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GOOD HARVEST VICTOR Furnishes Big Surprise in Carrying Off Metropolitan Handicap. ♦ Whopper Second and Singing Wood Third; Sation Unplaced — Upset in Fashion Stakes Also. ♦ NEW YORK, N. Y., May 16.— Before a crowd of 17,500 at big Belmont Park this afternoon, Alfred G. Vanderbilts Epinard gelding Good Harvest was winner of the Metropolitan Handicap. It was a remarkable running of the old handicap with a net value of ,650 to the winner and the four-year-old was in well under 107 pounds. Hal I Price Headleys Whopper took second place, and closely after the Vanderbilt gelding came John Hay Whitneys Singing Wood, I followed by Clang and Sation. This was one of many upsets during the afternoon, for Sation was the choice, while as good as 10 to 1 was laid against the winner and his stablemate, Identify. The Fashion Stakes brought an upset when Swiftply was beaten by Apogee and Amagansett, favorite for the Internationa Steeplechase, also went down to defeat. There was an unnatural chill in the air. but otherwise conditions were ideal for the best program thus far offered by the Westchester Association this season. In the Metropolitan it was Identify that forced the pace for the benefit of Good Harvest, and he played his part magnificently when he carried the field along for a first half mile in :46,;, and the six furlongs in 1:11, while the final time for the mile was 1:36 %. Identify had left the post running from his outside position, and he was soon clear. Cycle and Whopper were heading the others, while Sation, finding ample racing room on the inside, soon moved to a contending position, and Clang was running freely outside of these. At that stage of the running Good Continued on twenty-sixth page. i J , | j | I i ■ 1 i : 1 j i ! i j I 1 , i ! 1 i | | i i , I 1 | i I I ! ; iGOOD HARVEST VICTOR •a6vd isxxf uioif panuifuoQ Harvest was last of the field, but they were all in such close order it was a small handicap. Rounding from the back stretch Whopper moved up to challenge Identify, and then came Sation, but the Widener sprinter was holding to his rail position and he had not been asked for his best by Wright. For an instant it seemed that Whopper would run down Identify, but the son of Man o War held to his lead all around the big turn and into the stretch. There Wright came out from the rail with Sation and the big fellow was shuffled about a bit and forced to lose ground as he tried for an opening. Singing Wood was moving up back of Clang and he soon had the invader from the j I Middle West headed. Good Harvest was making up ground rap- ! idly and in the final furlong it was a real j i horse race. Whopper had Identify headed, j j but just as Wright made his move with Sa- I I tiou-. the son of Galetian was bumped and i I then so securely bottled up he had no chance to come through. Singing Wood was giving his best and could not run down Whopper, I I then Good Harvest swept through on the i ! . inside with a great burst of speed to draw j out and win by two lengths. I Whopper had saved second place by a length and Singing Wood was a neck before , ] Clang. The unfortunate Sation followed these and Identify, the pacemaker, was | I another head away. King Saxon had never been a really serious contender and he quit [ i badly, as did Cycle, which finished last of the company. Apogee, racing for her breeder, Hal Price i Headley, was a surprise winner of the Fash- 1 ion Stakes, the four and a half furlongs | j dash for juvenile fillies that carried a net ! value of ,850 to the winner. It was only j the second start for this miss and she took the measure of a good one when she led home A. G. Vanderbilts Swiftply and well I J back of them, William Duponts Manatella j I saved third from Dizzy Dame, H. W. Max- well starter. I I An accident occurred in the running when the Wheatley Stables Drawbridge stumbled and unseated her rider after the break. j [ Fortunately, Merritt, who had the mount, J | escaped injury in the mishap. First of the three features of the big day of sport was the International Steeplechase Handicap, over the short course. This, which had a net value of ,635 to the winner, saw H. R. Bains Rock Lad the winner under an able ride by Paul McGinnis, with I Snap Back, from the Sanford Stud Farm Stables taking second place, while F. Am- I brose Clarks Birmingham was third over Hurry Harry, his stablemate, and then came Thomas Hitchcocks Amagansett, the favor-ite , and winner of the same prize last year, j 1 An excuse could be found for this fellow i when he never fully recovered from a mistake he made at the water when he tarrowly missed going down with Rigan , [cKinney, the amateur. Snap Back was the one to cut out -the pace. He stepped to the front in the first quarter and, racing smoothly and jumping well, he was not headed until two fences from the finish. There Rock Lad, which I | had been reserved back of the pace, moved up with a rush and once in front he was not I , afterward seriously threatened to be win- j ner by five lengths. Snap Back, after being headed, hung on I with excellent courage to beat Birming- | ham two lengths for second place. The opening race of the big program, a five furlongs dash through the Widener course, for juveniles, brought one of the thrills of the day when Miss A. Pendergasts Half Time, and Rockwood, from the Mae-mere Farm Stable, crossed the line so closely lapped that a photograph was called for. The camera showed Half Time winner as the race had been called, and John H. Whitneys Danger Point was six lengths heck of the battling pair, taking third from Company, with Clarion Call the only other starter. It was realy a two-horse race. Early in the action Half Time took command and was under restraint until well inside the final furlong. There Rockwood was gaining so strongly that Yager went to the whip, and Half Time, improving his pace, stuck it out to be winner by what seemed to be a neck, despite the fact that a photo was called for. H. J. "Dick" Thompson saddled his first winner of the meeting for Col. Edward R. I Bradley when he sent out Bonnie Lois in I the first of two seven furlongs dashes for maidens. The daughter of Blue Larkspur, by a determined rush through the stretch, led home A. G. Vanderbilts Spank, and William Woodwards Merry Pete, an odds-on choice for the running, beat Discourse, another Van- j derbilt starter, for third. The sixth was a mile and sixteenth han- j dicap for those of class B, and it brought a good finish with Lois Strubes Rust earning a close decision over Mrs. William Ziegler, Jr.s Esposa, and it saw the defeat of another choice when Microphone failed to be in the first three, being beaten for third by Mrs. W. Plunkett Stewarts Chance Ray. In a ding-dong finish, the fillies fought it out and Rust proved the gamer to be over the line winner by a neck. In that final furlong Microphone quit so badly that Chance Ray, coming with a determined charge, ran over the tired pacemaker to be third by two lengths but he was three lengths away from Esposa. The final race of the day was the second seven furlongs dash for maidens and a split of the fourth race. This went to Katherine E. Hitts Rowes Crump, with A. G. Vanderbilts Dainger. Lewis racing to the place, and Frank Browns Ironbound closed a big gap to beat Samakov for third.
