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■ c « €» « Here and There ■ on the Turf t The Latonia Opening. I On Strolling Player. The Widener Amendment. j # It was unfortunate that the going should bo muddy for the Latonia opening on Tuesday. It "was doubly unfortunate that the weather should have been so disagreeable for the opening, but it did not prevent a large crowd from being ; [ out and it was a day that was remarkable for its thrilling finishes. In four of the seven races there came a fighting finish with the leaders closely . lapped at the end. That is the sort of racing that makes one forget any weather discomfort. There is regret that there came a happening on the first day of the meeting that brought about an official investigation, _ but it is commendable that the 1 stewards took prompt action in conducting the investigation. , This all came about in the running of the third race, in which The performance of McComas was so utterly bad that explanations were demanded. This plater raced for T. M. Botts and was ridden by . J. Heupel. There is every assurance that the stewards at Latonia, men of long experience and sterling integrity, will see e to it that there is nothing in the racing s at that meeting to bring the sport into any disrepute. When Admiral Grayson and E. B. Jones s paid 1,000 for Strolling Player in England " last year, they purchased one of the e outstanding two-year-olds of English racing. :" He was thrown out of training and ■ brought to this country, but he was not * turned over to trainer Bob Smith, to be * fitted for a three-year-old campaign of * racing until well along in the winter. It " was late in February before Smith had a a saddle on the colts back. Then when it came to the training, £• Smith soon came to the conclusion that l* he had a good colt, but he also found out xt that the son of Grand Parade — Comedienne i_ was as green as a yearling. He was IS not only utterly ignorant of American u courses, but he had been raced so little le as a two-year-old, he only went to the ie post three times, that he did not seem to t0 know what it was all about. It took a long time to fit such a colt c « ■ t I ; [ . _ 1 , . e s s " e :" ■ * be * of * It " a a £• l* xt i_ IS u le ie to t0 for racing. He had no bad habits, but was just so green that he had to learn all over again. This was apparent in sevefal of his races, but he had shown his trainer enough to convince him that it was only a question of education. Strolling Player is just beginning to come to himself now, as was evidenced by his victory at Belmont Park on Tuesday, and that race, in which he gave away three pounds to as good a colt as Mowlee, eighteen on the scale to Sun For- r, ward, and ten to Sanford, made his performance a good one. 1- 1— Sometime ago trainer Smith predicted 2-the 2— colts lack of racing knowledge might 3 cost many a race, but that ho would take 4— his proper place in the fall. There seems _ 5 to be reason for that prediction now and C c. Strolling Plover will still have an oppor- -_ 7 tunity to prove himself among the good ones. 1— l- During the winter months Joseph E. 2-Widener was responsible for the wiping 3 3 out of the old rule whereby the death of a nominator voided all entries in his 4" I name. It will also be remembered that 5-there 5— has never been any satisfactory 6 * 7 explanation of why such a rule was ever enacted over here. It was an English rule, and still is a rule of the English j turf, that was adopted in this country. 2 2 At this time there is good chance for 3 its also being wiped out in England, and 4 4. the Epsom Derby may be a reason for 5 and 6 6-the changing of the regulation whereby 7 7 the death of an owner at once greatly reduced the value of all his thorough- 1 breds possessing any future engage- 2 2 ments. 3 The application of the rule to the Epsom Derby is in the entry of Captain 4 G. P. Goughs Royal Minstrel. At this -time Captain Gough is after big game in G G Africa and he has not been heard from for so long that it is entirely possible that he has been killed or has died from 1 some other cause. If such is the case, under the English rule, Royal Minstrel was not eligible to start and should it be J proved that his owner was not alive at 4 4 the time of the running of the race, it would bring about complications in the 7 permitting of an ineligible to go to the post. It is known that for a considerable time several English turfmen have advo- cated the wiping out of this rule and this uncertainty as to Captain Gough seems ! to be a good time to bring up the ques- tion. The American turf has been conducted ; under rules taken from the British turf [ ; in all the fundamentals, but the time is coming when the English turfmen and I the English turf can learn from the ; ] Americans and the American turf. Sporting Blood, Bud Fishers ten-year- old son of Fair Play and the Rock Sand ■ mare Felicity, is surely making his mark t this year as a progenitor of swift-running two-year-olds. Up to June 1 this good I young stock horse had sent seven two- year old winners to the post. These are Take Your Time, Mount Logan, Maidens j Choice, Gangster, Glee Club, Altimeter, and Gilded Youth. This is something of a record so early T in the year and, before the end of the - year, Sporting Blood is sure to add ma- - terially to his fame. Add there is every reason why Sporting Blood should make e good. He is a son of Fair Play and rl Felicity, a daughter of Rock Sand, and thus he is closely related to Man o War, for Samuel D. Riddles champion is by t Fair Play and Mahubah, his dam was S also a Rock Sand mare. The moving of Mr. Fishers breeding g farm to the state of New York should be! of vast interest and with such a stallion n I I as Sporting Blood there is every reason n to expect that there will come new importance l" to the state as the native heath of the thoroughbred horse.
