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BURNING BLAZE THE BEST Outstanding Racer Among 300 Horses in Training at Lexington Track. LEXINGTON, Ky., March 2 There are now about 300 horses in training at the Kentucky Association course, the most of prominence which is, the Shandon Stables Burning Blaze, candidate for the Kentucky Derby. John Partridge has him and eleven others quartered in Jack Bakers barn. Burning Blaze was kept going all winter on the grass at the farm by Gordon Pierce and he is pounds heavier than he was when he went out of training last fall. Trainer Partridge is well pleased with him, since he is doing all that is asked of him thus far. As yet no horse at the local track has gone a mile, the longest distance thus far galloped has been six furlongs and the best time at- that distance was 1:19. This however does not mean that locally trained horses will not be ready for the local meeting, which is to open April 16. They are always ready here when the bugle blows, even when the winters have been severe. Many an old timer who has come up from the south expecting to gather in the shekels can tell of the disappointments they have had in supposing that they would find the horses here backward in their preparation. One of the most improved horses to be seen here is C. C. Van Meters Joey Bibb. This four-year-old is rugged and healthy, and one to put on the tab. Another in the same string is the three-year-old Sophist. This son of Waygood is as sound as a bell and looks the part of a worthy horse. "Do you know," said Mr. Van Meter this morning, "that I had not made up my mind definitely about naming Sophist for the American Derby until after I dreamed a couple of nights ago that I saw him winning very easily the race at Washington Park. Yesterday I got an entry blank and put him into the race." There is a hunch to backers of dreams. If Sophist does win the American Derby, he will go down in history as "the dream horse." No trainer has yet been named for the eastern division of the Warm Stable. The horses for that string are now in training by T. P. Hayes at the local track, but with the understanding that they are to be turned over to some one else later. Mr. Hayes is not going to race in the East. He intends to confine his activities, as usual, to Kentucky and Illinois tracks. The Nut and Epithet are the latest to have joined the string. They were sent in from Dunreath Farm to the Hayes barn yesterday.
