view raw text
Here and There i on the Turf • Omahas Victory Pleases Amer- ! icans Woodward Wishes to Show I | English i i Two -Year-Old Special Seems I Appropriate t Dark Hope Is Durable Star » Jamaicas closing, with its double stakes program, running of the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico, Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs and King Philip Handicap at Narra-gansett Park, attracted much interest among American racing enthusiasts, but probably not so much as Omahas victory in the Victor Wild Stakes in England after , the news of it had been broadcast in this country. Omaha had proved a good three- | year-old champion in this country and his l invasion of England has been followed with much attention and now that he has demonstrated that he can run well under I English conditions, William Woodwards ! four-year-old will be a Yankee favorite to ! capture the Ascot Gold Cup, the principal race in England for older horses. His vie-tory in the Victor Wild Stakes was at a , mile and a half at Kempton Park and demonstrated that Omaha could race to his form. He evidently had trained well for the engagement as he was installed an odds-on favorite. Woodward, chairman of The Jockey Club, is an American leader in the fight for the repeal of the Jersey Act, designed to prevent registration of certain American-bred horses from the English Stud Book. The I New York banker and sportsman, who has raced a modest stable in England for quite a few years, has been very anxious during the past few years to prove to the English that good horses are bred in this country. That is the principal reason why he shipped Omaha to England, although the son of Gallant Fox had greater financial opportunities here. Omaha is not eligible to the English Stud Book, which is another reason why Woodward is especially anxious for him to be a great success in England. Winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Classic in this country, Omaha evidently has fathomed English turf racing as well as becoming thoroughly acclimated and also has overcome the injury which forced his retirement late last summer. The season has arrived when some enterprising promoter such as Walter OHara, of Narragansett Park offers a sizable purse for a special event featuring the sensational two-year-olds Airflame, Planetoid and Goldey F. A match between Airflame and Planetoid would be interesting if to determine nothing more than which is the best of Ariels get. Goldey F. has sort of taken the play from the two Ariel youngsters with her string of eight straight victories, the latest of which was in the Rosedale Stakes at Jamaica Saturday. Alfred Vanderbilt had trained Airflame for the Aberdeen Stakes, Havre de Graces spring attraction fpr two-year-olds, ~nd then decided to place his hopes in two other members of his large establishment but they were unable to match the speed of the daughter of Tall Timber and Naharanna, which Mrs. W. A. Bridges obtained for 50 as a yearling last fall. She Continued on twenty-eighth pcge. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. has followed that triumph with her Rosedale success. Airflame and Planetoid also are undefeated but the Vanderbilt colt has raced only j four times and the latter filly, which J. T. ! Taylor purchased from Col. Phil Chinn, has • been to the post three times, taking the Jeanne dArc Stakes at Narragansett Park last week. Airflame hasnt raced since he captured Santa Anitas stake offering for two-year-olds. He established a new worlds record for three furlongs while campaigning in the West. It will take important I money to bring Airflame into action, with I the possible exception of the Juvenile Stakes | at Belmont Park. His first important en-I gagement is in the Arlington Futurity and his second is in the Belmont Futurity. His connections are confident he has the class I to account for these races, therefore they | are being careful with him, however, they are willing to send him against any two-year-old in the country if the prize is right. Dark Hope which has been very good to J. W. Y. Martin, young Maryland sportsman, 1 ran the greatest race of his long career in winning the Dixie Handicap, for which he had received a first class preparation from Louis Feustel, developer of Man o War. The seven-year-old Traumer gelding went into the mile and three-sixteenths event with a victory at six furlongs at Havre de Grace and a good workout at a mile and a furlong in him and that was sufficient to make him good enough to equal the track xecord for the distance, which turned back Good Goods, Gallant Mac and the others in the race. Dark Hope has been through many , hard campaigns, racing at six furlongs and i over the longer distances, but he has con-I tinued to be a good horse although not quite a champion. If Feustel can keep him in j the same good shape and he is not compelled to take up crushing imposts, Dark Hope should win other stakes besides the I Dixie before the season is brought to a close.
