The San Francisco call., 1898-08-23
The Rider Wants to
 Work for Whitney.
HOPES TO GET GOOD MOUNTS
GOSSIP OF THE FUTURITY, TO BE
 RUN TO-DAY.
Australians Do Not Believe in Rac- ing Two-Year-Olds Much-Sad Fate of Banquet, Once a
 Champion.

Dick CIawson of Woodland, Cal, now famous as clever rider of race horses, is trying his utmost to get his contract with Atkin & Lottridge set aside so that he can ride next season for w. C. Whit ney He declares the firm that made contract with him for three years have violated their agreement, and he will at once appeal to have the contract annulled by the Jockey Club. Atkin x Lottridge sublet Clawson's services to Sam c. Hfl- dreth last spring. No wonder ClaWson wants to ride the Whitney-Paget horses, for in the stable is Jean Beraud, Plaudlt, Martha and many other good ones and IL is the intention of MT. Whitney to aoo the best racers next season that money can purchase.
 The race for the Futurfty to-day bids fair to be the most open in the history Of this richest of all two-year-old stake events Tod Sloan and Willie Martin, the best horse-pilots in America will steer the Fleischmann pair, Sir Hubert and pr. Eichberg, and Maher, Clawson, R. Will
 Hams Simms and all the other stars or the pigskin Armament will nave leg up." It Is expected that Autumn will be heavily backed and his chances are fan- clever artists as Sloan and w: Martin in the saddle it is hard to see just now the Fleischmann pair is to be downed' Tor with jockeys that outclass the lot It cer- tainly looks as if half the battle is won, at the least Last year the race was won by L'Alouette, a very ordinary nlly py Kinglike, the mighty Hambury not being eligible to start. This season the best two-year-old yet uncovered, Jean Beraud. is not eligible. However, the field that will line up to-day will far Outshine in racing ability the one that faced the bar Tier in 1897. It is doubtful if the race will ever be torth the sum to the fortunate owner that it was in 1890, when Potomac captured the plum for MT. Belmont, and Masher, his stable companion, was sec ond. The winnings of the pair 1n the is no stake run for in the world worth that amount to-day. The nearest ap- proach to 1t Is the Jockey Club stakes, worth 610,000, and run In England. The Melbourne cup used to have &5000 added and went close to the $60,000 mark couple of times. but the Futrity, for, richness, overshadows any stake race in the world at least, 1t will average up better than
 In Australia the jockey clubs are cut ting off a number of the two-year-old stakes, and set forth the claim that two year-old racing Is injurious rather than beneficial. They will give no race for two year-olds to amount to anything. Ger tainly 1t appears that there Is much larger proportion of sprinters nowadays than ''stayers," and 1t can be laid at the door of excessive two-y -year-old racing and the wolfishness of many turfmen to get their money out quickly, even 1T as leg to stand upon" In California we have youngsters racing in the latter part of January, when majority are not over twenty-two months old and it is fact that cannot be controverted that few of these "early birds" ever catch any worms worth having when they are three years old or upward. The unbeaten race horses, Eclipse and American Eclipse, were not trained until they were five years of age. while Glencoe, EmiliuS and Priam were al- so examples of what can be accomplished with a horse that is allowed to "get its growth before being raced.
 The once-great Banquet, who won over s1O0 900 for M. F. Dwyer in stakes and purses and perhaps three times that sum in bets is having an inglorious and very sad wind-up of his earthly career. He is pulling a hanson cab in London and is Often cursed and probably beaten by his present owner, William Bruggs for whom the poor old hero sometimes does not go fast enough. This is Bruggs comment on the horse:
 "Oh, yes; I bought him at a hoss sale in Cranborne street. He was one of a lot of wornout thoroughbreds that came down from some stables in the North. Yes his names Banquet, all right. though how you come to know 1t puzzles me. They do say he was once crack racer in America. Pity he doesn't show it now. Get up there, you brute. Can't get a decent gallop onto i'm: I'll have to get rid of the beast somehow.
 It seems that M. F. Dwyer lost the ex- champion racer in a selling race at the Newmarket July meeting three years ago, MT Archer securing him. He began to get the slows and they tried to make a Jumper of him-and they tried to make a stand it. Then came racing at little coun- who probably has as much sentiment in his composition as professional heads man. And America has had few better racers than this same Banquet.