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- | | I 1 I REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan- Polo Lost Greatest Player Types of Races in Rotation !We Cannot Check System Play Nor Advise About Future Bets NEW YORK. N. Y . April 22. For the last three days we have devoted this column to the so-called "Merritt case." Before we pass on to a few of the lettet. | 1 i that have accumulated during the week, we want to say a belated word about our friend, Tommy Hitchcock, who was killed in a plane crash in England. There were two points about Tommy that always struck us as unusual. In our opinion, he was the greatest polo player that ever I s t r t ; ; i| , [ f j 5 tall e ! , i H FJI j L : y r. I* | o e I I »• j ! •i | o i -1 | | I I a ft ! 1 i 0 I 0 0 0 0 0 0 | lived — that is until the essence of teamwork was involved. To anticipate a teammates strokes is one of the high points of the game. Tommy had no patience with that phase of it. He would tear in, hell bent for leather and with no regard whatsoever for possible injuries. Tommy never hesitated — he would take a powerful cut at the ball and he connected more often than he missed. The second point about him — and one that I have not seen mentioned yet — was his horsemanship. You might compare him to Johnny Adams. He resembled, like Adams, a rodeo rider, but he usually got results. Like his father and mother, he was born to the saddle and sportsmanship was the number one item in his credo. He was one of the most courageous men that ever lived and at 44 he had just as much a zest in the fight for his country as he had when he was 20. A truly fine sportsman has passed from the scene. 62 Nelson Place, Newark, S.J. Gentlemen: — Congratulations an your new designations for the various types of races. Now, would vou please publish a chart of the various types of races, in rotation, as to their class, from the highest type race down to the cheapest. I always thought that stakes were tops and claimers bottom. Have probably been wrong many years — the same as thousands of others. Many handi-cappers I have met do not know the right classes of races in their order. Have been a steady reader of your paper for over thirty years. Sincerely. Thomas Farley. We are very glad to answer the above letter. Times without number we have been questioned regarding the relative importance of the var- ious races run on the American turf. Grouping them roughly, here is our classification — S takes allowance, handicap, weight -for -age, scale weight; overnight — handicaps al-r lowance, weight-for-age. special weights; graded allowance races and graded handicaps; maiden and maiden allowance races; combina-c tion races ; claiming races. It must be remembered that the above classifications are elastic. The imortance of a match race is de-i pendent upon the quality of the contestants; it might overshadow a stake event or it might engage mere platers. The importance of a claim -% ing handicap or stake is dependent upon the quality of the horses as in-s dicated by their entered price. Decatur. Illinois. Dear Mr. Dunstan : — Some two weeks ago, I wrote you at length regarding the system have successfully used for three years. You have not answered my letter and I am writing to ask that if you did receive it, you answer the question I ask. — F. S. L. I did receive the letter, but I must state that it would be next to impossible for me to answer, either in this column or direct, the mail I receive regarding system play. It not only takes a great deal of time, to mull over these systems, but also to give an intelligent answer without trying them. No system can be commented upon until it is checked by actual play. We are sorry to say we do not have time to watch them day by day. Whenever and wherever possible, we are glad to give our ideas. Brooklyn. N. Y. Dear Sir: — We have made a wager on Challenge Me to win the Kens tucky Derby. Would you advise us. now that he has won the Arkansas Derby, to double it up? We are sorry to say, we do not give advice in matters of this kind. We have never made what is known as a "future" bet in our life and we doubt if we ever will. We see little sense, until the running of the Wood, the Chesapeake, the Blue Grass Stakes and the Derby Trial in endeavoring to select a winner of the Churchill Downs classic. If a man wants to make a wild gamble, that is his affair. We have no intention of making our Derby choice until the running of these prep events. Even then we have been known to mis*— and how!
