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EPJH Hi, "iandiil ■■ COL. E. R. BRADLEY— Bred and raced the great mare Bit of White, who could both sprint and stay with the best members of the opposite sex. ♦— Ireflections I By Nelson Dunstan J Augury Likened to Mares of Old Gives Opposite Sex Real Tussles NEW YORK, N. Y., May 6. Rare indeed are some mares, such as Augury, who can go out and give stern i battle to members of the opposite sex. Last Saturday in the Jamaica Handicap this , hard-hitting McCarthy colorbearer was beaten but a neck by Overdrawn, and behind t her were Bull Reigh, Birch Rod, Cant Wait, Potranco, Doubt Not, Parasang, Speed | to Spare, Zacatine and Dispose. She is about the nearest one around to those fillies and mares who, in the olden days, held their own with horses and colts. Last vear. for instance, the best members of the weaker sex were Petrify, Level Best, Imperative, Misty Isle, Fairy Chant and Dori-mar. Yet, the last named was the only one to win in outstanding fashion from members of the opposite sex. That was in the one and three-quarters miles Saratoga Cup, which she won with Fenelon in the beaten field. Incidents such as that are few and far between, however, and why that should be is a question that has drawn many comments, but few explanations. Regret, for the ten thousandth time, was "the only filly to win the Derby," but in this case it is true no filly has emulated her feat since — nor, again, did any of her sex before her. Mata Hari and Nellie Flag were good fillies, but neither was good enough to cope with the colts in their respective Derby renewals. In recent years Top Flight and Princess Doreen were above the average of their sex. But, like Mata Hari and Nellie Flag, neither was capable of defeating colts with any degree of consistency. As a two-year-old, Top Flight was unbeaten, but while it is true that the colts of her year were a mediocre lot, it is also true that in her first start as a three-year-old she demonstrated she was no longer a match for them. Princess Doreen was a big filly with a world of speed, but she was never quite equal to coping with the best of the opposite sex. From 1913 to 1928 a good group of fillies campaigned against colts and horses — and won on occasions. Some of them were Regret, Embroidery, Bit of White, Edith Cavell, Bateau, Race Mares of Bygone Days Tough Battled Hard for Their Victories e I t r ! • j ! I i ; | I I I , J I ■ j Black Maria and Nimba. Regrets Derby victory has often drawn the com- ment "she beat nothing." But it remains she performed a feat no filly has been able to duplicate, and it also remains that she was a better racer than credited with being. Undefeated as a two-year-old, she won the Derby at three and later finished second to her stableniate, Borrow, who had to break the worlds record in the Brooklyn Handicap, at nine furlongs, to defeat her. Behind her was such a shifty and tough racer as Old Rosebud. Regret was no such racer over a distance of ground as Embroidery or Cleopatra. In all, Embroidery ran 17 races, including the two-mile St. Leger Handicap, which she won twice. Cleopatra was no match for Exterminator in the Saratoga Cup, but in the Latonia Championship she defeated On Watch, Damask, John P. Grier and Best Pal, and in so doing established a new record of 2:56% for one and three-quar-• ters miles. Col. E. R. Bradleys Bit of White was a mare that could both sprint and stay. She won the Louisville Cup at three and at four finished second to Mad Hatter in The Jockey Club Cup, with Pillory, the Preakness and Belmont winner of that year, behind her. She went to Canada to run second in the Ontario Jockey Club Cup at two and one-quarter miles. Bit of White had more than a touch of class. Yet, of all the mares racing in that period, there is hardly a doubt that when it came to running over a distance of ground Edith Cavell was the best of her sex; that Bateau could take on the toughest of the opposite sex; that Black Maria was an eagle-bird up to 10 furlongs, and that Nimba was the best of her sex in her particular years. In the Metropolitan, Nimba defeated Chance Shot, Scapa Flow and Chance Play, and in the year before Black Maria beat Osmand. Good as that group was, they cannot compare to the mares that raced on the American turf prior to 1910. To name but a few — Artful, Beldame, Imp, Los Angeles, Y. O. Tambien, Running Water and Gunfire. Veterans stoutly maintain Artful is deserving of high rating on any list of Americas greatest horses, regardless of sex. The records show that Artful was defeated twice, but fail to show that those defeats were registered by stablemates the owner had "declared to win with" and whom she could have tow-roped. In the Futurity she trounced Tradition, Sysonby and Tanya, a trio who had never known defeat. Sysonby never met defeat before or after and is generally regarded as one of the three best American racers of all time. Beldame was undoubtedly one of the hardest hitting fillies of her years and even though she raced against the best was out of the money but four times in 31 starts. Imp, "The Coal Black Lady," was out of the money 45 times, but she started in 171 races, to win 62. Those mares had to fight for every purse and they had to fight the toughest colts and horses of their years. Los Angeles started 110 times and although she w*»u 48 earned but 7,416. While Artful and others have their supporters, the majority of experts have ; named Miss Woodford as the greatest American race mare of all time. In winning 37 of her 48 starts and but twice out of the money, this remarkable daughter of [Billet raced the toughest of the opposite sex back in the 80s. It seems the farther we i go back the better the mares raced against the males, and it holds good with sprinters as well as stayers. Fifty years ago good race mares seemed to be the accepted thing, but today we hold one who can give the colts and horses a tussle as something of a wonder. We have heard different explanations, but wonder if any of them really have the answer. Naturally, the weaker sex have fewer opportunities, and, as one fan expressed it, "baseball pitchers are usually bad batters, for the reason that they do not get in as many games as players of other positions. It is the same with fillies and mares, who do not get as many opportunities to race as the colts and horses." He may be right, but it seems to us that mares of olden days made their own opportunities by racing against the stronger sex, instead of waiting for one of "fillies and mares" only.
