The New York herald., 1922-07-09
Carries 1872 Pounds and Beats
Mediocre Field in Empire
City Handicap.
SLOW TIME FOR THE RACE
Takes :54 to Cover Mile and
a FurlOng-RecOrd Crowd
at Track.
BY HENRY ". KING.


year-old colt Grey Lag won the En-
pire City Handicap at the opening Of
the Yonkers meeting yesterday after
noon. He packed 1872 pounds. met
with repeated interference and gal
loped home a length and half in
front of Edward Sims's Bon Homme.
Steve Pettit's Devastation was third,
half length behind Bon Homme.
Hephaistos was last.
The track was a drying out one
slow and heavy in spots. Because of
its condition fast time was out OF the
question, but at that Grey Lag's was
slow. He covered the one mile and a
furlong in 1854, three seconds behind
the record for the course.
The race was run exactly to the
liking Of the Sinclair colt. There was
fast early pace and all he had to
do was gallop along within striking
distance until a>quarter of a mile from
home. There he found himself in a
bad pocket, but when Fator extri-
Gated him he few to the front and the
race was over before the final furlong
pole was reached.
peculiar thing about the race was
the fact that Capt Alcock made the
pace. This famous son of Ogden usually
trails the field by at least a dozen
lengths during the early part of a con-
test and comes from behind with a rush
In the last quarter. Jim Fitzsimmons
always said the rogue had as much
speed as any handicap horse. but that he
almost always refused to run until after
he had been racing for about three
quarters of mile. Once before he did
what he did yesterday. That was in
Maryland last fall. but on that occasion
he got 1t into his head to run fast and
he fairly flew the entire distance. Yes
terday he made the pace for three-quar-
ters OF mile and then stopped to a
walk
The Captain suIks.
Because Of his ride on Caveat Empior
on Friday Clyde Ponce, the stable
jockey was under suspension and John
Mooney had the leg up on Capt. Alcock
He broke his mount in front from an in
side position and when the Captain felt
like running he allowed him to remain
In front as far as he wanted to CO.
Around the first turn. down the back
stretch and half way around the bend
into the homestretch Capt. Alcock
showed the way without any apparent
effort. He was running 70 fast ana
smoothly all the way that Fitsimmons
believed he would win when he had little
more than quarter Of mile to go. But
Just before the turn into the stretch the
Captain sulked and Grey Lag and Bon
Homme, who had been racing close UP
In third and fourth positions, respec-
lively, went past him In few strides
For the remainder of the way Capt Al
cock didn't move faster than a pony
and Devastation had little difficulty
beating him for the third end Of the
purse.
Grey Lag had no trouble during the
race through the stretch TO win the
major portion of the purse. but Ron
Homme was compelled to utilize every
ounce of speed he possessed to heat
home tbe fast finishing Devastation
With stronger ride on Devasta ton the
Simms colt probably would have heen
third. Hephaistos seemed outcla ssed
He ran In second place on sufYerance
for three-quarters Of a mile. but when
mis- opponents began to do their best he
was left far In the rear.
Record Crowd NJ Track.
Probably the largest crowd that ever
visited the little Yonkers course was
present to- see the handicap. and vast
majority OF those present greeted the
winner with applause He was the
favorite and receded In price from to
10 TO 6 to ;. but his stable connections
wagered on him. and so did host of
those present
The thousands present were not the
Continued on Page Four.