending him out to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, it is evident he knew what he was about. The son of Whisk Broom II. had won the richest of the Preakness Stakes renewals, when he took the 0,000 race, and he appeared Tight in line to duplicate the double scored by Sir Barton in 1919. By keeping Victorian at Belmont Park a meeting with Reigh Count was avoided and Victorian had no trouble in adding the Withers Stakes to his list. The Derby had a net value of 5,375 to the winner, but the Withers was worth 2,300 net, without the Reigh Count stumbling block. It is not known that Rowe has any fear of matching Victorian against Mrs. Hertz colt, even after the line furnished by the Preakness Stakes and the Derby, but the mile of the Withers Stakes, this year, surely seemed to be an easier spot than the mile and a quarter of the Kentucky Derby. That made the move seem at least a good business one apart from the sporting importance of the two big events. There will come a chance for the pair to meet in the Belmont Stakes, at a mile and a half, to be decided at Belmont Park June 9. It is a stake race of more venerable age and consequent sporting importance, as well as of greater value than either the Preakness Stakes or the Kentucky Derby, consequently of business importance. Reigh Count will have the Belmont Stakes as his next big objective and, while there are four Whitney eligi-bles to the same great race, Victorian seems the only one that is likely to be chosen for the detail. It would be fitting to have the winner of the Preakness Stakes and the winner of the Kentucky Derby ccme together at Belmont Park on June 9, and the training of both colts has that race in view. It should prove a race of vast importance should only the two be seen under colors at the post. Of course, the Kentucky Derby and the Withers Stakes had an importance in the Saturday racing that completely overshadowed the other races, but there were others of importance. The running of the Keene Memorial Stakes, at Belmont Park, would have attracted much attention had it not been for the Withers Stakes, while the Kings Plate, at Woodbine Park, at least had a great appeal to the Canadians. And talking about venerable age and sporting importance, as far as Canada is concerned, this Kings Plate of the Ontario Jockey Club stands alone. Then there was the Keene Memorial Stakes and the Coligny Steeplechase at Belmont Park. The Keene Memorial Stakes gave some new importance to Harry F. Sinclairs Simba, a swift-running son of Purchase. The Coligny Steeplechase had no particular importance except that it marked the first start of the year for Josoph E. AVideners Fairmount. This magnificent jumping son of Fair Play did not have much opposition, but the race served to demonstrate that he is back again a good horse. The Kings Plate, which is reserved for Canadian-brcds, proved nothing more than a canter for Young Kitty, a three-year-old daughter of Old Koenig, that raced for Frank J. Nolan, the Albany sportsman, some years back. On the easy victory of this miss it would seem that the Sc; gram Stable, for which she races, has such Canadian stake races at its mercy.
