New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-07
THE RACETRACK.
Spring Uork of the Runners at
Local Enclosures.

With the opening Of the BenninEs meeting. which
marks the beginning Of the Eastern racing season.
scarcely three weeks away. and with the season
at least three weeks behind time il is not altogether
to be wondered at that the trainer OF a stable OF
thorouEh5reds, who generally takes his troubles
phiosOpE.CalIy. IS becoming a trihe peevish and
fretful and inclined 20 "cuss the who won't
cuss the weather" Trainers who year ago at
this time were giving their animals stif gallops
OF seven fUrlOngs and a mile are compelled
TO stand by and watch their pupils pick their way
over tracks two feet deep in frost The only sat
isfaction they derive from the situation Is the
knowledge that the weather is impartialy bad. and
that they are all catching it alike. The owners
who have shipped to Benuings IN the hope Of dodg-
ing some Of the tenacious winters wrath have
Jared little better. and only the Southern contn-
gent knows what working weather Is really like
Just at present there is more activity at Graves
end than any of the other local tracks Before
the snow Of yesterday morning changed 70 rain
both the Boulevard and the track were utilized by
trainers to give their strings chance TO get their
feet wet, If nothing more. Newton Bennington
came down 10 see his horses and Fred Burlew,
their trainer. sent out Embarrassment, Hello.
with P7eIbel and brennan is about the only Jockey
at present in the East. rode the hlly Wine
Hello since his two-year-oId form his apparent
Improvement is more marked than any in the Bur-
lew lot. He has furnished out remarkably during
dictons made by his trainer year. Africander,
with Treubel up. took his morning walk on me
Wotan and the three-year-OId FLY SonOma Belle.
now owned oy HaIIy Sochran 5 iatnet' $780,. -,
trainers far more generally than it was formerly
I7ivbt nossfbIy be ex1geerati6n but six workdays
a week are looked upon as sufficient for horse as
BIZ make point Of giving their horses Sunday to
themselves.
The sight OF SoneI the steeplechase Jockey. rid
ing a buck jumping thoroughbred on the Graves
end track blitheIy and unconcernedly as
bronco buster IS proof enough that the steeple-
chase rider is endowed with as many lives as a
cat and IS as hard to kill At the last Bennings
meeting SofeI was thrown IN a steeplechass and
so seriously injured that the ambulance surgeon
announced that he could not live long enough 10 De
taken 10 the nearest hospital For days the jock
eys life hung in the balance but he finally TIL
umphed and had the Joint pleasure Of fooling the
surgeon and reading his own obituary. Yesterday
he was up on the cross country veteran GasparJ
T1iTb TaDettdI tried to pUt him down he failed
sicnaIIy. In company with Colonel Rowe. Gaspar
the open before the rain drove the horses cover.
Softel has quite recovered from the effects OF bis
4Dro1o nos Of the accident which befeII SoffeI some
one once asked well known rider OF the Topping
horse Who had been strewn picturesquely around
the inAeld Of Morris Park 70 explain TO him the
anything about the art Of falling of a horse ex-
claimed the literal minded jockey Indignantly
never fell of a horse in my life when could have
stay ed on
1t IS not thought that the action OF the stewards
OF the Los Angeles meeting IN ruling Arthur Red
fern and mis- father of the track viii interfere with
the Jockeys plans for the coming season or VIII
result in his being kept the ground for any
length Of time. His offence, which consisted OF his
refusal % ride horse after he had accepted an
engagement to ride It, Is not IN itself OF character
20 warrant any such drastic measure, and the BAN
no doubt was intended to apply only to the Los
10 ell ffyr
trouble IS generally placed on Redeem. ST.. and
any sympathy which horsemen may bestow upon
the clever lightweight Jockey is not likely 70 pc e1-
who acts as his agent, and with whom owners and
heir efrGrts to engage the Jockeys services. Il IS
stiu the opinion that Redeem viii do much OF me
of Ills stable bv the way. consisting Of about
dozen horses. and in charge or "Wilhe- Shl s
will SHIPPED to-day to the Gravesend track rom
the winter quarters at Bound Brook. y J.
The recent Death OF Lord Abingdon. the English
racing uobleman from whom the late August Bel
mont bought ST. BIaiss eighteen years ago. recalls
one OF the most sensational as well as the most
i-geufously planned attempts 20 defraud a horse
OF a race lie had won recorded IN the history
Of the turf. a doctored set OF scales was the
medium employed. and that the scheme was not
successful was due 10 the merest accident. The
horse Catch I'm Alive was the intended victim
In 1853 Catch I'm Alive carrying tho colors or
Lord Arlington Ohen Mr.. SturD. won the Cam
from Lord Westmore1and's Merry Hart After the
:-ace an objection lodged with the stewards or
the meeting based on the ground that the rider
OF Catch En- Alive. when he came to weigh out,
could not Ike the proper weight Inc Jockey nrSC
weiehed without whip. and. railing TO make the
weight whip was haRded 70 MN n Waieh US Mds
said TO be the one used BY him IN thS race. ms
barely brought him UP 70 the required figure ana
evs accepting the whip after he had once been
on the scales Tho rider Cf Merry Hart had pre-
on the point OF disuualIfytng Catch En- Alive and
giving the race 10 Merry Hart, when the rider or
Sumrerside, which had finished third stepped on
the scales and was also found shorI or WslgnI
An examination was then made, and II was round
of the weight scale. When this was removed the
Jockeys able to make their correct weight
and the horses were placed az they Inishssd y
large reward was offered Tor Jne apprehension OF
the men who had tempered with the scales. but
they were never discovered
The three-year-old FLY Fine Arts. By Hastings
FYdes which was sold ct the Belmont dispersal
sale last year and IS now in the care OF Ed"
Grea~es has recovered from case OF thrush
severe that il threatened permanently TO cripple
her. This common affection or the hoor IS not gens
orally looked upon as IN any way uAIlseTouS, out
when neglected = &c IN the case OF this Hast
ings FLY II IS likely 20 result, In contracted heels
and permanent soreness
"Tcd' Speers who handles z. F. Smathers's tror-
ting horses will try his luck IN a small way on the
running turf this year. and has turned a
col,pIe OF two-year-oid hllles TO Frank Taylor to
train. They are in the same string with McChes-
new Grand Opera. StevedOre and the rest OF Mr.
smathers.s thoroughbred The owner OF McChes-
new, by the way. has not been down TO see his
champion since his return from Europe. The big
red horse Is getting more work than almost any
ont nearly every day He is already hard and fit
and beautifully muscled up.