Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-24
TROTT|NG DERBY
FOR $4,000 PRIZE
Event Comes Off Tomorrow at
ReadviIIe Track.

The big event of the week i'm horse cir
cles will be the $4,000 trotting Derby at
Readville tomorrow in connection with the
Grand Circuit meeting at this track and
the richest prize offered in the history of
the hotting turf. Not only will the race
attract the attention of every one inter-
ested I'm the sport in this country, but
horsemen from abroad will be on hand
to watch the outcome of an experiment
which may furnish a new fixture for
more than one race meeting on the big
line next season.
The American Trotting Derby, as the
event is inaptly called, is a handicap
dash rae, open to all trotters. in which
tine scratch horses will go a mile and a
quartel. and each of the others will go
fifty feet farther for each seconds differ
cnce in estimated speed, from 2.15 down
u 2."J To the mile
vt the three-quarter pole. near the head
OF tie hOmestretch on the Readville track,
will he stationed all horses whose limit
of speed is estimated by the handicap
perS AT - for one mile. Fifty feet back
of them, at another mark on the track,
will be those considered up to trotting
mile in :. II, and at like intervals of fifty
feet back to 800 feet or nearly an eighth
Of miia beyond the scratch, will be
other horses !laced according to their
estimated speed.
In this liacins each space of fifty feet
represents one second of time In eSti-
mated speed. The horses starting farthest
in the rear will have to cover 100 feet,
while the scratch horses are going 5000
feet. Theoretically all should finish close
together with one Of the 20o horses win
ming in 2.4S and the PA horses bringing
up the rear, about three lengths away In
2.4S3a
To
In practice 1t is hardly to be expected
that the handicapping will work out in
this way. The horses called upon to go
the fastest clip must also go the greatest
distance. and. believing in the old saying
that ''it is the pace that kills." most
horsemen expect to see the theoretical
outcome of the race reversed and the big
prize won by a trOtter starting near the
scratch. The true form of some of these
is not SO we'll known as that of horses
having faster records, and II there is
PIP trotter on the scratch that can carry
his clip the handicap distance he should
beat all the fast ones, like Sweet Marie
and Sonoma Girl.
Such a horse would cover the distance,
in 2.45 To beat him a horse
starting 800 feet in the rear would have
to go little better than a 2.O3 clip from
start to finish Needless to say, there is
could do such thing. or even approach
it. These estimates of speed are based on
flying start. AS all horses go from a
standing start, the rate of speed will. of
course. he slower. but the chances of the
starters would seem to be the same. I'M
less, as some horsemen have predicted,
the horses in front impede those in the
rear and perhaps prevent them from get
ting through in time to win.
To avoid just this contingency of over
crowding the track provision has been
made for elimination trials In case there
are more starters than can, with fairness
to all, complete in a single dash. Seventy
three horses having been eligible to start
when the handicappers completed their
work last week, it is regarded as almost
certain that elimination heats will be
necessary. In that event the field will be
separated into two divisions by lot. and
the first eight horses that finish in each
division will later start in the final. The
elimination trials will. it is understood.
take place on the day of the main race,
though the right has been reserved to
start them today.
The first horse to cross the line in the
main race will earn 10000, the second
$4,000. the third 5000. the fourth $500,
the fifth $500 and the sixth $1,000.