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NARRAGANSETT OPENING 5000 King Philip Handicap Big BigFeature Feature of Inaugural Program Identify High Weight and Prospec ¬ tive Favorite for Race Track Condition Uncertain PAWTUCKET R I June 18 Narragan sett Parks second year of racing opens to ¬ morrow for a period of sixteen days As a headline attraction the mile and a sixteenth King Philip Handicap carrying 5000 in added money will be offered This special closed with a dozen entries but if the track is bad as now seems certain there is no chance that all will go to the post Alfred Vanderbilt whose recent luck in the New England sector has been rare will furnish the highweight and favorite of the inaugural feature in his vastly improved Identify a son of Man o War and Footprint which has gathered a string of four stake victories in the Toboggan Rockingham Park White Mountain and Granite State Handicaps He appears to be most favorably weighted un ¬ der 116 pounds one more than he carried in Saturdays victory and mud or dry shapes up as an 8 to 5 chance chanceWalter Walter OHara anticipates a close to ca pacity crowd for the opening providing the weather is clear Today was a miserable one at the track The heavy rains of last night and early this morning was followed by bleak chilly winds This gave the course little chance to dry out and it promises to be slow or worse tomorrow This condition will suit neither Fidelis nor Howard so their withdrawal from the stake is expected The other eight all appear able to handle themselves well over an off track trackChief Chief opposition to Identify promises to be furnished by Vicar a dusky son of Flying Ebony in the Belair outfit of William Wood ¬ ward This fouryearold did not do badly in the weekend stake at Rockingham Park and right off that showing has it on the others othersChatmoss Chatmoss a cracking mudder has been carefully prepared for this and other Nar ragansett stakes and with 106 pounds as his portion looks a factor factorPrince Prince Fox was a successful campaigner In the Far West last winter but his Rock ingham form was dismal and it is impossible to enthuse over this ones chances The same goes for Palma featherweighted with ninetynine to pack packDark Dark Hope would be a mighty troublesome fellow to down if the track was good but through the mud it is a different story The son of Traumer was a close second to Iden ¬ tify in the Rockingham Park Handicap but the track had a firm bottom for that stake despite the fact that the top was slippery slipperyLegume Legume a Belmont Park winner on Dec ¬ oration Day when he gained the distinction of being the only favorite to score has shown steady form this spring and summer He will like the track and 103 is not too severe an impost impostThe The King Philip had its initial running last August when the westernowned Hada gal from the Calumet Farm Stable of War ¬ ren Wright romped to victory followed by Dark Secret and Roustabout the latter being the public choice The illfated Dark Secret had not reached his top form at the time None of the three now are in training Dark Secret as all know broke his leg as he finished in The Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park last September and had to be destroyed Hadagal went wrong in the fall and now is in the stud while Roustabout went amiss this spring springThe The seven races surrounding the feature all have drawn excellent fields Due to the bad track this morning and the promise that it will not be good tomorrow six of these dashes have been given over to platers platersEverything Everything was in perfect condition at Narragansett Park today and it appeared that nothing could be done to improve the plant Since last year a quarter of a million has been spent on the property and one un ¬ derstands further improvements in the way of landscaping are still to come comeSam Sam Nuckols long active in the stewards stand at various tracks throughout the coun ¬ try heads the official family with C B Stickney and Howard Reynolds as his as ¬ sociates The latter is a Boston sports editor while Stickney is the New Hampshire Rac ¬ ing Commission steward at Rockingham Park and also serves in the stand at Hous ¬ ton Benjamin Ladd Cooke will preside as the racing commission representative Ben Holmes Vincent Treanor and Harry String ¬ er will act as placing judges Holmes also serves as handicapper Treanor also serves as steward at Laurel Tropical Park and Coney Island as well as placing judge at Hialeah Park Stringer who is secretary of the National Thoroughbred Foundation will be acting as a placing judge for the first time
