view raw text
McDERMOTT A SENSATION ♦ His Riding Outstanding Feature of Washington Park Holiday Program • Winning Mounts Include Lucile in Debutante Stakes and Golden Prince in Supplementary Attraction — Immense Crowd Present » What was designed to be a spectacular Decoration Day program, with the third running of the Debutante Stakes as the feature and the second appearance of Golden Prince as a sort of side attraction, really developed into an L. McDermott program at Washington Park. The veteran jockey rode four winners, including the two main events, and was astride another which finished second, these being his first five mounts of the day. The Debutante Stakes fell to the sterling filly Lucile, owned by Stone and Rucker. Carrying 119 pounds and with McDermott up, she demonstrated that her fine form, beginning at Jefferson Park in the winter and continuing through the Lexington meeting, was by no means a false alarm even though she did fail to the j extent of being unplaced in one race at Churchill Downs. She met a field of the best two-year-olds that could be mustered for the fixture. Second to her was Supryse, another filly which had won more than half of the races in which she started since the opening of the Kentucky season, and Khara, of the Rancocas Stable, which soon after her arrival here from the East cantered in her first Washington Park race, was third. Golden Prince won what was called the Decoration Day Purse, at a mile. His victory was McDcrmotts third. The field was small in this race, only five starting, but it included some of the best milcrs at the track, the others being Mowlee, Montanaro, Boo and Flat Iron. Mowlee, the Rancocas candidate and himself a stake winner this spring before coming to Chicago, was second after leading and setting a fast pace until well in the stretch. McDermott kept close to the Easterner with Golden Prince, and the Cof-froth Handicap winner proved that he had more in reserve when he came on to win by a half-length in the good time of 1:37% for the mile. Montanaro, the greatly improved Ormont gelding, owned by M. Deatheridge, held on well in a hard drive with Boo to save third place. Flat Iron was not a factor in the latter part. McDermott began his banner day by piloting to victory the first-time starter Judge Hay, owned by the manager of the Washington Park track, in the opening race. In the seaond race he made a repeater of Listo, the La Brae stables good sprinter, which began his campaign here by winning on opening day. Although Listo may have been best tcmay, he had some fine sprinters to beat in Donnay, of the Rancocas stable, and Crof-ton, owned by A. A. Baroni, and it was in this event particularly that McDermott was Continued on twenty-fourth page. MDERMOTT A SENSATION Continued from first page. called on to display fine horsemanship. Don-nay and Chcaru set the pae?, with Crofi.on moving up rapidly. Listo had been somewhat outrun in the early part, but McDermott no doubt had him in hand for a strong finish .ind this he made when the clever rider found an opening and shoved him through it to win handily by a length and a half from the slightly faltering Donnay. McDermott made another strong effort with Indian Love Call in the thiid race but General Grant, almost neglected in the betting, was much the best of a very strong field and, although McDermott urged Indian Love Call on to a strong finish, his mount was not good enough to overtake General Grant, which won with ease by three lengths. King Xadi was third, and back of him were such good ones as Mino, Black Beetle and Gracious Gift. Luciles victory in the Debutante Stakes was tremendously popular with the large holiday crowd, which had backed her into favoritism notwithstanding her two defeats in Kentucky. The ease with which the Ran-cocas filly, Khara, won her first race here, brought her a lot of support and she went 10 the post second choice, with Supryse a well-backed third choice. The patrons of the course were not mistaken in their values for the race was strictly between this triumvirate. McDermott got Lucile away in the lead and kept her there, never relinquishing a safe margin. She finished out the five and one-balf furlongs in the time of 1:07% and at the end was a full length in front of Supryse, which was two lengths ahead of Khara. The others were beaten off. The Memorial Day racing was witnessed by a tremendous crowd which was noisy and enthusiastic. The parking space, set aside for those who came by automobile, was entirely used, there being more than 8,000 cars on the grounds. The crowd was estimated a/ 40.000. The summer heat wave continued, but was somewhat tempered by cooling breezes, and the track was at its best, as was indicated by the performance of Golden Prince, his fast mile of 1 :37% coming within a fifth of a second of equaling the track record. Many notables gave club house parties, and the boxes in that sector and the grandstand presented a brilliant scene. Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. McCulloch, Otto W. Lehmann and Roy Carruthers were among the club house visitors. Mr. McCulloch, chairman of the board of directors of Arlington Park, was impressed with the new Washington Park, and said : "I have never seen a more magnificent plant anywhere than Washington Park. Only a man like Col. Matt Winn could accomplish what has been done." Joseph A. Murphy, presiding steward at Hawthorne, was another visitor, who found the transformation of Washington Park beyond his expectations. In the Evergreen Purse, one of the secondary features, the La Brae Stables sprinter, Listo, raced to his second victory of the meeting, vanquishing a capable band of high-priced platers which started over three-quarters. Donnay raced much improved over his recent showing here and was second. Crofton, heavily backed favorite, could do no better than take third place. Listo was ridden by jockey L. McDermott and it was the latter jockeys second straight winning mount. Cheers did most of the early leading and set the pace to the stretch, while Moderation, Crofton and Listo raced in their wake. Listo failed to move up to the leaders until the stretch, but thereafter came fast and then McDermott daringly sent him up with a rush. Listo soon wore down the leaders, getting up to win drawing away. Donnay held on well while Crofton outstayed the others.
