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Here and There on the Turf Victorians Great Race. Rival of Reigh Count. Injury of Derby Winner. Bowies Memorial Stakes. « s While all of those who were fortunate enough to see Mrs. John Hertz Reigh Count splash his way to such a magnificent victory in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs last Saturday name him best of the three-year-olds, there are many who saw Harry Payne Whitneys Victorian in the Withers Stakes, at Belmont Park, who are not willing to admit that Reigh Count is his master. This should make the meeting of the two colts in the Belmont Stakes, at a mile and a half, to be decided June 9, a rare event. What made the performance of Victorian in the Withers Stakes particularly remarkable was the masterly fashion in which he overcame the abundance of sparkling speed in that Withers field. First it was Polydor that went out through the muddy going at an almost unbelievable speed, when he reeled off a first quarter in :23, and a half in :46%. And it was Victorian that was running second at this apparently suicidal pace. Laverne Fator was waiting well back of the two with Mowlee, to reap the benefit of this sprinting pace. When Polydor cracked under the strain, as was inevitable, Fator made his move. He seemed to challenge the Whitney colt at just the time when he must be exhausted from his racing after the flying pacemaker. Mowlee raced up until he was well lapped on the son of Whisk Broom II. and it seemed that he would go on by. It did not seem possible that Victorian could have enough left to withstand such a well-timed challenged, for, after a half in :4G%, through muddy going, the three-quarters mark had been reached in 1:12. But Victorian not only withstood that challenge, but he moved away from the Sinclair colt to come home an easy winner by three lengths. As the race was run it stamped Victorian as rather a remarkable colt, and it was a race to tell more of his speed than the running of the Preakness Stakes. In the Baltimore race he made the pace all the way and stuck it out to beat Toro by a narrow margin, but there was not the terrific early speed in that race that was shown in the Withers Stakes. , Of course, taking a line through Toro, it would make Reigh Count a better colt than Victorian, for while Victorian only beat Toro a matter of inches, Reigh Count beat him five lengths and easily in the Kentucky Derby, but Victorian is a better colt than his Preakness Stakes victory, excellent as it was, would indicate and, giving Reigh Count all he deserves for his great race, he has a worthy rival in the ace of the Whitney string. While there have been assurances that the injuries suffered by Reigh Count, both before and during the running of the Kentucky Derby, are not of a serious nature, anything that happens to the son of Sunreigh is serious at this time. He can ill afford to be thrown out of training with the mile and a half of the Belmont Stakes to be run June 9. Michell has him in rare condition at this time, as was shown by his victory Saturday, but a mile and a half is a test that will search out any lack of condition and any interruption in training might readily bring lack of condition to run a mile and a half. One thing is certain and that is Reigh Count will not be sent to the post in the big race of the Westchester Racing Association if there remains any doubt of his condition on the date of the running. The plans for the campaigning of Mrs. Hertz colt are that he will not dodge any of his big engagements, but these plans also contemplate keeping him an unbeaten champion through the year. There is a firm conviction that he is the champion and will remain the champion to the end of the racing season, but he can only hold his high place by being fit and ready for these engagements as they fall due. Naturally, every effort will be made to bring Reigh Count to the post for the Belmont Stakes. It is little short of a calamity that, at this time, by reason of his injuries, that there is some shadow of doubt whsther it will be possible or not, but if he appears under colors on June 9 it will be assurance enough that, in the opinion of Michell, he is at top form and ready and able to take the measure of Victorian, and any other of the eligibles that may oppose him in that race. There has come an important addition to one of the fall stake races with the increasing of the value of the Gadsden Bryan Memorial Stakes of the Southern Maryland Association, which conducts its racing at Bowie. This is a race named in memory of an associate of James F. OHara in the establishment of Bowie. It is a handicap at a mile and a sixteenth, and a race that has always attracted a field of horses that would not be kept in training so late in November, but for this attraction. It is such races as this memorial that maintains interest into the late fall and they work great good in that way. The Maryland Jockey Club, at Pimlico, always has much to attract the best in the early days of November, and now Mr. OHara and his associates are building up the Bowie book until the best can hardly afford to go into winter retirement until the end of November. This increase in the value of the Gadsden Bryan Memorial Stakes is right along the progressive lines that have marked the Bowie policy. From the beginning this newest of the mile courses in Maryland has been popular and, with its growing popularity and consequent prosperity, there has come a sharing of the prosperity with the horsemen and it is excellent business policy to put on such races as this. No Maryland course, and few in the country, can boast of more ornate or commodious accommodations for racing patrons. The racing track itself has been brought to a condition that makes it one of the best, and there is no longer any surprise when such announcements as the increasing of the value of a stake race is made. It is a habit at Bowie and prosperity is richly deserved. A
