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Here and There on the Turf i ii i i Mud Favors Roman Soldier But Good Conditions Are Wanted WantedTwenty Twenty Grand Needs Time Keeneland Drive Under Way Washington Parks track is muddy and the sun is trying to break through the clouds which have hovered over the Chicago area for the last four or five days Phil Reuter part owner and trainer of the gal ¬ lant little Roman Soldier gazes aloft every BO often and then makes another inspection of the course The hefty Dutchman you see doesnt care so much about the Home wood track drying out nor the sun smashing through the clouds until too late because he believes Roman Soldier has a better chance to capture Saturdays running of the Amer ican Derby in rough going than over a dry course Meanwhile the connections of the other principal candidates notably the Bradley pair of Black Helen and Bloodroot are hoping for a fast track although the lastnamed is believed to be able to run very well in the mud mudRoman Roman Soldier has been tried in all sorts of going and has not been found wanting Reuter returned to Washington Park from Detroit with the son of Cohort and Miamba by Light Brigade more enthused than ever over the ability of the colt which scored a decisive victory in the Detroit Derby The Oak Park horseman believes his star charge is in better condition now than he eyer has been and that he will make the American Derby his third such victory of the season the colt haying accounted for the Texas Derby prior to his successful trip to thi Motor City He also has been second to te mighty Omaha in the Kentucky Derby nd to Sun Portland in the Illinois Derby Ro ¬ man Soldier already has obtained revenge on the lastnamed colt and Reuter is bold enough to predict that the Cohort three yearold will do the same to the reigning leader in their next entanglement which probably will be in the Classic ClassicBloodroot Bloodroot which will be getting ten pounds actual weight from Roman Soldier Saturday never has raced in the mud but that doesnt mean that she cant although it might indicate that her handlers have been wary about trusting her on an off track However she is a daughter of Blue Lark ¬ spur and the latter proved himself a good Tmudder especially in the first running of the Classic which he won off by himself Continued on thirtyseventh page HERE TURFContinued AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page over a very deep track Count Arthur which split the two Bradley fillies at the end of a fastrun test of a mile and seventy yards last Saturday may find mud more to his liking than fast going while Nellie Flag might have a better chance with the course in sloppy condition conditionNaturally Naturally the Washington Park manage ¬ ment is hopeful that weather and track con ¬ ditions will be tiptop on Saturday for which there is a good chance if the latest forecast does not strike a snag The Homewood as ¬ sociation has been prevented from enjoying a profitable meeting by too frequent spells of bad weather particularly on Memorial Day and one of the three Saturdays already passed Had the weatlier been seasonable throughout the meeting it would have been very successful but now the management can only hope that Derby Day will be bright and clear and the final week will be like ¬ wise for a loss to be avoided Regardless of the poor weather patronage at Washington has been well above that of last year so everything considered Chicago racing is in better condition now than it has been for several seasons Twenty Grand failed to impress in his first start in England which doesnt mean anything If he doesnt come through in his next two or three starts then the veteran member of the Greentree Stable may be considered as a disappointment in English racing Twenty Grand has many obstacles to overcome before he can be expected to run a good race For one the son of St Germans and Bonus must become thorough ¬ ly acclimatized he must become adapted to running over the turf and he has to respond to the English method of training All of these factors may be met by Twenty Grand but he still must forget about the mystify ¬ ing ailment in his leg and that he is seven years of age The record of American in ¬ vaders of England in recent years is not so good there having been a string of failures since Reigh Count won a Coronation Cup and finished second in the Ascot Gold Cup in 1929 Having been approved by the government securities commission the Keeneland Asso ¬ ciation has come into being with prominent horsemen of central Kentucky leading the drive to obtain sufficient money to convert Keeneland Farm into a racing plant The sum of 350000 is required and considerable of this already has been subscribed by per ¬ sons interested in putting over the proj ¬ ect It is hoped that the remainder will not be long in forthcoming whether it is fur ¬ nished by Kentuckians or by others con ¬ nected with racing The plan is to make Keeneland a training headquarters as well j as1 an attractive place where brief race meetings may be held spring and fall Suc ¬ cess of the project should have a beneficial effect on Lexington as a sales center as the Blue Grass auctions always were better when held in conjunction with a race meet ¬ ing Lexington is the hub of Americas rac ¬ ing wheel and should have a good race oursej to show f or it a
