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Here and There on the Turf Three -Tear-Olds Are Superior Handicap Stars Knocked Over Narragansett Draws Horses Santa Anita to Have Tote All four of the more important tracks operating Saturday offered as the feature attraction a handicap for three-year-olds and older horses, the distance varying from one mile and a sixteenth at Empire City and Detroit to a mile and a quarter at Arlington Park. Rockingham Parks event was at a mile and a furlong. With the exception of the New Hampshire feature, which went to the veteran Man o War gelding, Sea Fox, each of the handicaps was won by a three-year-old. Such superiority of the young horses is not usual, especially before the season has reached the half-way mark, and it is an indication of one of two things — either the handicap division is weak this season or the three-year-olds are above the ordinary. The richest of the several features decided Saturday was the Arlington Handicap, which saw five of the eleven starters being three-year-olds and four of them finishing among the first five. Only the veteran, Watch Him, was able to land in the picture, and he came near to heading the procession. Riskulus won after leading from start to finish under expert rating from Don Meade. To thorough handicappers his triumph was not surprising, as the son of Stimulus, with 108 pounds up, had thirteen pounds off the impos* he carried in the Classic, in which he finished fourth, two lengths back of Hadagal. The latter had only seven pounds off, carrying scale weight of 114 pounds, and was second choice in the wagering. He displayed an excellent effort to finish third, lapped on the two leaders. Continued on eighteenth page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF I Continued from second page. Indian Runner was installed a heavy favorite in the race even though he had never been asked to go the distance, and the only-explanation forthcoming for his failure to be - closer up at the finish was that a mile and one-quarter is a trifle far for him, as he had no excuses in the race other than slight ; interference suffered at the first turn. The other older horses in the race — Marmion, Frank Ormont, Navanod and Inlander — all 1 getting weight on the scale from the three- [ year-olds, were factors at no time during I the race. Featuring the Detroit program was the I Ferndale Handicap, which resulted in a tri- | umph for H. C. Rumages Our Count, a I three-year-old son of Reigh Count and Anita Peabody, which has shown steady improvement since leaving the ownership of Mrs. John Hertz. He had only 95 pounds to carry and under this feather Our Count came from | behind in the stretch to defeat Royal Blunder, Sabula, Mr. Sponge and other older 1 horses. These are hardly handicap horses , of the foremost class, but neither is Our 1 Count a first grade three-year-old. Empire Citys attraction was the Yonkers Handicap and the victor was the Maemere Farm Stables Somebody, a three-year-old son of Chance Shot that was cast off by Joseph E. Widener. Somebody, with 103 pounds up, stood a long drive to defeat the improved Deduce by a head, while other clever older horses in the beaten field were . Halcyon and Faireno. Somebody was coupled with Coequel, another three-year-old, and the entry was installed favorite, which is indication enough that the talent figured this team of younger horses would prevail. While the six-year-old Sea Fox captured the Hampton Cup Handicap at Rockingham, the three-year-old Collateral was the chief contender and giving the winner much weight on the scale. Greyglade and Fleam, the only other members of the younger division in the race and both fillies, were fourth and fifth, respectively, as the older Teralice was third. The field in this event compared very favorably in class with that which contested the Arlington Handicap as among the defeated horses in the mile and a furlong race were Sarada, Dark Winter and Dark Secret. The latter, good enough to defeat Equipoise at level weights • last year, was coupled with Fleam, which won her last ertart at Rockinef-ham in imoressive fashion and the pair was strongly backed. Dark Secret is far from his best form and finished last, while Fleam, under 116 pounds, was unable to make good while giving large concessions on the scale to all of the others. With Equipoise on the sidelines for several weeks to come anyway and Dark Secret, Faireno, Tick On, Burgoo King and Indian Runner unable to uphold the dignity of the older division for one reason or another, the task was delegated to -horses that got into the handicaps under light weight and with the exception of Sea Fox, they could not stave off the bold challenges of the three-year-olds. With Cavalcade dominating the rich events for horses of his age, the remaining three-year-olds, save Peace Chance, have had to go into the handicaps for victories. Discovery won the Brooklyn and now Riskulus, Somebody and Our Count have come along to take races usually won by older horses. The answer seems to be that the older division is weaker than usual and the three-year-olds stronger. With a distribution of 35,600 planned for the twenty-nine day meeting at Narragan-sett Park, the new Rhode Island track should not want for racing material. It has been said that the Narragansett folk expect the betting during the meeting to average well over 00,000 daily and if it does, they will have cause for great rejoicing. However, if the wagering averages 50,000 for the inaugural meeting, the promoters should feel well satisfied. They must not let the success of Rockingham Park give them false hopes. That course started off slowly and Narragansett will do likewise because it is a new track and the public will not have the confidence in the horses until form has been established. This will take nearly half of the meeting. Henry L,. Straus, head of the American Totalizator Company, declares the new tote being installed at Narragansett Park will be ready for operation in time for the opening, even though his concern has had less time to do the job than it had in putting in the machines at Arlington Park, Pimlico and Rockingham. As soon as Straus sees the Narragansett tote in smooth working order, he will head for Los Angeles to see about putting in his all-electrical bet-recording apparatus at Santa Anita Park. Other than Santa Anita, the Straus company has no other contracts to fill,, although the use of the tote is likely to expand still, further next year,
