Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-28
SPEED MARVEL
WINS WOODLAND
A. J. SMALL GALL0PS AWAY
WITH STAKES
Steps Half Mile Within One OF
Second of World Record, Carrying
His High Weight Like Colt
of Great Class
By JAY DAVIDSON

Probably the best 2-year-old Of the
season of 1909 on the coast was shown
yesterday by Phil Chinn when his A.
J. Small won the Woodland stakes in
a gallop by three lengths, beating Sir
Ashton, Frank G. Hogan and Carroll in
IS 3-5 seconds, which is within one
tenth of second Of the world record
for the distance. Despite that he re-
Gently set the world record for three
and half fUrlongs and had worked
half mile around two turns in As 2-5
seconds in prep trial for this race,
he was second choice in the betting,
the Thomas entry, Sir Ashton and Car
roll, being held as favorites at odds-on.
AT the start Small broke in front,
but Schilling rushed Sir Ashton into
the lead at the stretch turn and held
1t until after turning for home, when
Small passed him and slowly pulled
away until he had a lead of three
lengths at the wire. Sir Ashton proved
a better weight carrier than Carroll,
his stablemate, and ran into the show
money, but was not good enough to
catch Frank G. Hogan, which put up a
sensational finish in the stretch, COM
ing from last to second place at the
wire. Carroll quit to last. AS all the
juveniles carried the same weights and
had clear sailing, the race is taken as
representative Of the respective abili-
| ties of the quartet, and Small becomes
the juvenile champion at Santa Anita.
The victory Of Small was not unex-
pected by the regulars, as his remarka-
bic performances recently had stamped
him as colt of highest class. He
easily ran over Donau and other good
ones with 100 pounds UP when he set
the world record at 40 seconds for
three and a half furlongs January 80,
| and a few days ago he was worked for
| the Woodland, doing half a mile in
As 2-5 seconds, which reduced the best
previous work record, held by DeMund,
upon which DeMund was sold for $45,-
co., by three-fifths of a second. Small
has a turn Of speed that cannot be
classed as other than sensational in the
extreme, as his record breaking per-
formances indicate nearly every time
he starts; while his ability to carry
high weight without reducing his speed
indicates that he is destined to become
real star of the turf
Far West also won for the talent and
beat Joe Madden and Montgomery, the
false favorites, in one of the prettiest
finishes of the season, all three horses
| finishing noses apart and in the order
named. Far West figured best, but he
probably would have lost to Joe Mad
den had not Butwell taken excellent
care Of him, rated him beautifully and
then shot him through a thin hole on
the rail at the stretch turn, where he
gained about two lengths in a twink
! ling of an eye. Joe Madden lost ground
at the stretch turn, dropping back n
notch. Gowan set a terrific pace into
the stretch, running Vox Populi dizzy
to that point, but also killed her
chances.
Harrigan ran strictly to figures and
easily beat Norbitt, John Carroll and
| others in a fairly fast mile, breezing all
the way after getting Strengthened out
| at the first turn. Norbitt lost ground
at the stretch turn, dropping back to
| last, but put up stretch run that was
! sensational in the extreme, easily run
ming over John Carroll and the. others
and nearly closing the gap that Harri-
| gan had opened.
The final race resulted in a surprise
| in the defeat of Col Bob. Colloquy, Jim
Gaffney and other clever sprinters by
Rialto, which had been running in such
| tough luck all season that the talent
had become soured on him. Col. Bob
and Jim Gaffney were away in a mess
| and had good excuses for their defeat
| although both stables played their
horses for good things.