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Here and There on the Turf Juvenile Stakes Spoiled Fields Should Be Limited Knebelkamp Has Deep Problem Narragarisettf Opens Its Gates 1 In the Washington Park Juvenile Stake at the Homewood course Saturday were 20 juveniles most of them without benefit of much education Because the number of contestants exceeded the limits of the start Ing gate the twoyearolds had to line up without the aid of the apparatus to which they had become accustomed in previous races and in schooling Nearly fourteen minutes elapsed before starter Roy Dick erson had them in alignment good enough to permit a start The break was not per ¬ fect by any means but it was very good con ¬ sidering the conditions under which the offi ¬ cial had to operate Nevertheless some of the youngsters lost all chance of being fac ¬ tors by the crowding which occurred imme di4tely after the start startMuch Much of this jamming would have been eliminated with the customary stall gate in use but not enough to prevent some of the starters from having good excuses why they didnot show to advantage in the race Had a straight course been employed for the Continued on thirtieth page HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page race a more trulyrun contest undoubtedly would have been offered but the public would have been prevented from having a satisfactory view of half of the event As the public is to be considered in all matters pertaining to the sport it is evident that some other change must be made to prevent recurrences of the unsatisfactory situation arising from large fields The best sugges ¬ tion seems to find some way of reducing the fields to only those youngsters which have some chance of victory other than depend ¬ ing on some of the other horses to fall down downOnly Only one means appears worthy of trial That is to raise the starting fee to a sum that will keep out those eligibles which en ¬ joy very little confidence of their connec ¬ tions The starting lee for the Washington Park Juvenile Stakes was 100 so with the value to the winner amounting to 6880 the odds against each contestant was 68 to 1 which is much too great The public would have been happier with a smaller field which was demonstrated by the fact that the mutuel handle on the event was consid ¬ erably lower than on the events immediately preceding and following it A smaller field would have meant a large handle thus pleasing the management and those horse ¬ men having real contenders for the stake would have felt better had their charges had a true chance Perhaps it is significant that of the seven members of the mutuel field only one finished as good as sixth and there were three among the last five C H Knebelkamp the Kentuckian who has become a confirmed metropolitan racing man has under consideration at the mo ¬ ment the problem of whether to start King Saxon in the Brooklyn Handicap at Aque ¬ duct Saturday a race at one mile and a fur ¬ long in which the sensational son of Saxon and Poltova by George Smith would have to carry an impost of 127 pounds By virtue of his victory in the Carter Handicap in which he added 6850 to his already fine earnings for the season King Saxon must take up a penalty of three pounds Knebel ¬ kamp is not so worried about the ability of his charge to carry weight but just how far he can hold up under a high impost He showed himself incapable of doing it in the Suburban Handicap at one mile and a quar ¬ ter but King Saxon has done very well at one mile The Brooklyn is in between these distances distancesThe The Brooklyn field does not promise to be so large which will give William Wood ¬ ward and James Fitzsimmons their chance to start Omaha They have announced that the threeyearold leader would not go in the event if the field was large Cavalcade will not accept the Brooklyn issue because the injuries he received in his mishap in the Suburban have not healed sufficiently to permit hard training so trainer Robert A Smith now must turn his attention to the Detroit Challenge Cup to be run June 29 Cavalcades absence would leave Omaha King Saxon and Identify as the Brooklyn principals Discovery must bow to the last named fouryearold as being the chief rep ¬ resentative of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt but the Display colt will be turning on the heat one of these days and he may do it in the Brooklyn to duplicate his 1934 victory in the event eventRacing Racing in New England today shifts to Narragansett Park where Walter OHara opens a meeting that will run to Saturday July 6 to be followed by the opening of the new Suffolk Downs course OHara has made ambitious plans for his track which is entering upon its second year of opera ¬ tion and with excellent weather prevailing throughout the meeting it should be just as successful as the two terms offered last season Many good horses will be seen un ¬ der colors at Narragansett but not all that the amiable and able Billy Ames has men ¬ tioned in his publicity However the liberal stakes and purse policy of the track has had the effect of drawing ample racing material to the Pawtucket course and its nearness to New York will result in many horses being shipped up for engagements in features
