The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-01-13
YOUNG RACE HORSES
PROVE SUPERIORITY
NosbHrgh Says Existing Scale OF
Weights Must he Revised I'm
Mediately-~CampaIgners Age
Quickly.

%hACAhFs
New York. Jan I2.--W. s Vos-
burgh, who was Official hs ndicapper
OF the Jockey club, has earned the dis
| tnCtion of being an able Judge Of the
relative performances Of thorough
breds, has raised his voice against the
existing scale which governs the ailot-
ments in weight for age races, In
giving his views on the subject TO rae
Ing form the Handicapped shows that
two and three year -olds have these
events at their mercy, Mr. Yosburgh
says
THE racing Of the past season. as
well as that OF 1916. has further de-
monstrated that the present scale Of
weights for age unduly faVors two and
three~year- Odds in competition with
older horses. In 1916 VIC not only
had many instances Of three year odds
defeating the older horses in hollow
fashion. but re had the rather I'M
usual spectacle OF three year olds
carrying top weight In handlcaps for
all ages--and winning them. Dodge
and Spur. for instance. lid this In
1915, and they are not the only ones.
The past year we have seen the three
year-old Omar Khayyam beating spur
for the Saratoga cup at weight for age,
winning by i've lengths with his head
In his chest.
Then there ia Cudgel. three
year-old, carSying 131 pounds (top
weighD in q handicap at LAtonia. TO
Rancher., fve-year-old with 116
pounds and winning; and later his
carrying 1875 pounds and finishing
third after being almost knocked down
at the start, conceding twenty-eight
pounds TO the flve-year-old winner,
Rancher; Westy Hogan, the three
year-oid, conce d Ing twenty mine
pounds according to the scale. to the
Splinter LeochareE. Then Omar
khayyam, concedtng twenty eight
pounds TO the slx-year old F1ittergold,
and carrying 1870 pounds, top weight.
for the Bowie handicap. The two
year-old THpplty Witohet, also made
a shocking exhibition of field OF four
and flve-year Odds at laurel, conceding
actual weight to each of them. and
as much as eight pounds to Dorcas,
four years. According to the scale,
Dorcas would have been asked TO
concede him forty pounds Imagine
the result for as II was the two-year+
old won gaIloping by six Iengths.
Luckily It was a handicap.
Il would not 20 so far as 70 cay
the present seaM OF weight for age
is an anachronism. but ] fear 1t is
not responsive to existing conditions,
The conditions have changed with
the march OF time. Fifty years ago
horses were In their prime at Ave
years old. Then came n period when
four-year- olds we're In the endency.
Today it requires an exceptional four,
Ave or six-yeRr old to hold his own
with q three year odd at weight for
age. In earlier days horses did not
race SO often and retained their form
ut four and five years old Now IL ~
only geldings that do so, and few OF
them. This liz o. fact, especially after
the spring months have passed. II
anybody doubts this, let me ask where
is tho owner who would have started
an old horse the past autumn against
Hourless or Omar Khayyam at weight
for age?"
Until Luke Blackburn gallopad
away with the Grand Union prize at
Saratoga in 1880 ii had not been the
custom 10 start three-vehr Odds against
older horses. especially in handicap .
though the previous year Spendthrift.
! a ahree- y ca old. won the champion
| sta kes at Monmouth park, a weight
! for~ags event. since then there has
! seldom been a. year in which the best
/ three year ODDS have not beaten the
| ail-ared class in the competition at
weight for age, especially In later
years. Hanover did It: so did syson-
hy. 1>ampfighter, Africander staiwart,
| Beldane, Ort Walls, Delhi, Ballot,
| Henry of Navarro, Fair Play. George,
Kinney, Peter Pan, The Manager, Hin
doc, The Finn. Fitx Herbert. Oiseau,
Reauite, Ornament. Hernis, Meridian
Cock o. tn Walk, and Roamer
/ Mr. Vosburgh gives examples OF the
steady Improvement OF the younger
horses, The Great Republic stakes al
Saratoga, the most valuable weight.
for-age event was run only four sea.
sons, from 1904 10 1907, and was wor
earh year by three year-old. This
annual Champion stakes at Coney Is
land was run for nine seasons anc
won ak times by thres-yes RS oIds
while In the last four years three
year-olds finished frst and second
The Saratoga cup, which has been rur
off and on for flft~ years, was not wol
by three-year until 1901, bu
, since that time seven three year old
have captured the cup. Mr.. Vosburgf
, continues:
: "But the system Of racing ha
: changed. Horses are handled earlier
mature earlier, and race more FIRE
ouenty than in former times. an
they wear out earlier as n conse
, quence. Up to the time Conroy wol
In 1901 horsenen had begun 70 accep
. II as an article Of faith that no three
: year-old could win the Brooklyn
/, handicap or Suburban They ar
/. spring events. and three year
oIds are not supposed to be at thei
hest In the spring. Yet, since tina
date, Irish Lad, Superman. Ceit, Fria
Rock. Africander, and F1tz Herber
have been returned winners. But 4
the autumn the three-year- Folds now
adays seem able not only to defeat tn
older horses at weight-for-age. bu
, TO concede them actual weight.
Horses are .overworked. they ar
raced so frequently that by the tim
, they are four or Ave their powers ar
diminished, and under our pregen
, system OF racing the results are sucl
as to incline us to the belief that tn
: really great race horses are at tn
top of their form. and are seldom
, greater at any period OF their live
than the autumn of their three year
old season.
SHOULD the scale Of weights for
age be revised, raising the weights {,
be carried by the younger horses. TIN
effect might. perhaps, cause fewe
. three-Sear -oids TO be sta rted for race