The Washington herald., 1913-10-26

count
The trotter and PAGER people In this
particular bailwick have about concluded
are scanning the profit and loss column
so does the careful horseman know by
this time whether he is on the right
or the wrong side Of the ledger.
AS far as Washington horsemen are
concerned. the racing season of 1918 has
not produced the financial results of
1872. except in a single instance W.
Z. Miller finishes the year financially
some lengths ahead Of every other To-
cal horseman. he began the season with
the goods; not consumed with ambition
TO exploit distant and larger fields. he
Kept near base. The 81 600 and s., 001
purses and stakes did not lure him
much. With a single exception,-hi
horses were better than the other fell
lows, and he has come home with a
fairly fat bank roll We must, all of
US. hand IL to Miller As a general
thing. Miller was wise In his purchases
and none OF them cost him very much
money; Alice NJ less than 500. Mary
Ellen but very little more than that
sum, while Jennie Blue also was within
AAS maj lntE
have been dear at any price, but Miller's
luck stood by him. Alice NJ. has been
raced hard for three seasons. and she
has retired at the end OF each season
with reduced record She is OF the
material great race mares are made
well hammered, consistent, fast. and
game, and possessed OF wonderful en-
durance. Mary Ellen is much on the
same order. The present Is her second
T turf season. and. while she has retired
with record or 2:l2 IL. there is every
indication that she Is not ''all in" Nor
do We believe is Jennie Blue. We are
not so sure about Alice NJ
But what Of Norman Corbin? Norman
is mighty game sport. He has stood
the stings of season Of bad luck with
out a whimper. The best part of his
racing purchases were IN advised.
Horses that go to the auctions with a
long-story attachment, aud sell cheap.
are usually as fun of holes as sieve.
Occasionally buyer may get a colt or
a tilly cheap that makes good. BU
when an aged horse is knocked down 10
a buyer for less than he seems to be
worth, nine times in ten the purchaser
is burned to a crisp. As a rule. second
hand horses at the big auctions are to
! be avoided The horses OF merit never
go begging for buyers. The good horses
that win the big stakes and purses rare
ly. il ever, pass through the auctions un-
til their racing career is practically
ended. The Harvester is an exception, TO
be sure. and there may be a few others.
Just how much there is OF judgment, and
just hCw-much there is OF luck in the
purchase Of horses by the average man,
is an interesting question
is II fair to presume that L F. Hall
saw ia Manuel!a, 2gG7 IL future 2:lO or
better PAGER. when he purchased her? 1t
would be foolish to assert that he did.
She was untried: even her gait was not
Exed. When Norman Corbin purchased
the discarded Alcyne, 2:il -, does any
one suspect that he believed that he
was purchasing a high-class race mare?
II were folly to suggest IT, When w.
Z. Miller purchased Alice NJ, 2:0s II, had
she accomplished anything that would
lead him TO believe that she would ever
-ace mile better than 2:lj? Certainly
rot: he took a gamblers chance ard won,
and every man who buys a horse for
racing purposes is compelled to take that
same chance. Some of the most prom
sng horses prove-to be counterfeits;
some Of the most unprOmtsing at the be-
ginning. prove to be stake winners Il
Is a nara Edlslts AL NAA4tA AAAN man WIN
wins out gets more of credit than he
really deserves. with due respect for the
men who win out.
II is rare that more misinformation IS
compressed into as small space as is in
the following:
Lexington. KY, Oct. 2O.-The world 5
champion trotter, Uhlan, holder OF the
mile record in SIS, the quarter of n mile
record in q seconds. and the record with
running mate in l:iS Is has been per-
manently retired at the height of his
career Uhlan will be shipped to New York
in a few days and will be used by his
owner g. X. Billings, as stud. The
horse Is still perfectly sound and bears
the reputation OF being the greatest trot-
ter that ever lived 1t is true Uhlan's
trotting record for a mile in the open is
IS. and that his record for quarter
OF a mile is y seconds. His record with
running mate to wagon is 1:54 IL, in
stead OF las l-5 Uhlan is gelding. nor
an entire horse. The dispatch concludes
by saving that Uhlan bears the reputa-
ton OF being the greatest trotter that
ever lived" The last sentence Is like
carrying Goals TO Newcastle. How a
dispatch of the kind mentioned could
have emanated in Lexington, the head
quarters of trotting horsedom. and,
where every man, woman and child is
supposed to be versed in trotting turf
lore, is hard to understand. And II is
harder Vet 10 understand how any in
teIIigent telegraPh4c news editor should
have permitted a dispatch so full OF er-
rors to have passed through his hands
without correction. Uhlan was early uR-
more is the pity, notwithstand-
ing the fact that he is nonstandard and
cannot be registered. That he would
have sired speed as surely as il he were
standard, few persons will doubt. 1t is
not the standard stamp that produces
speed, but speed inheritapee and the
power to transmit it.
Trotting round the stove will soon
be in order again in this bailiwick.
The larger the circumference of the
stove the greater the volume OF speed
and the keener the sport. Dunworth's
stove track is the fastest in town when
the icy breezes blow fresh and stif
from the boreal pole; but Michael Nor
ris' radiator is also very slick track,
round which fast time is made on spe-
cial occasions. Phil Steubeners heater,
at Bladensburg. has also an enviable
for extreme speed, and, now
that Phil is about to return to the
trottfng horse game, there will be plenty
of sport in Old Bladensburg on win
ter evenings Berka and Koroni are
back home again from their extensive
summer campaigns none the worse for
the IA ar miles they have trotted