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MiKELS H0MEW00D HOPES Pins Faith in Veteran Racers With Ervast and Wirt G. Bowman Oldest in Service. Most of the strings of thoroughbreds that will shortly begin unloading at Washington Park for the meeting which opens there on May 25, will have two-year-olds and three-year-olds as their major hopes of winning purses. Such handicap performers as are included will in most cases be not more than four or five years of age. With J. D. Mikel, veteran Illinois turfman, things are different. Mikel likes horses with plenty of racing experience behind them. And when his stable of twenty-seven horses arrives at Washington Park, no less than twelve of his thoroughbreds will be seven-year-olds and over. The real veterans of the Mikel string are, of course, the nine-year-olds, Ervast and Wirt G. Bowman. The eigh-year-olds are Flag Time, Prince Tokalon and Polyfon. Comparative youngsters are such well-remembered seven-year-olds as Gold Step, Enro, Ridgeview, Lamp Black, Al Neiman, Chickahominy and Burning Up. One of the Washington Park fixtures which Mikel will be eying is the Chicago Handicap, the ,000 added sprint, at six furlongs, which will be the feature of the opening day program. He is hoping that Gold Step, three years ago known as the Inaugural Handicap champion of the turf, j will regain enough of his former speed to be the first to pass the judges. In 1932, when the opening stake at Homewood was known as the Washington Park Handicap, Gold Step beat such good horses as Silver-dale and Ladder to win it. That year Gold Step moved right over to Arlington Park to beat Polydorus and Epithet in the Inaugural Handicap there. 4
