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Here and There on the Turf i Progress of Victorian. Dwyer His Next Race. Old Horses in Eclipse. On the Disqualifying Rule. i §. ? Watching Harry Payne Whitneys Vic- I torian canter off with the Brookdale Handicap, at a mile and an eighth, last Saturday would make one wonder just why the son of Whisk Broom II. and Prudery was ever beaten this year. He 1 Mas taking up 117 pounds, which meant : i the giving away of weight as well as age, , and making a fast pace, under restraint : all the way, was at no time extended. There are those who still have an opinion ■ that Victorian is not a stayer. They have attributed his defeat in the Belmont t Stakes to his lack of ability to stay a 1 long route, but, so far as the Belmont t Stakes is concerned, that charge may f not stand up, for the reason that Victorian - was beaten when he had run just t about a mile. He came out of the Belmont - Stakes in no manner distressed, , and surely the manner in which he won 1 both the Shevlin Stakes and the Brook-dale - Handicap, since his Belmont Stakes 3 and his Brooklyn Handicap failures, , made it seem that he would go along all afternoon. The Dwyer Stakes, at a mile and a half, and the Carter Handicap, at seven-eighths, are Victorians remaining engagements at the Aqueduct meeting. In the Dwyer Stakes he will have an opportunity to wipe out the Belmont Stakes s defeat, for he will meet Vito, winner of that rich race for A. H. Cosden. Vito is bred to go along for any distance, being m a son of Negofol and Forever, and, admitting that Victorian did not run within many pounds of his real form in the Belmont Stakes, the Cosden colt proved himself a good one. Some good judges still feel confident that he will defeat Victorian again in the Dwyer Stakes, and just as often as they meet over a , mile and a half or a longer distance, but it Victorian, by the manner in which he redeemed himself in both the Shevlin Stakes and the Brookdale Handicap, will undoubtedly be the public choice over the son of Negofol. It is unfortunate that E. 3. "McLeans Toro is not an eligible to the Dwyer Stakes. He has proved him- 1- = i i I 1 : i , : ■ t 1 t f - t - , 1 - 3 , a s is m a , it he to 1- = self a truly good colt all season and his easy success in the Latonia Derby, over its mile and a half distance, would make him a worthy eligible to the Dwyer Stakes. Incidentally, it must be remembered that this same Toro was only beaten a nod by Victorian in the running of the Preakness Stakes last May at Pimlico. Toro has gone right along with sterling races each time he has been sent to the post and he belongs among the best over rx a considerable distance of ground. There still remains the August racing 1 . at Saratoga Springs and the prospect 2 %. of a meeting between Victorian and 2 3— Reigh Count, which had been hoped for 4 4 in the Belmont Stakes. Should Vito re- 5 peat his Belmont Stakes victory in the c running of the Dwyer Stakes next Sat- 7- urday it will be generally agreed that it is the Cosden colt and not Victorian that Reigh Count will have to meet for 1 ■ the three-year-old championship. 2 3 3 While giving Victorian every credit for 4 a remarkable victory in the running of the Brookdale Handicap, it must be ad- 5 5 mitted that the field opposing him was decidedly below the usual standard for 7 7 such a race. The older horses of the starters were Light Carbine, Sepoy and | 1 Brown Flash, a colt that evidently was at a disadvantage in the going, and one that has not come back to his real form 3 this year. 4 1 3 The older horses this year have not g 6 come back as was hoped and, as a matter 1 7 of fact, the three-year-olds, with a few exceptions, are probably ordinary. Some 1 1 of the older eligibles that were not . 2 brought to the post for the reason that they were not up to such a race, were 2 Crusader, Chance Play, Black Maria, 4 4 Nimba, Valorous, Boot to Boot, Buddy 5 Bauer, Edith Cavell, Display, Sweepster, Chance Shot, Kiev, Osmand and others of c 6 the older division of less reputation. 7 All of these were horses that last year gave promise of making the handicap ] 1 division of 1928 a strong one. But they have failed so far to race up to that promise, while any number of the two- ! year-olds of last year, so rich in promise for another brilliant racing season, have ! not raced up to what was expected. It may be that, as so many calamity- , howlers have said, that the thoroughbred is going back. This year, so far, would make one think so, but a more comfort- ing belief is that 1928 is just, so far, an off year and that we will still breed [ horses the equal or better than any of the old-time heroes of the sport. There ; is good reason why it cannot be accom- plished with a better regulation of the - racing and a pruning down of the big r offerings for horses before they have be-1 " come fully matured. , George Daley, in the World, would have the New York disqualification rule, which eliminates the horse that is punished, changed. He would have the horse set back from first into second place, if f he has only interfered with that runuer, i or from second to third, as the offense 3 demands. That is not new in this country, for r there have been such interpretations of ■ the disqualifications on various race ■ courses. There is no good reason for r such a rule, but with its adoption the 5 stewards should use discretionary f powers as to whether the horse is merely f set back a notch, or eliminated entirely. . The unintentional foul, which the jockey . uses all his skill to avert, might be treated leniently. The rule is that the B horse impeding another shall be disqualified. " If it is purely unintentional 1 and only one horse is impeded, the setting back of one place seems to some to 3 be the just punishment, but unless it is ad judged purely an unintentional foul, It the horse should be eliminated. . "•f Under the rule of setting a horse back k ! one notch, too many riders would be e J prone to "take a chance." If the rider r j knew that he would be placed second In j any event he might readily rough the O J | contending horse in the hope that he e j could escape punishment. He is assured d i j that he will be confirmed in second no 0 I j matter what the ruling. Of course, this I is not meant for some gross crossing or ,r , I r bumping, but some little riding trick that | j is unfair, but not always easy to detect. ]■ ! That is a reason for danger in chang- •" | | ing the existing rule. With the rule of f | j elimination of the offending horse the e j j riders know that a disqualification means is ! I the loss of every part of the purse. The e I rider who "takes a chance" does so with h 1 j [ a full knowledge that if he is caught his :„ 1 « horse receives no part of the money. • v
