The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-07-25
IMPROVED SOD FOR
SARATOGA JUMPERS
Special Preparations for
SteepIechaSers at Race Meet.

Special to THE SUN AND NEW YoRK HERALD
SARATOGA STRrERs, ". l., July 2i.--A
notable feature OF the racing at Aque-
duct Is the improvement In the quality
Of the steeplechasing. A hard winter
and cold. wet spring made It impossi-
BILE for the owners of the best cross
country horses Of the East TO get their
charges ready for the chasing In May
and June, with the result that the cross
country racing OF the Pimlico and Bel
mont Park meetings was hardly up to
the best standard. But the warm
weather Of the last six or seven weeks
las had its effect. The stiffness is
Wording out OF the joints OF the veteran
chasers OF all classes and suppleness
Is returning to their muscles. The
fields Of the Aqueduct chases are i'm
proving right along, and the jumping
events have been furnishing such spirited
sport they have actually become star
attractions
The steeplechaslng at Saratoga will
be better still, because by the time the
jumpers get here they will all be in
tiptop condition. and special prepare
tion is being made to facilitate their
training and give them profitable en-
ployment. The hardness of the Sara
toga field, which bakes to the consistency
OF cement II 1t is not properly attended
to, has handicapped the efforts of the
Saratoga Association to develop first
class steeplechasing in the past. But
that has been remedied. Superintendent
Claire, by diligent top dressing and other
scientific treatment, has developed sod
OF the denseness and resillency Of Eng
llsh sod, and he has made over the train
ing field OF the Oklahoma course until IT
Is good enough itself for steeplechasing
Four stakes for SteepIechasers.
The cross-country programme of the
Saratoga Association for the month of
August provides four stakes of substan-
tlal value and at least four overnight
events a week That the owners of the
strongest cross country stables Of the
East viii take fun advantage of the
provision the Saratoga Association has
made for their jumpers is evidenced by
the number and the character of the
nominations for the Saratoga Steeple-
chase stakes. The Beverwyck Handi-
cap, $l.bOO added, two miles, has drawn
thirty-four nominations; the North
American, $4,000 added, two miles. and
the Shillelah, $500 added. two miles
the same number each, and the Saratoga
$1,000 added, two miles and a half
thirty-one.
The nominators in Saratoga chases
are f. Ambrose Clark, Mrs. Clark 10.
seph r. Davis, the Dosoris stable 7 r
Flannagan. Jr.; Mrs Payne Whitney
q. c. Griffith, II. Edwin Griffith. Waite,
NJ Jeffords, Mrs. Jeffords, John Lums.
den, Raj Parr Mrs. A. NJ. Singer. G. r
Tompkins, William Wick, George d
Widener Larry Waterbury, H. w. Max.
well and Joseph E. Widener.
The roster of eligibles for the. Sara.
toga Steeplechase. which will be a han.
dicap for four-year-olds and over of the
better class, is typical Of the meeting
Robin Goodfellow, Kwonoshee, High
land Light, Genevieve B., Elysian
Blighty H., Candidate. Minata, Sur
Queen. Hibler. Quel Bonheur, Brooks
Earlocker, Nalspar, SyrdarIa, Lytle. Sy
osset, Debadou, Square Dealer, Flare
Jack o. Spades, Barklie, Smithfield, Rob
ert Oliver, Decisive. Royal Arch. Lt
Marsouin, Midas, Ticket, Wisest Fool
Doublet, Montserat, SC, are in the Sara
toga. Most of Them are in the Other
three chases.
1t happens that the Saratoga chasei
closed before several OF the capable
Chasers the Aqueduct meeting has devel
oped began to show their worth. Blu
efforts will be made to bring such ol
these new horses as will not have
chances to meet the better of the stake
horses in stakes in competition with the
stake horses in overnight events. Sam
uel u. Riddle has in Conte de Fee, a
French bred son of Sardanpale, an ex'
ceptlonally promising green" jumper
Conte de Fee fenced faultlessly and dis
covered encouraging familiarity with his
appointed game on June % in the
| chase In which he brought up third
to Minata and Valspar. This was Conte
de Fees first chase. Midas, the gigantlC
son of Macdonald and Marie Louise IL.
which won on July l. is promising de.
velopment of the Parr stable. Midas Ii
seventeen hand giant and the biggest
cross-country horse in training.