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Here and There on the Turf -I 1 Racing at Aurora came to a conclusion with the sport of Saturday and Monday aft- ernoon the real Chicago season will begin at Washington Park. Aurora is adjacent enough to Chicago to be almost considered a Chicago meeting ; it draws its patronage from Chicago, but Washington Park, at Home- wood, is a city course, just as are Hawthorne, Lincoln Fields and Arlington Park. And the opening of Washington Park will see the opening of virtually a new racing ground. True, this Homewood course has been in operation longer than any of the new Chicago courses, but it was idle last year, as far as racing is concerned, and it has been enlarged and beautified until those who remember the original racing ground will be amazed. Col. Winn, a past master in the direction of race aoan se construction, used all his experience and ingenuity and some dollars in this recon- struction of Washington Park and few more beautiful racing grounds can be found in any part of the world. The racing will be in keeping with its surroundings and this real opening of the Chicago season gives great promise for one of the most brilliant seasons of sport ever enjoyed on the Illinois turf. Chicago has attracted horses from New Tork in greater ■sinisM I ■ than ever before and with what is to be offered in the way of prizes there aeems to be every reason to hold these horses at he -st until the beginning of the Saratoga Springs meeting in August. The Washington Park meeting will be followed by that of the new American Jockey Club at Arlington Park and will carry the season into August, that meeting coming to a conclusion August 2, while the racing at Saratoga Springs this year will begin July 29. An evidence of sacrificing victory for weight allowance was had at Belmont Park Friday when Jefferson Livingstons Recreation was beaten by both Arcturus and Safety Pin. As the race was run it was apparent to all who watched the race intelligently that with a stronger and more experienced rider than little Renick in the saddle Recreation would have been an easy winner. Of course she would have been required to take up 112 pounds instead of the 105 she carried by lvas-.ii of Renick being the pilot, but it was an expensive seven pounds. Recreation is a mare of moods and she will not always do her best. That is allowed, but her performance Friday cannot be charged to her moods. She was all over the race course and, while Renick probably did his best, he was a hindrance rather than a help. There have been frequent arguments offered against the excessive allowance of Weight to inexperienced riders. It is right that there should be some allowance to induce the making of jockeys, but when this allowance reaches seven pounds too many trainers are prone to pay scant attention to the skill of the rider in the wild desire to have the horse under a light weight. Every horse should have the best rider available if he has the ghost of a chance for victory. It is not fair to the horse and it surely is not fair to the public. It is hard enough to win races with the best of the riders. Then there is this old idea of obtaining a "price" when a boy of scant experience Is used. Too often that is all that comes out of the race — a "price," but a price that is not collected. When Richard T. Wilsons Sunfire romped home five lengths in front of Sir Harry at Woodbine Friday, in the running of the Toronto Cup Handicap, he scored his first victory of the year. And when the son of Olambala and Sunburst galloped that nine furlongs in 1:51%, he was just a fifth of a second back of the track record made by Golden Sphere away back in 1922. Sunfire had something of a pull in the weights when only required to shoulder 107 pounds, but his race was one to suggest that he is just coming to his best form. A natural stayer, he was much better suited at a mile and an eighth than he was in the mile and a sixteenth, in which he was beaten by Edward Seagrams Sir Harry in the King Edward Gold Cup on Wednesday. That race naturally put a keener edge on the son of Olambala and — with a pound off while Sir Harry took up four pounds — told the tale of his turning the tables on the Seagram campaigner. Sortie and Display were particular disappointments of the Toronto Cup Handicap and. as far as old Display was concerned, it could be charged to his temper. He acted badly at the post and there was no time in the running that the old "iron horse" cut any figure. There seemed to be no good excuse for Sortie except that he did not seem up 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 , 2 ■ 3 4 ■ « 5 • 6 7 • I I i : r to the weight of 120 pounds in the company he was meeting. The last previous appearance of Sortie was in the running of the Pimlico Spring Stakes of a mile and a sixteenth, in which he was winner under 116 pounds. Thursday, after breaking well, he could never improve his position and he was dropping back at the end. Sunfire will probably never be able to take up weight successfully among the good ones, but just now, when properly placed, he is a decidedly useful stayer. I ; i ■ ; : I i
