Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-29

cident gave Mr.. keene no end of humili-
alton, and he was almost on the point
of stepping out of racing for good. Never
since then" said he have my colors
been hisstd. either in the United States or
abroad"
The more telling part Of the story is
that the excellence of Spendthrift as a
horse was what induced Mr.. keene to
continue in racing. and from his begin
ming with the son Of Australian he has
built up the most successful stable in the
history OF the American turf.
The Whitney Stable.
While the Whitney stable may be rep
resented more widely this year by young
horses than by those which have reached
the third or fourth milestone of their pill
grimage, the owner of this fine establish
inent has seen fit to name four for the
Century stake, a purse of $25, $50. which
is to be run over the one mile and one
half course at SheepShead Bay
He has nominated Royal Tourist, Tim
ber Bar None and Stamina. 1t is not an
easy task to say which of the four he
thinks is the best race horse. At times
all of them met with success during the
turf campaign of 1907, but at other times
they did not run up to the expectations
of the owner. In fact, the Whitney stable,
like all others which engaged In racing
last season, felt the opposition Of that
wonderful assemblage of horses which
had been raised and trained by James X.
Keene. 1t needed an extraordinary horse
to beat one of the good keene entries.
Some in the keene stable which We're not
so fast as their more regal stable com
panions could be defeated now and then.
but when it came to the important stakes
every owner with a horse to race was
obliged to face the best candidate which
Mr. keene could prepare for the event.
Therefore. while the Whitney stable,
perhaps, did not fare worse than other
stables which were racing, 1t failed to
meet with the full share Of success which
had been a part of its reward In seasons
before and there was some notion on
the part Of the owner that his horses
were not UP to their usual average, when
the truth probably was that no young
horses ever had such competition to face
in the history Of the American turf.
Mr.. Whitney believes that he has some
tWo-year-olds which will win for him this
year. in addition to the very best OF those
which he started last season, and decided
to retain for another summers racing
He announced the other day that he
should not hurry them but would prob
ably begin to race about May l. and from
that time until the finish of the season
hoped that he would be followed with a
little luck.
One of the early stake races which has
attracted the attention of the breeders
Is the National Stallion stake. From the
keene stable there are eight eliglbles.
Among them are three by Disguise II,
two by Voter, two by Ben Brush and one
by Kingston.
A Great Youngster Reported.
1t is reported that Mr.. keene has
tWo-year-old which will be greater horse
this year than Colin was last. There will
be many a question raised before this
statement will be believed. and there will
be many turfman who will wish to see
tine first race and the second in order to
be convinced
This colt is by Disguise II and out OF
ST. Mildred. There has been SO much
talk about the horse that If he doesn't
burn up the track in his first attempt
to win race half Of the turfmen of the
metropolitan district will be beside them
selves. Queries have been put to Mr.
keene in regard to the colt, but he has
waved them one side in ii n-committal
fashion. with the suggestion that he likes
TO see his horses in a race before he is
agreeable to discussing them.
The nominations from the Whitney sta