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I Here and There on the Turf , : The racing of today marks the opening of the 1930 season in Kentucky and it will give New York its first sport of the year. As usual, the Kentucky season begins at the old Lexington course, while in New York the United Hunts Racing Association will entertain at the Aqueduct course of the Queens County Jockey Club. Many of the horses that campaign through Kentucky have been galloping briskly over the Kentucky Association course for a considerable time and a goodly number of them are horses from one or other of the winter racing points that have been rested up after being returned from the South. Then, of course, it has been the training ground for various of the candidates for the Kentucky Derby. The fact that many Derby eligibles are on hand lends additional interest to the Lex- 3 ington sport and several of them will be t raced during the meeting as an important J part of the conditioning for the main chance i at Churchill Downs later. In New York the racing of the United Hunts Association has long since come to be of big importance in the turf scheme of i that state. Each spring this sporting asso- 1 ciation introduces the racing and each fall it rings the curtain down. I Those who remember the beginning of the 1 United Hunts Racing Association cannot but marvel at its racing importance of the present day. There never was even a remote hope, when the association was first formed, " of its more than paying its way, if indeed that would be possible. It was formed by a : little band of sportsmen and the meetings ; were more in the nature of invitation affairs : than public racing. John McEntee Bowman and his associates have preserved the sporting flavor of the racing, but they have so added to the prizes in both awards and diversified racing -that the sport has a public appeal never expected at the beginning. This racing sport more and more opens the New York season auspiciously and the sport of this afternoon at old Aqueduct gives promise of being up to all the best traditions of the United Hunts Racing Association. Now comes the news that Victorian will not be a starter in the rich Dixie Handicap of the Maryland Jockey Club, to be run at Pimlico April 2S. Thus, it develops that both the first and second horses in the running of -last year will be absentees. Announcement of the withdrawal of Diavolo was made some time ago. The fact that Victorian was in winter training and that he already has the Agua Caliente Handicap, worth almost 00,000 to his credit, made it seem that he would surely start at Pimlico. It was not as though he was being brought out of winter retirement and Victorian appears to be in the best of condition, but the change of campaign has been decided upon and now probably the Grainger Memorial at Churchill Downs on May 24 wiil be the first big objective. But it is probable the big International at Arlington Park in Chicago is one of the chief reasons for going at it slowly with this good horse. It is a race that will decide the campaign of many a good one and indications are it will prove one of the greatest sporting events of the turf year. Already many of the eastern sportsman are shaping a course to show silks in the running and, while the event may not have the International importance that was hope for, there is little doubt ; of its success in bringing together the best - of those in this country. The fact that Victorian will not start in the Dixie means that he will not be seen in action in Maryland this spring. He had been assigned the top weight in the Philadelphia Handicap at Havre de Grace and its Saturday feature offering. That handicap is one calculated to afford some sort of a line on J the Dixie and Joseph McLennan rated the Warm Stable champion at 128 pounds against ; the 123 on Toro and 123 for Jock, the Edward I B. McLean pair. Incidentally, it may so happen that at post t time the Rancocas Stables Donnay will be the top weight for the Philadelphia under r an impost of 114 pounds. This fellow has s been a bit unfortunate in several of his races, but he is another that had plenty of seasoning with a winter campaign, and he will II either be hard and fit for the running, or r stale from the long drilling. It is about time for some of the winter lot it .to train off and become jaded while the time e is at hand when more attention must be paid d to the fresh horses that are coming out of if a long winter rest. That was demonstrated d in a couple of the races at Havre de Grace e Monday when both Gerard and Flimsy, two o of the winners, were making a first appearance - of the year. Of course, in the case of if T - 3 t J i i 1 I 1 " : ; : ; - J I t r s II r it e d of if d e o - of if Flimsy, it was not a truly run race, for only the mistakes of Bejshak on Chlo Boy, which was raced at Bowie, made him finish third instead of first. But Chlo Boy was not raced during the winter months and it was only at Bowie that he returned to competition. The season is still just beginning, and day after day there will come along fresh horses to make life miserable for the winter lor; and day after day they will be shoved out of the picture. Every horse must have a rest season to deliver his best. The first start of the year for Harry Payne . Whitneys