The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-21

w. K Vanderbilt again closes the season at the head of the list of winning owners in France.
 During the racing season just ended w. K. Vanderbilt has won about eh2.eO0 to which amount the following three-year -olds contributed largely; Northeast, G16,24O; Sea Sick, el3.5@; Gambaiseul, e367O; Schuyler, tz4So' Foresight, e240O.
 MT Vanderbilt has thus this year beaten his record of nearly e5O,O00 In 1906. when Maintenon won f33,o00 and Prestige was also so successful before he broke down.
 Last season MT Vanderbilt cleared a13.OOO and in 1905 he took e17o00. Many owners would have thrown up the game before 1905 if they had ex- perienced the i'll luck the well known American had, but pluck, or persever- ance, call it what you will, has resulted i in a grand total of over f1320 GOO being i realized in the last four seasons. 1 M Edmond Blanc, who comes second ! this year to MT. Vanderbilt, with f2S,6oe
 is experiencing a revival in fortunes. { During the seasons of 1904 and 1905 his 1 horses won f125O00 and last season | G12OO0 Still a sum of over 91S6,000 in ] five years is certainly not to be despised.
 Blanc owes e9OoO of his winnings this i year to his three-year-old lilly Medeah, I notably Fills du Vent and the unbeaten i filly AXalec-have helped him along
 considerably. M. Blanc has been far more successful as a breeder than the
 American owner, whose luck, however, i in his direction has also undergone a ] change.
 The success of these two owners can
 not fail to inspire the new American contingent with a certain amount of ] confidence, especially if they possess any crack two-year-ods, for the French i youngsters have not shown themselves l to be wonders this autumn.
 Mrs Lily Langtry Gady de Bathe) is to give up breeding horses and is to sell her stud. including Norman. ] Norman, by Grand Flaneur out of
 Seaweed, Is the soundest, hardest and 1 most genuine stayer known on the
 English turf for many a year, and he ! was retired at the very zenith of his
 form, after beating the champion of
 France, Perth II, in record time for the Ascot cup. He is sire of DunIa. ! Petchora, A Skipper, Aqua-Marina, et".
 Jimmy Britt, former American light
 weight champion is again to meet Johnny ' Summers, over whom he recently won a decision. The fight will be held before
 the National Athletic club, on February
 22 The British sporting contingent be- lieves this time Summers will be re-
 turned winner.
 As showing the importance of hunting | among British sports of the present
 day, some figures recently cited by Howard Martin in an address before | the Surveyors Institute, in London,
 are interesting. He estimated the num-
 Der of hunting establishments in the | United Kingdom at 450, of which only
 ten were for drag hunting, 225 being
 for fox hunting, ten for tag hunting
 and 245 for hunting hares. To follow
 these 450 packs of hounds about | 45000 horses are kept at an annual ex-
 pense of about $16000,00O. The cost of
 maintaining a pack of fox hounds was
 estimated at from $5000 to $13,000, d
 year, according to the number of days
 hunted. The speaker regarded tnt
 hunting field as most valuable train
 ing ground for cavalrymen and there
 fore as one of the important institutions
 of the country.