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r----------------------------t I Here and There on the Turf Evades Three -Year-Old Issue i Campbell Rates Juveniles I ! El Chico Given Minor Edge j ; Believes Inscoelda Best j -.-.a "In the several Experimental Handicaps he has made, John B. Campbell has leaned toward the idea of singling out the colt likely to prove the three-year-old champion, but it seems doubtful he has done so with his ratings of the 1938 youngsters. The weights he has assigned a large group of two-year-old indicate very strongly his idea as to their relative merits on what they have shown rather than what they might develop into in the future. Nevertheless, the official handicapper of The Jockey Club, in a subtle manner, has left a lead or two as to how he thinks the juveniles will fare next season. For example, Campbell has assigned El Chico only 126 pounds in putting the unbeaten son of John P. Grier and La Chica at the head of the list. If he were confident that William Zieglers star would rule the three-year-olds, as he did the two-year-olds, the colts assignment would be more, perhaps 130 pounds, or eight over scale. The Experimental Handicap shows El Chico rated only two pounds above Eight Thirty and Johnstown. To our way of thinking, he certainly was a better colt than that difference in their imposts indicates. Therefore, it would appear Campbell believes El Chico heads into his three-year-old campaign with only a trifle better prospect than the speedy colts respectively in the stables of George D. Widener and William Woodward. At scale weight, Campbell groups Xalapa Clown, Challedon and Porters Mite, all good two-year-old winners, and two pounds below them Volitant and Benefactor, youngsters unable to win an important event, but considered by many better three-year-old prospects than any of those rated above them by The Jockey Club official. A pound under the pair on the scale is Inscoelda, first filly on the list and therefore entitled to leading consideration in her division. As a handicap for two-year-olds on what they have shown, the Experimental is a splendid piece of work, as might be expected from a man of Campbells ability and experience. We have an idea he didnt rate El Chico above the others more than he did because the John P. Grier colt was not raced beyond the six and one-half furlongs distance, although Eight Thirty and Johnstown likewise didnt race farther. Porters Mite was not asked to go a longer route either, nor was Benefactor, but Challedon won the Pimlico Futurity, at a mile and one-sixteenth, and Volitant the Spalding Lowe Jenkins Handicap, at a mile, later losing a narrow decision to Inscoelda in the Walden Handicap over the same distance as the Maryland Jockey Clubs two-year-old classic. Despite his loss to the Woolford Farm filly, the son of Display and Flighty Anna is rated a pound above her. Campbell has not had very good luck in forecasting the three-year-olds in his Experimental Handicap, although the respect for his judgment has not diminished any. The Experimental is supposed to be much like the Free Handicap of England, in which the two-year-olds have the chance to compete the following spring at the weights assigned them the previous autumn. No such race is on the American racing calendar, but tradition has made the Experimental Handicap a consideration of the division anxiously awaited by owners and the public alike. It is regretted that Campbell hasnt followed Continued on twenty-second page.J. . j i 4 t i i I L r t L HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. his former custom of picking the two-year-olds on future promise, even though his results havent been, satisfactory.. The unknown quantity of the Experimental Handicap is Xalapa Clown because, while he won all of his three starts, his lack of engagements prevented him from appearing in any of the outstanding juvenile events. His lone stake appearance was in the Ardsley Handicap, in which he carried level weights with Lovely Night and beat the latter decisively, but the latter was unable to go well against the leaders in his appearance against them. El Chico took , the measure of Eight Thirty a couple of times at Saratoga, Johnstown in the Hopeful and again in the Junior Champion, and brought about Volitants first defeat in the Aqueduct stakes. Challedon never met any of the leaders until the Pimlico Futurity, in which he won at the immediate expense of Third Degree, whose best effort -perhaps was in the Belmont Futurity, in which he was third to Porters Mite and Eight Thirty, or he might have been given a higher position in the Experimental. Porters Mite undoubtedly received his high consideration from his Futurity and Champagne triumphs over the Widener straightaway.
