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f j Here and There on the Turf Reigh Counts Schedule. Fairmount Opens Saturday. American Derby Prospects. Starting Gate Adopted. « ■ € Reigh Count has no engagements at the Aqueduct meeting of the Queens County Jockey Club and he has not been engaged in any of the stakes at James Butlers Empire City Racing Association meeting. Thus it comes about that the Belmont Stakes is the only big chance possessed in the East by the Kentucky Derby winner until the August racing at Saratoga Springs. But through the month of August there will be various opportunities for a meeting between Mrs. Hertz champion and Victorian, if at that time they are still the chief contenders for the three-year-old championship of the year. They have engagements in common in all of the big three-year-old races, and there are sev-. eral of them, while each is named for the Saratoga Cup, Saratoga Handicap and some other of the stake races that are open to three-year-olds and over. As far as Reigh Count is concerned, it is doubtful if he will be started in any of the handicaps, when he has so many other opportunities where he will not be required to give away weight. Of course, he may readily go out of the three-year-old division to have a try for the Saratoga Cup, which is at scale weight. Just now the plan of campaign for the son of Sunreigh and Contessina is to, as far as possible, see that he is not beaten. That, as a matter of fact, is frequently the desired campaign of every trainer, but with Reigh Count this will be carried out to such an extent that he will not be raced unless Miehell is satisfied with his charge in every particular. It does not mean that he will dodge engagements when he is fit to run, but reputation is what is desired even above dollars. Man o War was campaigned in that fashion as a three-year-old, after his unfortunate defeat by Upset, as a two-year-old, and it was a successful campaign. Reigh Count, while he was beaten on various occasions last year, has had at least as auspicious a beginning as a three-year-old as did Man o War in 1920. That year Man o War was the winner of the Preakness Stakes, while Reigh Count has taken the Kentucky Derby. The Preakness Stakes that year had a net value to the winner of 3,000, while this year the Kentucky Derby netted the winner 5,375, so that as far as money earning is concerned, Reigh Count has a better start to become a great money winning three-year-old. It is to be hoped that Reigh Count will stand up and hold his form through the year. He has proved himself worthy of winning a championship already. Another chapter on racing opens Saturday with the meeting of the Fairmount Jockey Club at Collinsville, in Illinois and close to St. Louis. This is a part of the American Racing Association circuit and an important part. The preparations for the meeting promise that it will be the best ever given by the Fairmount Jockey Club. Already the stables are well filled with horses and the reservations will tax the stabling capacity. The opening feature of the meeting is the Collinsville Handicap. This is a three-quarters sprint to which ,000 is added. It attracted a notable list of nominations and there are enough of the eligibles already on hand to make certain that the renewal will be a worthy one. The big event of the meeting is naturally the Fairmount Derby, to be run June 2, and while Reigh Count, winner of the Kentucky Dsrby, will not be a starter, many of those that started against him at Churchill Downs will be seen under colors in the race. It will be the third running of this valuable stake race. In the first running Edward R. Bradleys Bubbling Over, winner of the Kentucky Derby, was not brought to the post, but his stable mate, Bagenbaggage, which ran second, was started and beaten by Joseph E. Wideners Haste. Then last year Mr. Bradleys Buddy Bauer, bsaten in the Kentucky Derby, triumphed over H. P. Whitneys Whiskery, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Coming as it does after the running of the Kentucky Derby, and over the same distance, the Fairmount Derby always has great importance as a second chance for those that started in the Kentucky race. This year it will attract many of the earlier Derby field and it cannot fail to bring about a great contest. First of the big Chicago meetings will get under way at Arlington Park with the meeting of the American National Jockey Club. The beautiful racing ground will throw its gates open for a spring meeting on June 4, to continue until June 24, and the program of stake races will make the meeting one of great importance. It is there that the American Derby will be decided this year. It is at a mile and a quarter, to which 5,000 is added, and while, unfortunately, it is to be run on the same day as the Belmont Stakes, at Bslmont Park, it will bring together a notable number of the three-year-olds that wiil not go after the older and richer race. In value and distance this Derby is similar to the Fairmount Derby, but it has penalties and allowances that will give beaten starters at Collinsville or Churchill Downs some weight advantage. With the Fairmount Derby to be decided on June 2 there is ample chance for a candidate to race there and also at Arlington Heights. The list of nominations contains the names of many of the same horses, and a goodly number of them raced at Churchill Downs. Those that raced against Reigh Count, and are eligible to the American Derby, are Misstep, which was second, Toro, which finished third, as well as Boba-shela, Blackwood, Vito, Jack Higgins, Strolling Player, Typhoon, Reigh Olga, Cartago, Bar None, Don Q., Sortie, Law-ley, Distraction, Charmarten, Petee-Wrack, Sun Beau and Bonivan. Reigh Count is also an eligible, but he will be busy at Belmont Park, racing against Victorian in the Belmont Stakes. Thus it is that the only starters in the Kentucky Derby that are not eligible to the American Derby are Stuyvesant Pea-bodys Martie Flynn and Frederick Johnsons Replevin. And there are various other good ones in the list that are pointing for the big race. The work of the stall starting gate at the Fair Grounds, in New Orleans, last winter, so satisfied Edward R. Bradley that it has been decided to complete the equipment for the racing of next year. This is the Bradley-Stewart gate and probably one of the most elaborate and most expensive of all like devices. An order has been placed for four additional machines, to be erected at different starting points at the Fair Grounds, and it means that the gate will be in general use. There has been much said for and against the stall starting gate, and there are various different machines, all with the stall principle. The gate chosen for the Fair Grounds has been carefully constructed, carefully tried and it has many advantages gained by correcting original defects and profiting by apparent mistakes in the construction of other machines. Mr. Bradley did not reach the decision for the Fair Grounds until there had been almost every experiment made with the gate and not until it came up to every requirement. Undoubtedly before long the stall gate will come into general use. The trend is that way, though there are still many who find fault with all of those that have been shown. The gate to finally be adopted as the best may be the Bradley-Stewart, or some other device, but the mechanical methods of sending horses away has surely made rapid strides during the winter, when it was put into operation both at New Orleans and Tijuana.
