The New York herald., 1922-03-12
Time Test of Little or No
Value When Runners Bur-
den Is Below Scale.
SELLING PLATERs FAST
But Records Show That High
I. Glass Horses Alone Survive
When Weight Is Up.
BY G. CHAPLIN.

first requisite of racehorse. and some
one, when asked what was the second
requisite, has sagely said. more speed"
But the records of racing. as everybody
knows. abound with evidence that many
thoroughbreds possessed OF dazzling
speed are yet far from being high class
horses. There Is the historic example Of
Fern L., far Western female of dusky
complexion and doubtful paternity
which could never be fastened upon
either Dewey or Otis. Away back in
August. 1908. when tracks were not so
we'll kept as in recent years. Fern L. won
a race at a mile in :37 rs over the
merry-go-round at Seattle.
Her performance had been surpassed
In point of speed in a race by no other
caused no sensation. nor even attracted
serious attention among horsemen. And
in spite Of her speed the winner never
rose above the rank Of selling platter.
the reason being that she could not carry
weight. Under the present scale of
weights prescribed by the Jockey Club a
filiy of her age. starting against horses
OF all ages, should carry 113 pounds in
a race at one mile in the month Of
August. while Fern l.. carried only 80
pounds; 33 below the scale.
Flashy performances like this one
have led a great many turfmen here to
share the English belief in "the utter
<rt1 lar ~ -
contemptuously characterized by Alfred
z. T. Watson. author OF The Turf"
British experts ignore the time reg
istered by the split second chronograph
and think only on weights in gauging
the capacity Of their racehorses. You
never hear them saying "he ran a mile
in :37 2-5.' but he gave So-and- So ten
pounds and beat him." or some other
phrase dealing with weight and not with
the time of the winner, nor even with
the distance between him and the second
horse at the finish.
Weight brings horses together, they
say. and is the basis of handicapping
and the whole system of penalties
and allowances. hence 1t is the logi-
cal standard by which to measure the
relative merits of all horses. Even in
races like the Derby, where all colts are
weighted alike. there Is a tacit reference
to this standard when the critical expert
says "it was seven pound beating" or
'he won 1t with Ave pounds In hand"
Where Weight Test Falls.
The weight test might be all very we'll
II the horse that won yesterday with
Ave pounds in hand" could always do
1t again tomorrow in the same COM
pany and at the same distance. But in
tho light of last years classic races In
England, which were a series of kaleido-
scopic variations Of form among Craig
an-Eran. Humorist. Polemarch and 9TH
crs weight Is a test no more satisfac-
tory than time. And 1t has the disad-
vantage OF being useless when II comes
to comparing horses Of different periods.
Even If the expert English Handicapped
could decide on the exact number of
pounds Craig-an-Eran, Humorist or
Polemarch was better than all the other
horses OF 1921, still he would have no,
basis for comparison of that horse with
Durbar Orby or any other Derby win
ner of past years.
Because of the marked changes which
have taken place in the last few years
in the working and surfacing OF Ameri-
can racetracks. It is perhaps true that
the time test would afford rather poor
basis for comparing the winners OF to-
udy Will inOSc VI IL ucIddt dkO. -NOW
that all tracks are made about as firm
and fast as 1t is possible to keep them.
however. conditions in the future bid
fair to be substantially the same from
year to year. And under such condi-
tions time. combined with weight. will
be the only accurate test by which
horses Of different periods can be COM
pared. as they cannot be brought into
competition with one another.
Time md Weight Together.
In the American Racing Manual for
1922 there Is table OF fast perform
ances which II somewhat modified In
character and scope might become n roll
OF honor answering much the same pur-
pose for racing men as the 10 list now
serves among breeders Of the trotting
horse and followers OF harness racing.
1t embraces all performances on record
in which 1 :3s has been beaten at races
OF one mile. There are 211 OF these per-
formances. made by all classes of horses
from platers like Fern L. 90 champions
like Man o. War. When all those are
eliminated that carried light weight. or
less than weight for age. there remains
a list of high class horses. perhaps with
out poor performer among them. This
shows pretty clearly that selling platers
do not make fast time when the weight
is or their backs and II shows also that
the high class horse. and he alone. can
take up weight and still run his mile at
extreme speed. as measured by the
watch.
The fact that only twenty-four horses
have run faster than l :3s with scale
weight UP is proof that the feat is n
very difficult one. Nearly two hundred
could make the time under lighter
weight, but n heavier impost anchored
them. OF the twenty-four that stood the
test Of both time and weight. no less
than thirteen were three-year- -olds,
which at first blush, seems TO indicate
that the scale Is still little too lenient
as to runners Of this age. Only six
four-year-olds and five older horses are
on the roll OF honor
Perhaps the most remarkable per-
formance OF all is credited to Fitz ls--
bert. In December OF his ts~. :, ,ear-old
form this wonderful evst took up 124
pnupdv r'--.s ran a mile In I :37 3-5 over
me Santa Anita track In California. His
burden was twenty-four pounds above
the scale. and his time In 1908 had been
equaled by only a handful Of horses OF
any age. No other two-year-old has yet
matched II with even the llghtest weight
on his back.
! King James's Great Performance.
Among the older horses King Jamess
performance at Sheepshead Bay thirteen
years ago ranks with the best In point OF