view raw text
NOT MORE THAN TWELVE g STARTERS IN ♦ PREAKNESS . — . Small but Well Matched Field Outlook for Saturdays Big Race » Brokers Tip and Head Play Command Most Attention — Latter Considered Better Betting Proposition — • Latest News of All Prospective Contestants , ♦ BALTIMORE, Md., May 11.— Unless the experts are misreading the signs— something they seldom do— not more than twelve horses will parade to the post at Pimlico on Saturday for the forty-third running of the 5,000 added Preakness Stakes, at one and three-sixteenths miles. Chances are that the field for this richest and most important of Marylands spring fixtures will not include more than ten of the dozen probable starters. The two candidates which have "hogged" the spotlight are Col. Edward Riley Bradleys Brokers Tip, the black or brown son of Black Toney, from Forteresse, which was awarded the decision in last Saturdays Kentucky Derby, and Mrs. Silas B. Masons Head Play, handsome chestnut son of My Play and Red Head. Curiously enough, the latter, although he was second in the Derby, beaten by a nose, has a great many more backers than the winner. Practically everybody who saw the running of the rich Churchill Downs Classic seems to think that a stupid ride by H. W. Fisher, his pilot, and illegal interference by Donald Meade, who had the leg up on Brokers Tip, are all that kept Head Play from scoring in the big Kentucky race. They saw at Louisville, in the Mason colorbearer, a perfectly fit and tremendously capable colt. And on Wednesday morning, over a muddy Pimlico track, the son of My Play demonstrated by working a mile in l:414,s, that in shipping he lost none of his sterling form. KEPT UNDER RESERVE. Bill Hurley, trainer of the eastern division of the Bradley menage, who in the absence of Dick Thompson, handler of the western division, will saddle Brokers Tip on Saturday, didnt ask the son of Black Toney for as much speed on Wednesdy as trainer Tom Hayes asked of the Mason representative. The Bradleyite went a slow mile in 1:46% and, although he was under triple wraps all the way, work watchers were not as much impressed with his performance as they were with Head Plays. There is little doubt that Jimmy Smith, the veteran jockey who has been doing Hurleys riding, will have the leg up Saturday on Brokers Tip. Meade, under thirty-day suspension in Kentucky for his foul tactics in the Derby, cannot ride in Mary-« land. Nor can Fisher, Head Plays Derby Pilot, who also is under ban because of employing lawless tactics as he and his mount went sailing down that long Churchill Downs stretch. Hayes has announced that, unless there is a last minute change in plans, Alfred Robertson will have he mount on the Mason colt. PROSPECTIVE STARTERS. The other ten horses which shape up a3 Preakness probables are Ladysman and Pomponius, from the W. R. Coe stable; Mr. Khayyam, from the Catawba Stable; J. E. Hughes Silent Shot; Willis Sharpe Kilmers Dark Winter; Mrs. John Hay Whitneys Poppyman; Lee Rosenbergs Kerry Patch; the Brookmeade Stables Inlander; H. C. Phipps De Valera, and the Wheatley Stables Utopian. Matt Brady, trainer of the Catawba horses, has declared that Mr. Khayyam will start in the Preakness only if the track is fast. Silent Shot and Inlander are not expected to start unless the racing strip is off color. And there is a possibility that Utopian will not start if the course is at its best. De Valera, which has been turning impressive works for trainer James Fitzsim-mons at Aqueduct, N. Y., arrived here today. Although he is a notoriously bad shipper, he appeared to have stood up well under his journey. He, Brokers Tip and Head Play are the only Preakness probables which have not appeared under colors this spring in Maryland. Ladysman, which reigned through the winter and up to post time as the Derby choice, and Pomponius, his stablemate, have been training at Mrs. Margaret Minot Amorys Sagamore Farm, in the Worthing-ton valley, and doing all that trainer John H. "Bud" Stotler, of Baltimore, has been asking of them. They shipped back from Kentucky in tip top shape. On Wednesday /Continued on twentu-third naae.l NOT MORE THAN TWELVE STARTERS IN PREAKNESS Continued from first page. morning they worked a slow mile over the three-quarters mile training track which was deep in mud, in 1:46. Stotler said that the two colts pulled up sound. He seems to be a bit inclined to believe that Pomponius is a slightly better horse than Ladysman. He has weakened a trifle on his illustrious "head man" since his dull performance in the Derby but still believes that he has a good chance to win the Preakness. He is of the opinion that Head Play is the horse to whip in the Maryland Jockey Clubs week-end special. Raymond "Sonny" Workman, the other C. V. Whitney contract rider, will be astride Ladysman on Saturday, as he was last Saturday in Louisville. Johnny Bejshak, Stot-lers son-in-law, will handle Pomponius. Dark Winter will likely — because of W. S. Kilmers rift with his contract rider, R. Jones — have Harvey Elston on his back if he starts. Earl Steffen, Mrs. John Hertz rider, probably will be astride Poppyman. Earl rode Mrs. Whitneys Stepenfetchit to victory last Saturday at Pimlico in the Dixie. Lou Schaefer, who was up on Kerry Patch in the Derby and in the Chesapeake at Havre de Grace, will have the mount on this fellow in the Preakness. "Hank" Mills is expected to come down from New York to ride De Valera, while Johnny Gilbert will ride Utopian. Pete Walls, who guided Mr. Khayyam to his record-breaking triumph in the Chesapeake, and who came near going out of the saddle when the son of Omar Khayyam stumbled after breaking first in the Derby, will ride him on Saturday unless trainer Brady makes a last minute switch in plans. Although the Preakness field figures to be smaller than the Derby field was, it also figures to be more select. The chances are that the race will be a far better one than the Derby. Neither the Derby nor the Chesapeake was regarded as having thrown a truly revealing light on the top notch three-year-olds now in shape to run. Therefore, interest in the Preakness is as high as it ever has been, and indications are that it will draw an unusually large crowd.
