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Here and There on the Turf I Riding Talent to Concentrate j Two Tracks Get Best Jockeys I j Miami Draws Robertson, Peters j j Longden, Wall Move West j . . 4 Racing in Florida and California during the winter has something on the summertime sport because of the concentration of riding talent. Whereas the outstanding jockeys are scattered to the four corners of the country during the major season except for a few meetings like those at Saratoga and"Belmont Park, they usually assemble at; the two leading points. Several of the better veterans may go to a track like the Fair Grounds, but more often the best apprentices prove the most prominent of the riders at the secondary courses as their opportunities arc so much greater. The outstanding riders naturally may be found in Florida and California because of the more valuable and important stakes and purses which attract the stables to which they are under contract. Both of the leading winter racing points t ill have full complements of topnotch riders during the forthcoming season but numerically Santa Anita may have an edge. Of course, Hialeah Parks partisans will tell you greater class is to be expected in the smaller group of artists expected to do their stuff while circling the tranquil Flamingoes. The coming winter will find two of the Santa Anita stars of 4ast season in Florida and vice versa. Alfred Robertson and Maurice Peters, who made themselves very popular with Southern Californias racing public dur- ing Santa Anitas brief but very successful history, will be found in silks at Tropical and Hialeah Parks for the first time. With the Milky Way stable in winter quarters for a change, Robertson was in a position to make his own selection and he took Miami because, he owns a home there. Peters will be accompanying his employer, the Foxcatcher Farms stable. Deserting the weather and wavesat Miami for Californias more rugged weather are Johnny Longden and Nick Wall. The former will be at Santa Anita because of switching his allegiance from the Wheatley Stable to the expanding Bragg-Hertz-Riley establishment under Don Camerons guidance. Wall is not exactly a complete stranger to California fans as he flew there last winter from Miami to ride a horse called Stagehand in the Santa Anita Handicap, but then as now he is first-string rider for the good stable of William Ziegler, Jr., which was at Hialeah a year ago but is headed west now because of Esposas ambitions regarding the 00,000 handicap. As Robertson and Peters may be expected to do in Florida, Longden and Wall should go well on the course having the Sierra Madre mountains as a backdrop. Fate being what it is. Johnny Gilbert will be at neither place this winter except perhaps for vacation purposes, but Florida racing will sec the return of his brother-in-law, Don Meade. The former E. R. Bradley rider cannot be considered a topnotcher at this time, but if he hasnt lost very much of his knack during his absence from the saddle of several years he should re-establish his position quickly. Meade hasnt lost any of the braggadocio which was a factor in his previous success. Outstanding riders j of previous Florida seasons returning there include, in addition to Arcaro, Wayne Wright, Irving Anderson, Jimmy Stout, Charles Kurtsinger, Johnny Bejshak, Bobby Merritt, "Babe" Hanford and Joe Rosen. Santa Anita perennials likely to do busi- Continued on twenty-third page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. ness at the same old stand are headed by chubby "Sonny" Workman, but also prominently including golf-playing Charlie Cor-bett, Jack Westrope, Harry Richards, Silvio Coucci and George Woolf. In addition to this accomplished group will be several boys who wouldnt be strangers in Miami if they went there, including Charlie Stevenson, Bobby Dotter and Carroll Bierman. The first named made an excellent connection when he replaced Corbett as. the Millsdale-Pelleteri pilot; Dotter is with the promising band handled by Howard Oots and including the good Santa Anita Handicap candidate, Marica, and Bierman has been signed by the fast-growing stable of Louis B. Mayer. Other probable Santa Anita riding stars are Johnny Adams, Al Shelhamer and Les Ba-laski, all familiar figures at Dr. Strubs playhouse. ...
