New-York tribune., 1919-05-23

In tradition. Its very name conjures
.up gay multitudes of happy worship
pers at the shrine Of pleasure; with
all the bright colors incident to styl-
ishly gowned women and their prop
erly dressed escorts-a mingling of a
. pleasure mad throng, lashed up to a
frenzy Of fervor and excitement as
2 the well balanced field of leading thor
oughbreds sweeps through the final
s sixteenth to a soul.stirring finish
Yesterday the color was faded into
e dull drab. Lanius won a Metropoli-
tan Handicap. That said-fnis.
The crowd was there. The thor
oughbred following always may be
counted upon to prove its loyalty to
the game on all gala occasions. Be-
tween twelve and fifteen thousand were
out-a wonderful tribute to the sport
OF kings when one considers weather
conditions. No racing classic in the
history of the American turf ever was
served meaner turn by the weather
man. All conditions were execrable.
Woeful Lack of Color
But there was as painful lack Of
color among this big crowd as on the
rainswept lawns, the drenched stands
and the clubhouse verandas. The
very great majority of the patrons
were of the male gender, and rain
coat hides the gay raiment of a multi
millionaire as readily as it camou
nages the threadbare pantaloons of a
lad who is doing his best.
There was little during the running
OF the Metropolitan or before or after
to make one enthuse. The track itself
was enough to give one the horrors:
g verltable canal of mud and sion.
through which the thoroughbreds had
almost to swim in spots. The weather
simply handed knockout to this vear,s
Metropolitan.
The mud splashed Lanius and tha
-begrimed Lotus elected scarcely
passing cheer at the conclusion of a
race which, with blue sky and smi1-
Ing sun, no doubt would have sent the
multltudes into ecstacies OF enthus,-
asm More enthusiastic receptions
have been rendered apprentices who
spread-eagled plate fields 1t wasn't
the fault of the crowd 1t wasn't the
tault OF the management. 1t was the
fault of the weather-first, last and all
the time
Try to picture, if you wish, the
spirits OF crowd which with difficultv
could find square foot of drv space
under leaky roof; which was forced
10 shuttle ankle deep in the slime and
ooze tracked in by countless thousands
o. 1eet- m uncomfortable crowd made
so by the most distressing weather
conditions; crowd disappointed in
the early events leading up to the big
SHOW and then a fzzle for all their
palns-Just paint such picture in your
mind and you will understand whv
the Metropolitan Handicap of 1919
proved, in the sporting vernacular,
"one gigantic bust"
Slow Time Recorded
The sentiment wasn't there. tho
color wasn't there. If the plain truth
must be spoken, the class wasn't there.
AT least 1t wouldn't appear so if one
remembers Lanius's winning time. He
peat such supposedly star performers
ao accepted the issue in 1:45 2-5 for
the mile. Old broken-down plugs can
run about that fast on half-miYe
CamouAeur romped the distance a fifth
OF second faster, with nothing but
the badly beaten Snapdragon 2d's
enorts to serve as an incentive.
1t is true the main course at Bel
mont has been remodelled But unless
they used tanglefoot or glue for top
dressing the distressing time can
scarce be explained away satisfactor-
lily.
The crowd came early (though not
as early nor so persistent as the vernal
showers, or spring deluges, as you pre-
fer), and early bumped into the most
distressing atmosphere, climatic and
temperamental. When the boy who
taxes care of the bulletin board got
through hanging up the numbers desig-
mating scratches, A. Mel Earlocker's
racing programme looked like thin
slice OF Swiss cheese pared with a
Gillette: it was nothing but holes.
ihey hit the bottom level in the fifth
leaving only two, and you know it
taxes at least two horses, even Of the
best, to make race.
irompe La Morte, winner Of the 1919
metropolitan; Luculiite, HOLSTER. Corn
iassei and Sweep On were bulletined
among the early scratches. The Beach
"saoies Flags alone was added, so that
neld of seven, instead Of eleven went
TO the post, "0"'
Naturalist tho Favorite
Because Of mis- fne performance over
SIX furlongs in high weight handican
az Jamaica's getaway, j. f. Widenar,s
Naturalist was the favored of the puh-
nc. The added Flags carried dus re-
spect' for Flags's partiality to the mud
was byword with the wise ones II
was figured the race laid between th;s
PAR. Lanius, Papp, Star Master and
kousledge were conceded about even
chances to horn into the consolation
end Of the money.
Cassidy broke the field TO n pood
start. They were Off in almost perfect
aiignment Lyke, with Flags at the
rail, and Fairbrother, with Naturalist
on the extreme outside, soon shook off
the others and drew away to gruell.
ing duel that lasted half wav round
the turn. S1"o
This duel, undoubtedly, was tho ruin
alton OF the chances of both the nacn-
makers. The time Of itself wasn't par
ticularly fast, but the pace over the
sticky going was killing, as was we'll H.
Iustrated before the finish
Johnny LOTUS, inside of Naturalist
seowed better judgment than Fair
6rafhAr H. Iek 81.