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r- 1 Here and There on the Turf Chance Sun to Rest After Derby So Was Not Named for Preak- ness. Omaha Proves Himself Ready Balladier Out Until 1936. A - - - - . A question racing enthusiasts are asking themselves and each other these days is Why did Joseph E. Widener fail to nominate Chance Sun, favorite for the Kentucky Derby, for the Preakness Stakes? It is not an oversight, because trainer Pete Coyne and agent John Groh are very careful about such matters and if it had been intended for the son of Chance Shot and Sunaibi to be among the nominees for the historic and valuable Pimlico attraction his subscription certainly would have been sent in. So, considering that Chance Suns absence from the Preakness eligibility list was not due to error or forgetfulness, the reason for his defection is something about which many persons are very curious. About the most plausible explanation is that Widener is very anxious to win the Kentucky Derby with the Belmont Futurity winner and then the Belmont Stakes, richest event for three-year-olds on this seasons racing calendar, and, as Chance Sun is being sent along very briskly in his training these days in order to be ready for the Churchill Downs meeting, it is taking something out of him that cannot be replaced except by rest following the Derby. In other words, the lateness of the training season in the Blue Grass this spring prevented Chance Sun from coming up to the Derby in a steady, gradual fashion and that, while trainer Coyne sees the opportunity to have the Widener three-year-old ready for an excellent effort in the Downs special, the colt will not have the conditioning to hold his edge for more than one or two races. By failing to nominate Chance Sun for the Preakness, the Widener camp is removing the temptation of running him in the 5,000 added mile and three-sixteenths contest to be decided a week after the Derby. With the Churchill Downs classic out of the way, Coyne can lighten up on Chance Suns work, so that the colt will freshen up thoroughly before time to be pointed for the Belmont and probably the Withers Stakes as well. Widener never has furnished the winner of the Preakness, but he has captured the Withers twice and the Belmont three times, both of these events with Chance Shot, sire of Chance Sun. A victory for the latter in the Belmont would give the Philadelphia sportsman the honor of taking principal honors in the race three years in succession. Once the Belmont is out of the way and with a thorough, well mapped-out conditioning campaign back of him, Chance Sun will be able to step out and participate in the remaining three-year-old specials in stride. Without Chance Sun, the Preakness still boasts of an imposing array of eligibles, including several prominent three-year-olds not entered in the Derby. Two of these are I Rosemont, the Foxcatcher Farms speedy son of The Porter, and the other is E. R. Bradleys Florida Derby winner, Black "Helen. Rosemont, victorious in the Eastern Shore Handicap and second in the Hopeful Stakes last season, is being groomed for the Preakness, this being his first major objective. Black Helen probably will be trained for the Pimlico stake, but she will not start unless she gets up to the race with a slow, careful preparation and is at herself on the afternoon of the running. At a mile and three-sixteenths, the Preakness is less arduous than the Derby. Walter M. Jeffords Firethorn is another Preakness candidate not among the Derby subscriptions. With its conditions changed so as to permit geldings to run, the Preakness has drawn the nominations of Commonwealth, St. Moritz and Furfiber. Omaha, leading candidate for three-year-old honors in the Belair Stud Stable of William Woodward, made his debut for the season in a test of a mile and seventy yards, which he covered in 1:43, just two-fifths slower than the Jamaica track record. The son of Gallant Fox and Flambino was rated along under steady restraint until leaving the back stretch, where he moved forward with a rush that carried him into such a good lead through the final straightaway that jockey Willie Saunders was able to take him in hand near the end. Omaha looked and handled himself like a fit colt, which is not surprising, considering that trainer James Fitzsimmons has been able to go right along with him all spring at Aqueduct, where the track is as good when it is wet as when it is dry. The Belair colt is expected to start in the Wood Memorial Stakes Saturday and, with Today and Plat Eye also expected to go in the 0,000 added mile and seventy yards event, the race very easily could supply the post favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Metropolitan racing fans have every right to look forward to an interesting race in the Wood Saturday and Jamaica may be called upon to handle its largest crowd of the spring season. Omaha, Today and Plat Eye all have impressed so well in the only starts of each that the public can well expect them to test each other thoroughly in the Wood Memorial. Frank Shannon and Thomas Kearney, the two leading operators of future books this spring, are advised to remove the name of Balladier from their odds on the Belmont Stakes as E. R. Bradley has decided not to have the good son of Black Toney and j Blue Warbler trained this season. In his early quotations on the Belmont, Shannon had Balladier notched at 10 to 1 and the colts absence naturally will cause a revision of the prices. The New York commissioner said yesterday that he was accommodating an unusually large amount of business on both the Derby and Preakness. Balladier suffered a slight tendon bow on the eve of the Eastern Shore Handicap last September and was immediately retired with the hope that a long rest would permit him to return to the races this year. For that reason he was not named for the Kentucky Derby. The United States Hotel and Champagne Stakes winner had been galloping steadily this spring at Idle Hour Farm when an ankle began troubling him, so it was decided to quit on him entirely 1 with the hope he would be able to resume racing as a four-year-old. Bradleynow must depend on Boxthorn and Black Helen for representation in the important three-year-old events this season.
