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I j Here and There! I on the Turf j ♦ i ; St. Bernard Aiming for Metro- politan ! Bull Dog Colt in Excellent Fet- j tie Ned Reigh May Get Ready for ♦ Preakness » i McGarvey Goes Easy With The j Fighter j t .... ..................... ........4 Alex Gordon, who believes in training his horses by lantern light, has designs on the Metropolitan Handicap, important mile event on the Belmont Park program, and is carefully preparing St. Bernard for the race, which is scheduled to be renewed Saturday, May 16. The four-year-old son of Bull Dog and Eager Cissy, by Cicero, has been used as a workmate for Coldstream lately, but when the latter was stretched out to a mile and a quarter workout for the Kentucky Derby, St. Bernard was confined to a mile trial, and it is expected he will continue to be sharpened up for efforts at that distance. The horses Gordon is training for Coldstream Stud and Elmer Dale Shaffer will remain at Churchill Downs for the greater part of the meeting, but he likely will ship East in time for the Belmont opening May 11. However, he has in his charge three eligibles to the Kentucky Oaks in Floradora, Albania and Erla, and this race, with ,000 added, is to be run the same day as the Metropolitan. St. Bernard distinguished himself by finishing a good second to Omaha in the Classic at Arlington Park last summer and by a victory in the Kenner Stakes at Saratoga, but he proved a disappointment in the Trav-ers Stakes, in which he was a heavy favorite, never being able to overtake Gold Foam. As a two-year-old the Shaffer colt won the Bashford Manor Stakes and other events and, despite two seasons of campaigning, he is as sound as when he started. Being a very fast colt, the son of Bull Dog could make a lot of trouble in a race like the Metropolitan, even though King Saxon, Discovery and other fast horses are expected in » . . Continued on sixteenth nnae HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Contimked from second page. the starting field. St. Bernard could not be made ready for the Clark Handicap, opening feature at Churchill Downs, and he has no other engagements at the Louisville course, so right now Gordon is concentrating on Coldstream for the Derby. Ned Reighs illness at Churchill Downs, slight as it was but sufficient to keep him from running in the Kentucky Derby, came as a considerable blow to Willis Sharpe Kilmer and his trainer, Jack Whyte, as the Binghamton sportsman had visions of winning the Blue Grass special for the second time. The Kilmer colors were carried to victory in the Derby the first time by Exterminator, which went on to become one of the most durable campaigners of distinction this country has ever known. Exterminator had been purchased from Cal Milam as a workmate for Sun Briar, but when the imported horse was unable to make ready for the event, the McGee gelding substituted in handsome fashion. Ned Reigh v.ill be returned to Belmont Park as soon as his condition permits, and if all goes well, he will be pointed for the Preakness. Trainer Whyte believes he has time enough to make the Pimlico attraction if the son of Neddie suffers no more bad luck, and that his charge will be hard to beat in that mile and three-sixteenths affair, even though the colt failed to impress in the Wood Memorial Stakes. Robert McGarvey followed Mix Hirschs example in taking no chances that a hard race might knock out his Kentucky Derby candidate and he declared The Fighter from the Trial Purse Tuesday. Hirsch previously had withdrawn Bold Venture from the Wood Memorial Stakes at Jamaica and shipped him on to Churchill Downs. Whereas Bold Venture had been to the post but once, winning an allowance race easily at Jamaica. The Fighter has seen considerable service at Santa Anita and Arlington Downs, his last effort producing a victory in the Texas Derby. When McGarvey made up his mind not to give The Fighter a race over the Downs course, he asked the Bull Dog colt I for a handy trial over the mile distance. The Fighter did all his racing at Arlington Downs without much speed work and it is evident from his training in Louisville that ; 1 he will go into the Derby with the same sort of preparation. Leon Carter, whose Black Gift won the Philadelphia Handicap at Havre de Grace Saturday, always has been owner of the son of Neddie and Reliance, but while he was in charge of the Brookmeade Farm in Vir- ginia he leased the colt to the Brookmeade Stable of Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane. Under the Brookmeade silks. Black Gift won quite a few races and now he is doing right well for his owner, who also is training the four-year-old and bred him. Black Gift displayed a very creditable per-formance in the Philadelphia, following the pace of Cycle and his former stablemate, Psvchic Bid, closely until reaching the I I | ! I ! I ; 1 stretch, where he moved up gamely to triumph by a length over the stoutly closing Stand Pat, with Cycle finishing third. Although Black Gifts victory was scored in comparatively slow time he won over a field of fair quality and until asked to carry too much weight, the son of Neddie should be a factor in similar events, such as the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico. *-, — i
