The San Francisco call., 1898-01-01
TURF GOSSIP.
 OF THE PAST FEW DAYS.

It would indeed be a. treat to attend a
 sale of yearlings where every sale was a
 bona-fide one. Anent the recent Maodon- ough sale of St. Carlo youngsters, where the high average of nearly 5000 was set for the eleven head. the get of this prom
 ising young sire disposed of, it is now
 gossiped about that the sale was pad ded one; that several of those which
 brought phenomenally big prices have been simply Harmed out'-a common
 practice resorted to nowadays-and that a major portionoof their winnings on the turf, if they prove successful,9 will ind its way back to the breeder. Breeders Ill
 this part of the Country are very apt to prize horsehesh too highly. Ii a product of their establishment happens to turn out a crack colt or lilly, as the case may
 be, they expect every yearling offered for sale by them the coming spring: to
 bring fabulous figure when led into. the sale ring. Then, too, most of the yearlingS these times have been. tried before being catalogueds for the market, and prospective purchasers on the inside receive the straight tip. The green one in the business is accorded the privilege of bidding on those supposed to be. a minus quantity The Baldwin sale: some days ago, was a hZZle, and there IS mo reason why it should have been. other wise. The yearlings shown were for the greater part the get Of untrled oH uni successful Sires. They were led into the ring and acted like old campa1SnerS' Of the selling turf, put up at auc1ton after having won, race. People like ito. .specu- late on the uncertain, where. one Is: as apt to get a Hamburg or a Ben Brush as an october Derby cdndid&tey~' and when, breeders become aware Of. tnlS 1aCt there will be more competitt!S bidding and they will obtain a better general average for their yeariingS: .~'*
 The work of Starter Caldwell at: the previous Ingleside meeting was of the phenomenal sort. It was snappy- and keenly relished by all. But the sa nle can not be said of his handling: of the gate since the opening of the meeting: now in progress. Not satisfied with letting well enough alone and compelling the boys to line their mounts ID at the barrier as on former occasions, the Prince has cried those half-running starts. again.: The result is that his deftness with fife lever has been marred by a ragged fringe, neither appreciated by bookmakers. nor
 It seems that Fred Mossomi. :formerly in the employ of the Messrs.. L. $. and w. r. Thompson, will train: Marcus Dalys Western string the coming year. Last season from all accounts much Jealousy existed between the different Daly trainers, Campbell and0 Moran, which all worked to the detriment of the stables success. Trouble was further augmented, it is said, by myriads of -.'1nockers,' as tale-bearers: are now designated, each with tale .of~.woe to pour into the ear of the Celtic master of Bitter Root. =:
 
 racetrack. Opium yarns are .as plentiful as f1eaS in sand lot. After every big stake race and nearly every close finish pOSt-mOrtemS go floating around, and here is the coroner's verdict on the Buckwa-The Roman-OriInar finish on Thursday, which goes as it fell from the limb The story goes that Ed Purser, to throw the ring-trudgers off, made several goOd-siZed bets openly. on his horse .Buckwa, and that quietly a commissioner of. the tall New Yorker making TOnndS nlnpginp n Roman That when .BuckWa fell back in the stretch below the paddock Martin let him do So intentionally, but that sud- denly perceiVlnS Orimar coming like a rocket on the outside and thinking that he was going to capture the plum; Jockey Ben' shook Buckwa up and gained a doubtful decision by a nose. Willie Martin is d past master in the saddle and no doubt comes in for much unjust criticism. He is a brainy sort of horSeman, riding few races alike, and this fact, no doubt, is what taxes the brain of the inventor. =
 English turf writers now ascribe much -- of Tod Sloan'S success in the saddle to his experience in getting away from the barrier, an art the English jockeys are yet deficient in. The first one in this country to discover that the Australian was not impregnable was Henry Shields. When the barrier was an early conner here, Shields invariably got his mount away Tn advance Of the others, and Sloan, not slow to perceive the trick, quickly caught on and took his mount back a length or so, with the result that he was very often noted in the form book as away first. This is not the only caper probably that Tod showed his cousins across the pond, for he went over with a carpetbag full of them. At last we have Pa Daly's redoubtable lightweight Master c Cv.lflo. %. =
 lie arrived Thursday night and is de- scribed as being as cool as an iceberg on the back of horse, and able to finish with the best of 'em. He can ride at 6S pounds unless Thanksgiving turkey has increased his avoirdupois.
 One thing can be said of the steeple- chase course at Ingleside if nothing else. It Is increasing the number of patients in the different hospitals. Two or three riders are walking about with their faces looking as though they had made ter rihc slide to third during the progress of a ball game, and one or two others are laid up. The latest addition to this latter brigade is Martinus, who had his knee cap fractured While, exercising Veroqua yesterday. He will be laid up for some weeks. It is a dangerous game and is