The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-22
BIG MATCH RACES SPECIAL INTEREST BEING GEN. TERED IN TROTTERS Lord Derby and Boralma and The Abbott and Boralma Will Meet This Season-Ail Afraid
 of Cresceus.

| or CfeSCeuS.
 The coming season bids fair to be a | bigger one for harness horses than even | last season was, special interest being l centered in match races between the | kingpins of the trotting world. Matches | besween Lord Derby and Boralma and | been made. but so far Mir Ketcham has
 not been able to 'butt' in with Cresceus l The impression is, however, that the 1 reason Mir Ketcham forfeited all his
 dates-including the one at Riverside Park here-was that he wanted to take | his horse home. rest him up until the | opening of the harness season and then l make an effort to get into one of the matches Speaking of the match races during the cmoing season an Eastern paper says;
 One of the llveliest incidents of last winter and spring was that series of much agitated and spectacular match makings between the owner of Boralma (2:OO and The Abbot 2:03 1-4) The rum pus which was created set the trotting world .agog and kept it by the ears for several months, and in the end it was little less than a fiasco.
 None of the $50000 and other matches at first talked of went through. A pe- culiar affair, three-cornered. between Cresceus t2:n2 10, Boraima and Charley Herr 200 was finally arranged" to be trotted at Boston. but when the time came Cnarley Herr had DfORen down and Cresceus so far outclassed Boralma that the latter's owner. T. W. Lawson of Boston, refused to start him. Another match" between Boralma and The Abbot was also finally arranged. to be decided at Lexington, in October. Perhaps 1t might have gone through, but just on its eve Boralma took sick. and it was likewise declared off
 These affairs originated with so much publicity and such flourish of trumpets at the outset, and were marked by so much backing and filling on the part of the interested owners. that they did the sport of harness racing more harm than good. Up to a few days ago it looked as if we might be in for repetition of them, but the present outlook is for some bona fide matches that will be matches.
 Week before last Lawson flung his banner to the breeze in a Boston paper with the following challenge:
 If there Is anyone who has an idea at the present time he owns a horse the equal of Boralma, and thinks so strongly enough to make match now for any thing from $5,O00 to $2O.090, best three in five, 25 per cent. forfeit to be deposited now. 25 per cent. June 1, and the balance on the night before the race. Lord Derby. The Abbot or Cresceus preferred. let him speak up. and if his voice sounds pleas ant. I think we can come to an inter esting agreement; or. better still. If the owners of Cresceus. Lord Derby and The Abbot will get together. I will race one at Hartford for 5000 side, one at Read NIll6 LOT the same amount. ana the tniru at Lexington for the same amount. and if the three combined can win a major ity of the races I to pay them X0,Gh: if not. they to pay me $10,O00. one-half of the gate receipts of each of the three races to go to local charities to he named by the winner or the track association.
 As may be supposed, this was not de- layed in reaching New York. where lives F. E .Smathers, the owner of Lord Derby (2:O6 1-2 and John J. Scannel. the Tammany chieftain who owns The Abbot. Smathers is nothing il not a speculator. a player for high stakes. as he showed at the Boralma party take to the woods by offering to bet $20,000 and then $500O0 that the Lawson crack would not win the Pennsylvania. and very game sportsman as well.
 He proved Johnny n-the-spot by inn mediately posting a forfeit of 5000 for race between Lord Derby and Boratma, naming $20.000 as the sum that he pre- ferred to race for. Scannel also followed suit, with similar forfeit and proposal. Then New York sat down and waited to hear from Boston.
 As no answer came for several days the impression began to gain ground that Lawson had been "buffing. But as last Thursdays dispatches have told, he has come to the scratch and both matches are now officially on
 The Boralma-lIord Derby race will come first. The Boralma-The Abbot race will follow Both are to be trotted be- tween July h and September l, over the tl acks offering tho largest additional purses. Both are to be best three in five heats. Both are to be for $2nWD side The first forfets of S0D side are already up. and the remainder will be posted nt stated periods.
 So far all the prelimnaries have heen businesslike to the last degree. and. barr ing the possible disablement of the horses two of the greatest match races ever trOtted are in sight.
 fba.. rs.in I, t,At cd fc alr dNr the subject of lively speculation. Lex ington is already in the field. but her great meeting does not come until OCto- Der, which. according to the dates named in the conditions. is outside the time lim it Besides. the delaying of such events until late in the season would he unwise on almost every account. So 1t may be put down that the cracks will hardly meet in Kentucky.
 It is only guess. but it is pretty good one that at least one of the big matches will be trotted at Brighton Beach. Last year the greatest match in trotting history, that between Cresceus and The Abf ot came off there. For this the New York Trottng Association put up $l2,000 in cold cash. It is not likely that they will let any rival outbid them on this occasion, especially as both The Abbot and Lord Derby are owned in Gotham, and the big race last year was tremendous financial as well as sport ing success. The Beach's dates next Au- gust are also pat
 One thing at least looks probable. The track that gets either race will probably have to pay at least $l0000 for 1t. This additional sum will bring the amount at stake in each contest to $50.O00-the larg- est ever trotted for. and the largest match races, financially speaking. ever brought off in America by race horses of any description.
 Of course, forecasts of the results are many. They are also very hazardous at such long range. Still it must be said that Lawson. the owner of Boralma, has anything but the long end of it. at least OF paper. and the common remark Is that he is a very game man.
 On the relative form displayed by the three last season, Boralma looks beaten in both matches He and Lord Derby met twice in 1901. and the Derby horse won both races. In the first one. at Hartford, Boralma won two heats and In it both geldings got their present records. As far as it may be judged 2:07 was then apparently Boralma's limit. Lord Derby probably had at least a shade better than 2:06 1-2 in him.
 In the second race, at Readvllle, Lord Derby won off the reel. The time was not quite so fast the best heat being 2;07 1-4 but neither was the track so good. The critics said that both horses were better than they were at Hartford. However that may have been. Lord Der hv won much more impresslvely than be- .Orr and the result seemed 10 definitely settle the class of the two SeldinGs.