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MAROONED IN THRILLER • Scores His First Success of the Year in Handicap at Detroit. ♦ Outlasts Sabula in Spirited Finish, With a Nose Separating Blue Emperor and Mr. Sponge. DETROIT, Mich., July 11.— In a thrilling finish, one of the many during the afternoon, Leo J. Marks sterling sprinter Marooned scored his first success of the year when he lasted to head Fred Alger, Jr.s Detroit-owned and stanchly-supported Sabula, in the three-year-old handicap that topped the mid-week program at the Fair Grounds this afternoon. Blue Emperor car- I I ried the Keeneland Stud colors into third place, a nose before C. and C. L. Kings Mr. Sponge. Desert Call and Rip Van Winkle completed the field that contested the six furlongs. i With the exception of Desert Call, which propped at the break, the field was away in | good order, with Blue Emperor the first to ! show. Soon afterwards, however, Sterling Young drove the winner into command and, [ covering the opening quarter in :23, he had half of a lengths advantage over Desert Call as they left the back stretch. Overcoming his tardy beginning in such fashion proved too great for Desert Call, and he retired gradually. Near the stretch Sabula began to improve her position and, lucky to find room on the inside, she gradually shortened the winners lead. While the leading paii fought it out gamely, Blue Emperor and Mr. Sponge were engaging in a bumping contest, with the lightly weighted Blue Emperor holding, his slight advantage to the end. Rip Van Winkle was a trailer throughout. Under 106 pounds, nine less than Mr. Sponge, Marooned ran the distance in 1:12% and j.aid 1.40 for . Although the weather was nearly the hottest of the meeting, a banner crowd turned I out for the attractive mid-week program. The gathering, however, experienced great trouble in selecting the winners, for most of 1 them came from unexpected quarters. The Continued on eighteenth page. MAROONED IN THRILLER Continued from first page. track improved rapidly from Tuesday nights rain and was classified as fast. The fourth race, and the supporting -attraction, resulted in the biggest surprise of the day when M. M. Riddles improving Essential showed a return to his brilliant Texas form by accounting for the six furlongs dash. Nine started, with Sun Monk second, two lengths back of the winner and a neck before Foxiana, which beat the favored Terrier by two lengths for third. From the extreme outside position Essential sprinted into the lead. Foxiana and Terrier alternated at offering him strong challenges, and, although forced to race on the outside, the winner increased his lead in the final furlong to be in hand at the end. A mild surprise came with the running of the first race, when the Keeneland Studs Wilderness Way lasted to beat the stanchly supported Herendeth at the end of five furlongs. Third went to Maple Hussy. Ridden by H. Callahan, the daughter of Vito and Wild Violets raced into command soon after the start and, after drawing away to a good lead in the run to the stretch, Callahan was forced to put the miss to vigorous pressure in withstanding Herendeth, which was shuffled back in the opening furlong. Maple Hussy got up to take the minor award from the well regarded Suncircle Blaze, which was much the best of the seven other maiden juveniles. The stewards ordered W. E. Charles* Lier withdrawn from the first race Wednesday when the juvenile was not in the paddock at the required time. The second race, which engaged a field of eight at six furlongs, was productive of one of the closest finishes of the meeting, with E. R. Mitchells Wise Money lasting to beat Injustice by a nose. A head back of the latter was Style Corner, which was slightly more than a length before Oderic. The winner was a strong factor from the start and was lucky to find room in the middle of his field after reaching the stretch. At the close of the half mile, where Morsun retired, Injustice came through on the inside and, although he offered the winner a strong bid in the final sixteenth, Wise Money held on tenaciously, with Style Corner gradually wearing Injustice down. The third race, also at three-quarters, resulted in another thrilling finish, a surprise, and the defeat of a well-meant good thing that showed a startling form reversal, when winning honors went to J. L. McKnights Crackle, which held on gamely to beat Lady Menifee, whose last effort caused the suspension of jockey J. Longo. Kieva, slight favorite over Lady Menifee, was third. While Crackle was only runinng back to her previous good effort. Lady Menifee, which was decisively beaten in that race, showed marked improvement, as she offered the filly the most contention and only missed defeating her by half a length. Kieva held third place throughout.