Crazy Coot suggests that the New York sportsman may not be as seriously crippled as was at first supposed, by not J having either Whichone or Boojum in the Kentucky Derby. Crazy Coot simply galloped six furlongs at Havre de Grace Tuesday to beat four other of the three-year-olds named for either the Preakness or the Kentucky Derby, and while not one of them may make either "classic," the son of Mad Hatter demonstrated that he has real quality. Crazy Coot was winner of the National Stallion Stakes at Belmont last season and that with its value of more than ?25,000 penalized him for various other juvenile engagements he enjoyed. He was not raced later than June. But in his long "idleness he has grown and developed into a colt of magnificent proportions and this first outing under silks was enough to testify his readiness. It is a question of whether or not he will "go on," but his daddy, Mad Hattei, could "race fast and far and he seems to be the type that would develop into a stayer. It is probable that this fellow will carry the silks in the Preakness, and should he show to advantage in that running it is natural to expect that like Whiskery and Bos-tonian of 1927, he will journey from Baltimore to Louisville after the running. The season is rapidly approaching a time when any interruption in training becomes a serious matter. Horses that are being fitted for one or other of the spring prizes will be more seriously handicapped by any ailment, or weather condition that halts preparation, than would have been the case a week or ten days ago. Anything that disturbs the regular routine of the conditioning is of greater importance each day, as any objective draws near, and the cold snap in the East on Tuesday was deplored by train- ers generally. Most of the trainers at the Long Island courses went along, as far as was possible, but several chose to keep, their horses under shelter and go through with light exercise in that fashion. Health reports are generally favorable and after this season of the year it is not natural to expect that stress of weather will work any really serious harm. Those making ready for both the Preakness, to be run at Pimlico May 9, or the Kentucky Derby, to be run May 17, have progressed nicely at the training grounds and most of them will be shown with the silks up either at Havre de Grace or -Lex- ington before the big objective falls due. This Havre de Grace meeting, which opened Monday, while it is of great im-e portance in its own right, has a program of prizes so arranged that candidates for later important fixtures have profitable op-, portunity for trials. The Philadelphia Handicap, to which 0,000 is added, in addition to its own importance, affords a chance to show" candidates for the Dixie Handicap, of 5,000 added to be run at Pimlico April 2S. It is natural that it should bring out many of the candidates for the big opening feature of the Maryland I Jockey Club and a more profitable condition- ing race could not be devised, Then there is the Chesapeake Stakes, at a L mile and a sixteenth, for the three-year-olds. . It is to be run April 26 and each year t l attracts eligibles that are later seen striving ; for either the Preakness or the Kentucky Derby, the two 0,000 classics. Of course the Havre de Grace meeting would have a great importance without the relation to these later prizes for the Harford Association is particularly liberal in its special fixtures when there is 0,000 added to each of four specials. Besides the Philadelphia Handicap and the Chesapeake Stakes, the other events of this value are the Harford Handicap, at three-quarters, and the Aberdeen at four and a half furlongs for the juveniles. The racing at Havre de Grace is for twelve days and this distribution of prize money is indeed liberal. It is racing that will mark the beginning of the campaign of several of the more important sportsmen and naturally the debut of many of the best horses. It was fine to see Earl Sande back in the saddle at Havre de Grace Monday and it was fine to see the way he was received by the big opening day crowd. From the time he left the paddock with Rockslide until he had reached the starting post he was warmly applauded by the big throng. It was in Maryland "that Sande was, for the only time in his career, most severely punished for a bit of foul riding. It was in Maryland that there was a threat of banishing him forever. Sande handled Rockslide with the same skill that endeared him to the racing public some seasons back, but it was unfortunate that the old "cripple" was not good enough to carry him to victory. Such a result would have made his comeback complete. The applause before the race was all for the rider and there was many a sentimental wager on Rockslide because Sande had the mount, but it was physically impossible to have him winner over the opponents that opposed him. Earl Sande is back in the saddle and when he is properly mounted he will show the skill that put him at the top of the heap. He is a sportsman that will makei his return a real boon to racing. To ride Rockslide he had to take up three pounds overweight, making the weight 115 pounds, but there is plenty of riding opportunity at such a weight and Sande will not want for mounts, whether or not he attaches himself to one of the big racing stables.
