view raw text
H NATHANSON REMINISCES Veteran Turf Official Now Retired Compares Past and Present Suburban of 1897 and Twin Cities Handicap Handicapof of 1885 Stand Out Most Vividly Vividlyin in His Memory Theres more of it but its not quite the same is what Martin Nathanson active in the sport for fortyfour years from the days of winter racing at Roby Ind in 1894 until he retired last year says in retrospect of the thoroughbred sport today todayTo To illustrate a comparison between racing today and that of another year judge Na ¬ thanson said Today we have at the most one or two outstanding horses Johnstown and Challedon shall we say and the rest are ordinary Man o War was probably the outstanding horse of all time but even in his day we had such good ones as Extermina ¬ tor Sun Briar Upset Billy Kelly Sir Barton Purchase Be Frank The Porter and John P Grier While Man o War was a peer among thoroughbreds each of the others was a star of the first water and their names still are fresh in the memories of even present day racegoers racegoersPressed Pressed for an opinion as to what he re ¬ garded as the most significant trend in rac ¬ ing during the past decade judge Nathanson confessed that it was his opinion that racing with some exceptions such as in New Eng ¬ land and California where the sport is still in its infancy has lost some of its popularity People seem to pick their spots when they go racing now said the thin wisp of a man whose word was once law on the race track where in the old days the racing fan went regularly regularlyGREAT GREAT LEVELLER LEVELLERClaiming Claiming races are the greatest leveller the sport has and will last as long as racing ac ¬ cording to this man who turned to officiat ¬ ing in racing after becoming one of the Wests outstanding sports writers while still in his teens as sports editor of the old Chi ¬ cago Herald All the horses bred cant be champions and the big stables like the Woodwards and the Whitneys need claiming races just as much as the little fellows in order to realize something on their invest ¬ ments Claiming races keep horses running where they belong and give everybody a chance chanceContrary Contrary to the usual run of racing offi ¬ cials Nathanson does not regard Earl Sande as the outstanding rider of his day Gal Shilling was the best there was is his reply to the question He had natural ability When he got on a horse he seemed to have been poured into the saddle until he became part of the horse horseLiving Living in comfort surrounded by racing periodicals Nathanson from his suite in a local hotel still keeps track of the sport of which he was so much a part for so many years He can look back on a record of having served on every racing front from California to New England and at just about every racing classic but the Kentucky Derby DerbyOUTSTANDING OUTSTANDING RACES RACESAsked Asked to name the most thrilling race he ever saw he replied that two stood out above all others in his memory The Sub ¬ urban Handicap of 1897 Ben Brush won that race and a miscroscope must have been used to determine who won The Winner that was the horses name was second secondThe The Twin Cities Handicap of 1885 which was run at the old Coney Island track was the other race That was an even more thril ¬ ling race Bersan won over Bob Cook and Katrine wh finished in a dead heat heatOne One of the sporting assignments that Na ¬ thanson had as sports editor of the old Chi ¬ cago Herald which stands out in his mind as vividly as his racing experiences is the Carnival of Champions at New Orleans in which Sullivan lost his title to Corbett I arrived on the scene six weeks before the fight but before Sullivan lost to Corbett the lightweight middleweight and featherweight titles were defended in the ring and it took four nights to run off the program
