view raw text
WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN SARATOGA, Saratoga Springs, N. Y Aug. 24. Nothing but praise greeted Artismos fine performance in Saturdays Grand Union Hotel Stakes, James Cox Bradys homebred Goya n. colt defeating a large field of highly fancied juveniles with apparent ease, and in the fastest time registered by a two-year-old at this meeting. It was too bad that both Mrs. Elizabeth Persons Porter-house and Cain Hoys Turn-to were being reserved for the Hopeful, and their absence from the Grand Union unquestionably made Artismos task the easier, but, make no mistakes about it, this was a brilliant showing, assuring Artismo many friends when he does tangle with the sons of Endeavour II. and Royal Charger on getaway day. As a race, this renewal of the Grand Union was simplicity itself. Sir Boss, always a gun from the gate, cut out all the early running, while Artismo and the Wheatley Stables Quick Lunch were well placed, directly off the pacemaker. At the head of the stretch, Gorman gave Artismo his head, and that was all there was to itthe bay colt by the French sire bounding to the front and winning as his rider pleased, the six furlongs caught in 1:12, last quarter in :25. Before the race, Artismos connections had feared that he might be a trifle "short" for this engagement, just as Porterhouse and Turn-to had undoubtedly been short for their outing in the United States Hotel Stakes. If Artismo was actually not keyed to concert pitch, and if he does show any sensible improvement off Saturdays Grand Union, he will be a tartar to catch in the Hopeful, a contest that now looms as the most exciting of the entire meeting. AAA Artismo came here from New Jersey with good credentials, he having already won a stake at Monmouth from fair company and in fast time. He is the second Artismos Score Enthusiastically Hailed Foreign Sires Give Us Our Best Colts Alerted, The Iron Horse, Returns to Form Jules Schwartz Big Colt Shows Promise stake winner by Goya n. that we have seen this season,-Calumets Arrogate being the other, but of the pair, we strongly incline toward Artismo. The latter is from an excellent dam.Kentucky Flash.having already given Brady the Metropolitan winner, Casemate, an extremely fast horse. When Goya H. was imported to this country a few years ago, he was the subject of considerable attention, and we believe many fine outside mares were sent to him as well as those of his owner, Henry Knight. Despite the advantages that he enjoyed, Goya U. has not, up to the present, justified his advance notices, and horsemen were beginning to make disparging remarks about his get. Artismo, we feel certain, is going to be a big help, and particularly since this colts conformation and style are as praiseworthy as his intense speed. It is worthy of remark that the three outstanding two-year-old colts of the season Porterhouse, Turn-to and now Artismo are all by foreign sires, but if alien blood is predominant in the male line inheritance of our colts, American breeding can still plume itself on our fillies, both George D. Wideners remarkable Evening Out and Main Chance Farms charming roan miss, Incidentally, boasting strictly native pedigrees in tail-male. AAA No result in a long time has given us the pleasure that we derived Saturday from Alerteds convincing score in the mile and a quarter Saratoga Handicap. One of the leaders of the handicap division last season, the Bull Lea five-year-old had yet to win a race when he went to the post, for this fixture on the -week end, but we believe the horsemen who saw him put away Arcave, Kaster and the others will agree with us that Alerted is back in trim, and that he will prove a formidable member of thedivision from here on in. For Saturdays race, Alerted had been treated with unusual generosity by handicapper Campbell, that astute veteran rating the Calumet castof f about 10 pounds under what he would have assigned him in a similar contest late last fall. That revised estimate of Alerteds worth now sure to be revised agahv-was because he had shown very little in a series of engagements at sprinting distances, and, for a while, it appeared as if the arduous campaigning to which he had been subjected over a prolonged period had at last taken its toll. The trouble, we gather, was more temperamental than anything else, and Alerted, who has never been a good work horse, recently had shown signs of becoming sour on racing altogether. He had been fractious and surly when saddled for his preceding engagement here, but we can vouch for it that Alerted was in a thoroughly contented mood before he entered the track Saturday afternoon, where, a few minutes later, his race was as willing as one could possibly ask. AAA Alerteds Saratoga Handicap, from a time point of view, was very much the same as Tom Fools Whitney Stakes and Native Dancers Travers, all three races confirming the opinion that the track is unsually deep and "safe" this season. Conn McCreary, whom we cannot recall riding Alerted previously, fitted the big horse perfectly, rated him immediately off the pace set by Combat Boots and Arcave, and then moving to the leaders with authority and confidence at the three-eighths pole. Even before Alerted assumed the lead midway of the home- Continued on Page Thirty-Nine i : . ! WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight stretch, it was clear or at least we thought it was clear that he was going to win, and, from the furlong pole to the wire, we imagine that McCreary was as busy disguising his mounts a little too evident superiority as anything else. As an individual, Alerted fills the eye. Trainer De-Stefano has him in good flesh, and he is as sound as the day he was foaled. It is all very well for platers to start 80 times in three seasons, but Alerted has done that against the best the American turf has to boast; truly, iron must enter into the constitution of that sturdy frame, that clean under-pinning. Calumet Farm failed to appreciate Alerted, letting him go cheap and before his great merit was in any way evident, and his dam, the John P. Grier mare, Hastily Yours, was also a discard from our premier breeding establishment. As far as Hastily Yours is concerned, it may have been just a lucky "nick," because she has never produced anything else of any account, but be that as it may, in Alerted she gave the great Bull Lea one of his best sons, one of the most enduring i race horses since Exterminator. A. A A. Taking his usual friendly interest in a small stable, Campbell recently suggested to Jules Schwartz that the latter s big three-year-old, Fair Brother, might have a touch of genuine class concealed in his large frame, and that he at least deserved a chance to show how he would fit in good company. Running with a price tag of ,500, Fair Brother had romped here at a mile three weeks ago, and entered on Saturday for twice that figure, he scored again at the same distance, his 1:39 flat being the fastest mile registered at the current meeting. A son of tl.e obscure sire, Wildlife, from the Display mare, Conspicuous, Fair Brother has a very pleasing way of covering the ground, one that ought to recommend him for route racing. In this last engagement, Schwartz promising colt was in front all the way for jockey Hedley Woodhouse, and from the stands it never looked as if he were being menaced. Nevertheless, Woodhouse woke him up several times with the whip, and it may be that the big fellow is inclined to loaf when things are going all his way. Unless we are much mistaken, Schwartz will not again risk Fair Brother in any claiming race, and when the clans reach Belmont Park next week, the colts smooth, space-devouring action will be pitted against the good ones in his di- vision. Stranger things have happened in racing than for this late-developing youngster eventually to prove himself of stake caliber.