The Washington herald., 1918-12-27
eternal KING.
TW0-YEAR-OLD
Defeat of Billy Kelly in Spe'
cial Match at Laurel
Clinched Position.

Which of the two-year-olds of 1918
earned the right TO be accorded the
distinction of champion of the divi-
sion? This is the query which has
been propounded so frequently since
the beginning of the post-mortem sea-
son as to what's what and who's who
| in horsedom to have 1t take on the
/ appearance of a not-to-be-forgotten
topic.
Right at the outset of the many CAB
| tests, which have been the mediums
whereby this moot question has been
discussed, it has promptly narrowed
, down to two admitted champions.
! Eternal and Billy Kelly. with each OF
these undoubted stars showing partI.
| sans whose Numbers are uncountable-
While ''one swallow doesn't make d
summer" and it requires more than
one victory for a thoroughbred to es>
tablish his right TO a position at the
top of the ladder in his class. the
| long-sustained contention that Jim
McClelland's great son of Sweep-HazeI
| Burke-namely. Eternal-had firmly
established himself in the niche set
apart each season for the placement of
! the best OF the two-year-olds appears
| fast to be becoming a popular one
! That he won S56l4s63. which gives
| him a position well in the van OF the
money winners of the year. serves to
make him outstanding in this particu-
! lar phase OF turf doings. This fortune
/ is the sum which his column must
be credited, despite the fact that $50. =
/ 600, which he won when he beat Billy
; Kelly at Laurel in their memorable
match race and which was presented
! by his owner to the Maryland Red
I Cross. did not necessarily, find its way
into the Kentuckian's bank roll.
| With the $4,000 deducted from his
total. the net winnings OF Eternal
would be SS. 1858, with this sum
eclipsing several thousands the money
won by the Commander Ross cham
pion, Billy Kelly. which won more
than twice as many races as Eternal.
The McClelland king-pinrs aggre-
gate received its most material boost
| through his annexation OF the Hos
pital Stakes at Saratoga, valued at
SO. $50. and by long odds the biggest
of the season. probably anywhere in
the world
A peep at the past performance"
Of Sweeps greatest son of the year
reveals the fact that he won six
events. was second once, and out of
the money once Of a total of eight
starts. the first OF which was made
on June "A. when he annexed an over
night dash at Aqueduct which was
worth 3S56.G6 1t was in this race that
he gave attestation of glittering speed
by running 10 the work which had
marked him as a youngster out OF the
ordinary
EN nrf ha A
can. over the same track. showed him
the runner-up to Dunboyne, which
| afterward won the Futurity, and
! which. in the Great American. wa.
conceded to have had far and away
the best Of the track and break Then
came the United States Hotel Stakes
at Saratoga, August 3. in which Billy
| Kelly showed supreme with Eternal
unplaced. having met with about all
the bad luck possible for a horse to
be confronted with
These above named defeats proved
the sum total of those of the year
in which the son of Sweep was
compelled to don his colors. as in
his succeeding five starts none was
able to look him in the eye at the
end.
While his wins were of the con-
vrcing type. it was probably the
| Hopeful which placed the stamp OF
greatness upon him. for in that
particular test close observers as
sert that he really raced but
three-eiEhths of a mile The oc-
casion for this is probably con-
tained in the fact that for the
first quarter mile he was hemmed
in behind a wall of horses from,
which Andy Echuttinger couldn't
extricate him until the middle OF
the turn was reached
At this stage Eternal was asked
, the question, to the end that from
what appeared most hopeless DO.
sition his dazzling speed quickly
brought him up into the conten-
tion, so that by the time the stretch
was reached he was bang up be-
hind War Marvel and Nindex which
had had clear sailing to that stage
, With this flight of speed added tC
. IN point of distance by about three.
sINteenths of a mile down ths
. stretch, showing the sum total O,
the distance really raced by him tC
be about three-eighths of a mile
warranted those who are prone L
look closely to view him as on,
OF the wonders of the racing world