Birmingham state herald., 1897-01-10
AN AGREEMENT
Some Kind Should Exist on Turf
 Points on Which There Should fs Be No Differences.

Cincinnati Times-Star.
 Nearly the bulk of the work of the eastern turf writers this winter has been in urging the necessity of the existence of some agreement between the Jockey club and the turf congress. Some go so far as to speak of coalition, but as his been repeatedly pointed out in this column, that is impossible. through the differences of condition existing. There should be some agreement, however. between the two governing bodies. The. spectacle Of seeing a ruled-off jockey like Martin in the saddle is disheartening to lovers of the turf. and there are other affairs that cause equally deep concern that could be avoided by some asreement.i There real ly needs to exist but three points:
 Flrst-That each association shall rec ognize the ruling of the other as to per sons pronounced guilty of fraud or cor rupt practices. 4- .f.al~t 4aH
 Second-As to registration. e'.- |.
 Third-Relating to disqualifications for participation in outlawed meetings.
 It Is useless for the Jockey club to ex- pect an agreement as to the forfsit list. This was what caused the Turf congress to withdraw from the old agreement. There are very few forfeits in the west, nearly all of the stakes being on the cash plan. It would simply entail useless la Dor and trouble to western tracks. for which they would get no return, There would. of course, be an agreement as to jurldiction, but that has already been determined upon by the rules of both bodies and there Is no danger of con flict. Uniformity in the weight scale is to be desired, but it is not vital.
 No man can urge a reason why there should not be an agreement as to the three main points,. No one,surely with the true interests of the sport at heart tO nkc lu GfIY tezd n their attitude of defiance by either of the associations. The same holds good of the outlaw proposition, The registration muddle should be settled. The present system requires a double registration. The Jockey club requires all horses to be registered with it before they can start over Jockey club tracks. The Turf con. gress recognizes only registration with the American Stud Book. This entails useless expense to breeders, and is per pleXing to owners. r., -.-t ,r CT es95s
 It is almost farcical to urge the. neees- sity of an agreement between the two bodies on these points,. for the members of both admit that it should exist.
 A foolish pride Is all that prevents it; neither wants to take the first step to- wards securing an, agreeme mt. ,f5. The Jockey club refuses to do so because 1t believes the Turf congress should make the overture, tha latter body having withdrawn from the former agreement. The congress feel that their pride would suffer fall and they would be put in the position of humbling themselves to the eastern body. And it is just this po- sitton which prevents the bodies from getting together. When one considers that men like Belmont and Keene;. La ? bold Young and Hopper are allowing their false pride to stand in the way of the accomplishment of so, much good he ia surprised. They are. acting Ike chill dren, instead of matured men of affairs. The localy-owned Scotch Plaid stable, otherwise the Hursts. are said to have another cracker-jack 2-year-old to spring on the public next spring. He bears the peculiar name of Berwidere, being by Belvidere out of Lady Hampton. The name is corruption from that of the stable crack, Ben Brown and of hls- sire. The stable is at Louisville, and Trainer Patterson reports his work much better than that of Ben Brown last winter. He is a good-sized and good-lookinga gar colt. Ben Brown has not wintereda well. He has recovered from. his sickness. but the effects have been. disastrous to the colt. He has not .grown,t and will have to be carefully built up before he can be put in training. This will keep him out of the early Derbies at least, a great dis appointment to his admirers, for the colt had such an unquestioned liking for dis tance that his chances were highly thought of. 4 ssfl.,r~, Itlst sas4ss