Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-19
HORSES W|NTER|NG
At BENN|NG TRACK
Local Course Good for Such
Purpose, But Not to
Train.

IRAN.
More than the usual number of thor
oughbreds are wintering at the Benning
track, and ONeil Sewer writes to the New
York Telegraph about them as follows:
Mr.. Madden has at Benning one of the
biggest string he ever wintered and he
says his horses are in eminently salts
factory condition. both as regards general
healthfulness and in respect to their I'M
derpinning. And the other stables quar-
tered at Benning are as we'll off as Mad
denis.
The Benning colony of thoroughbreds
is stronger this winter than usual. Many
horsemen who used to ship farther south
as soon as cold weather set in are af-
fecting the Washington Jockey --ubs
track, and for the purpose of Wlnterlng
horses there is no better place. The
sandy going at Benning rarely freezes.
IL is easily possible to canter and gallop
horses through it all winter. The weather
simetimes becomes a little raw. but the
temperature never attains the frigid cod
ness reached in these ATTITUDES.
Beyond recommending it as winter
Ing place, however little can be said for
Bennlng Mashingtons track is not a
suitable one for actual training and rae
ing. Its sandy going is too deep and too
cuppy for that purpose. Nothing dulls
the speed of racehorSes so much as deep
going. Few horses that train and race at
BenninS in the early spring are of use
hereabouts until they have been rested
and freshened. The failure last spring of
the brilliant Splinter De Mund. who got
at Benning in March and April his prep
aration for early eastern stakes, demon
strated the unfitness of the Washington
Jockey Clubs track for hard training and
racing.
DeMund did not recover from the leg
WEAKNESS and exhaustion occasioned by
his experience at Benning until he reached
Saratoga in August. Salvidere, who gall
loped hard at Benning in the early part
of the season of 1907 in preparation for
the Belmont stakes and other spring en-
gagements, did not develop winning form
until September
Nor We're Salvidere and DeMund the
only horses trained at Benning affected
to their detriment. Roy Rainey's fast
three-year-old Horace E., who raced there
in March. never came to himself.
Madden's Benning String.
Salvidere and Dandelion are the stars
of Madden's string at Benning. The mas
ter of Hamburg Place owns no coming
three-year-olds of the first class. He
sold his cleverest youngsters of last sea-
son to Sam Hildreth-Uncie, at Saratoga
in August, and Meelick at Gravesend in
September Mr.. Madden got $4,000 for
Uncle. who was one of the three great
two-year-oldS of 1907. He did not get so
much for Meelick. but that Planudes colt
is by no means a bad youngster. Uncle
and Meelick are racing at Oakland this
winter, but Hildreth says he will not
run them to death before next spring
The best two-year-olds at Benning in
the Madden string are his own colt, King
James and Francis r. Hitchcock's FLY
Keep Moving, the winner of the Great
Fily stakes at Sheepshead Bay last fall.
Keep Moving is a fast daughter of Yam
kee, but as she was not a first-class two
year-old, it Is highly improbable that she
will develop into anything better than an
ordinary three-year-old.
Madden will bank next season on Dan
delion and Salvidere Dandelion proved
at Gravesend in September, when he de-
feated Running Water in the Oriental
handicap, and made a new record for one
mile and quarter for the Brooklyn
Jockey Clubs track, that he was just a
Madden has learned by experience that
Dandelion is not an early horse. The
Hamburg stallion will not accordingly be
rushed next season. But after the middle
of July both Mr.. Madden and Mr.. Hitch
cock believe that Dandelion will hold his
own with the best campaigners of mature
age
Although president of the Saratoga AS
ISOLATION, Mr. Hitchcock has not yet sue
ceeded in winning a Saratoga handicap.
He came nearer to doing it last season
when Dandelion took show money behind
McCarter and Running Water, than ever
before. Next season, it is said, Dandelion
will be trained with the particular object
of getting him to the post in winning form
in the Saratoga handicap.
Salvidere Doing Nicely.
Salvidere was not. according to Mad
den. as badly off after his failure in the
Belmont Park Autumn Weight for Age
race as most persons who saw him limp
to the scales after his finish. seemed to
think. That the Belvidere gelding was
lame Madden does not deny. but he was
not hopelesslv broken down. Madden
has no misgivings that Salvidere will not
train. 1t is improbable, however, that
the master of Hamburg Place will make
an effort to get Savidere to the post
early or to start him in any of the great
mile and a qaurter handicaps
Salvidere did not. last season, have
anything like the speed he showed as a
two-year-old. He seemed to have turned
plodder and to be unable to- do anything
until he appeared in the distance races in
the autumn. But he showed to splendid
advantage in the Annual Champion at
Sheepshead Bay and the Cup Preliminary
and the Brighton cup at the Beach 1t is
likely. therefore. that he will be pointed
for the great Autumna Weight-for-Age
Special next wear. Salvidere was "A
famous weight carrier in 1906. and there
is no reason why he should not handle
big burdens successfully again in 1908, If
he trains at all
Thomas Hitchcock. ir., the joint owner
with Madden of Salvidere. will not see
the Belvidere gelding race until the
autumn of 1903. Mr.. Hitchcock does not
expect to be on this side of the Atlantic
next spring and summer. He will spend
the better part of this winter and proba-
bly, all of next summer in England and
France Mr.. Hitchcock has no strong
incentive to remain in America next year
Good and Plenty. the best cross-country
horse he ever owned. is dead. as is also
the clever and consistent Phantom. Hylas
is turned out at Westbury, and he has no
coming four-year-old of promise