The evening times., 1896-11-30
RACING IN THE EAST ENDEO
-D1aenllng Meeting Closed the
Sport and Is a Fixture.
WORK FOR THE JOCKEY CLUB
An Effort Will BE Made to Raise
the standard of Older Horses.
Retrogression of ThOroughbredS
Due TO the Eagerness of Owners
to Race TwO-Year-Olds.

Tie close of the Benning meeting on Sat
Irday marked the termination of this year =
racing in the Eastern section. An noffspring,
as il were, of the Jockey Club, the sport 1t
the capital, considering the material at
hand, has been decidedly satisfactory, and
although the balance may not he on the
right side of the ledger, thcrcis every reason
10 expect that Washington viii be a fix
ture.
owners and trainers will now be scattered
ali overthe country. The ma Jority- however,
Will Ia Ike their strings to New Orleans, while
few will cross the Rockies.
George +. Smith, "Pittsbburg Phil, VIII
winter his animals at Morris Park, and not
take them, as has been stated, to San Fran
cisco. The young plunger himself will be
seen on tie Pacific slope, as he. with Jock
eys Taral Sloane and Griffin, Will start
for there next week.
In the meantime the active members of
the Jockey Club Will be busily cnga ged
patching up the rules remodcling some, and
Introducing new mea sureS. a meeting is
to be held at August BelmontS office in
New York city This week, when number
of important alterations will be brought
up for discussion.
Ihc principal questions VIII be the NEST
feasible means of cncoura ging long distance
races, the best inducements that can he Of
fered To maintain the quality Of the cider
divisions, ana the possible benefit that can
accrue from raising the scale for weight
forage races.
40 SAVE THE THoROTGHBREDS.
In speaking Of the different measures,
prominent member said: Some radical
changes are necessary to raise the standard
Of our older horses. For five or SIX years
our ihoroIghhreds have shown dcplo
lack of stamina and bottom. Since the
days of Salvador, Firenzi, Tcnny Kingston,
lougs:rect, Racclaud and rincc Royal our
three, four and five year olds have been
woefully deficient in class. Henry Of Ma
vaTre and Tammany are he only hrightpar-
ticular stars out of the raft OF race horses
that us two ycar-ulds pl omiSCd To lc world
beatcrs
Commence with His IIiehnrsS' year and
Consider how flattcring the prospects were
for David Gideon'S colt and his rivals to
become wonderful three year olds Yet
not single one came within ToULGs Of an
ticipations. Then consider Tomino'S wear.
Real Smashers seemed plentiful a cram
berries, vet out Of the whole bunch only
Henry of Navarro is able To come to the
rescue. Some people think il is the fault
OF the breeders.
This is hardly the solution, as we have
better stations now than ever before. and
no Cne ould Compare those uf ten years
back with those Of today. Yet owners
and breeders like Marcus DAILY, August Bel
mont, A II. and l.. II. Morris and James
X. kecnc have spared no expense to secure
the hest blood III England All the most
fashionable sircs ON The other side have
had trial, so that il cannot he onthe score
of breeding that our older horses are not
what they ought to be.
In short, the only way / can account
for this evident retrogreSsion is the eager
ness of owners TO rush their Youngsters
From the first day of the season to the
last an owner keeps his o-year-old peg
ging away, provided he is able to stand
Oh his pins. Under existing condition one
can hardly blame the owner as two-year-
old is able to win three or four times the
amount he can ing the renal nder of his
career. In the old days when breeders did
Not nurse a nd coddle the foals but let them
rough 1t, we had a harder, sturdier lot Of
animals They did not come to iIa nd early.
but they lasted and conseaue ntly raised the
American turf to an equality with that
OF any other country.
ENGLAND RECOGNIZES THE ERROR
England has discovered that rich two
year-old stakes are endangeriny her thor
oughbreds, and she has promptly taken
steps To countcract the evil by giving big
sums for the older divisions She is con.
tinually adding to the list of stakes. until
now the Jockey Club gives three stakes at
the different meetings at Newmarket worth
$4,000 each; Sandown Park has the Great
Eclipse. worth the sane amount. and Hurst
Park has stepped into the breach with a
$4,000 stake for four and five-year-olds
In 1900.
Every one is now satisfied that the snort
Is en- firmer basis than il ever was be-
fore. The associations under the most do
pressing conditions, succeeded in making
Doth ends more than meet This has made
them confident, and fully appreciate their
responding 10 the wishes of the Jockey
Club by giving more consideration to the