view raw text
------ --t Here and There on the Turf Older Horses Given Better Chances. . Offered Many Richer Purses. -Two-Year-Old Values Drop. Fillies, Mares Overshadowed. . t Not perhaps an indication of the emphasis on the two-year-old racing but rather increasing strength in the three-year-old and handicap divisions is the tabulation of the richest events offered on American tracks during 1938. Altogether forty-six stakes possessed a net value in excess of 0,000 and another may be added to the list on Saturday with the running of the California Breeders Championship Stakes. Considering that Santa Anita Parks inaugural feature has more than 0,000 for its winner, a total of fifteen events for two-year-olds are in this group of richest races. This number is one less each than the number of prizes for three years and in the handicap division also embracing the horses of Derby age. Just a few years ago, the percentage of juvenile stakes in this classification was much greater. Hand in hand with the tremendous expansion of racing during the past few years has been an increase in the number of attractions for older horses and likewise their values, associations rightfully having reached the conclusion that the public would rather see longer races by experienced and therefore better known thoroughbreds than sprints by two-year-olds. This shift favoring the oldsters has taken place despite the fact that racings growth has placed a j strong tax on the juvenile divisions in thatj the youngsters had so many more opportunities to run and win from the first of Janu- ary to the last day of the year. Perhaps our older horses of today, with the rich specials to their credit, couldnt cope with the stars of a few years back when the competition to reach the top was generally considered keener, but be that as it may. Further and more concrete evidence of the newer situation in distribution may be seen in the listing of nine stakes having 0,000 or more for the winner. Only two of them, the Belmont Futurity with 5,000 in added money and the Hopeful with no association endowment, were for the youngsters. The richest, of course, was the Santa Anita Handicap, which with 00,000 in added money, is the most valuable race in the world, second place going to the Futurity although its net value was 7,045. At one time the great Belmont Park dash enjoyed the distinction now attributed to the Los Angeles Turf Club prize, but since depression days its worth declined steadily. Four of the stakes in the ranking group were for three-year-olds, the other handicaps, with three-year-olds winning two of them. The two-year-old division is stronger in the classification of the eleven events ranging in net values from 0,000 to 0,000 with four places, the same number as for the handicap group, with the three-year-olds having the remaining three. One of the two-year-old races, the Pimlico Futurity, at one time was found in the higher brackets and is getting back to that position. In the twenty richest events are a trio of newcomers, all staged at new tracks, the American Invitational Three-Year-Old Championship and Hollywood Gold Cup at the Ingle-wood course and the Seabiscuit-Ligaroti match at Del Mar. Two-year-olds are not so strong in the third classification, that of races valued from 0,000 down to 0,000 as the twenty-seven are equally divided among the three groups. Of particular significance to breeders, who believe fillies are valued too cheaply, is the presence of only five events for lassies among the forty-seven richest races and three of these are for juveniles and two for three-year-olds of the sex. The richest is the Selima which netted 5,890 for Big Hurry when she drove home in front of Inscoelda and Dinner Date, winners of the other two richer juvenile attractions. Not a single stake embracing fillies and mares had a value of more than 0,000, much as breeders and owners would care to see one. Some enterprising association holding autumn dates eventually may offer up a decent purse for the fillies and mares with the expectation of making it a championship affair, but those who most desire it would have to support it in the only manner possible that of pointing their eligibles for the engagement.
