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CLASSICS-GREAT IMPORTANCE I Usually Decides Three-Year-Old Championship Late in July. t " Notable Array of Crack Horses Has Carried Off This Valuable Fixture of Arlington Park Jockey Club. This season will be marked by many thrilling contests among the three-year-olds, and racing enthusiasts throughout the country will have the opportunity of following the progress of a championship fight that may not end until the running of the Classic Stakes at Arlington Park July 20. The Classic, to which is added 0,000, is one of the most valuable attractions for three-year-olds on the nations racing calendar, and coming, as it does, in mid-July, it brings together the outstanding colts and fillies from East and West to decide for themselves which shall wear the. champions crown. Interest in three-year-old racing began with the running of the three most important such contests on the winter schedulethe Florida, Santa Anita and Texas Derbys. In the meantime the public begins to wonder about the outcome of the principal spring stakes for these horses, which are the Chesapeake Stakes, Wood Memorial Stakes, Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Of this quartet, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness naturally are the most important. With the spring features decided, attention is diverted to the Withers and Belmont Stakes in New York and the Illinois, Detroit, American and Latonia Derbys in the West. The Belmont is a race that annually attracts prominent three-year-olds that were not pointed for the important specials run earlier in the season, and after it has been decided the owners arid trainers of its leading contestants begin thinking about gaining championship honors. Each of the six previous runnings of the Classic has had an important bearing on defining the three-year-old situation, and on the occasions that Blue Larkspur, Gallant Fox and Cavalcade were triumphant it firmly established these colts at the top of the rankings. Blue Larkspur came west after winning the Belmont to stop the winning streak of Rose of Sharon and to wipe out a previous defeat at the hands of Clyde Van Dusen. Gallant Fox was called upon to repel a determined challenge from Gallant Knight, which proved later that he was a really great horse, while Cavalcade used the Classic last year to uncover one of the most brilliant performances of his career. The. 1931 Classic was productive of an exciting struggle between Mate and Twenty Grand, while Gustos victory the following season enabled him to be the leading money winner of the season. A muddy track in 1933 was of inestimable value to Inlander and he defeated Golden Way, War Glory and other championship contenders. That season saw the three-year-old division lacking in high quality. Otto Lehmann, president of the Arlington Park Jockey Club, who also serves as a steward at Arlington Park, and foryears the owner of a modest stable, is of the opinion that the three-year-olds this season will, as a rule, be of much better quality than is usual, although he doubts if the leaders of the division will compare favorably with the outstanding colts last year, which were Cavalcade, Discovery, Peace Chance, Riskulus, Hadagal and Observant.
