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Here and There on the Turf 1 Whitneys to Eace at Downs Will Bid for Derby, Other Stakes Spa Stake Entries Show Decrease Narragansett Park Is Being Improved , -- Participating in the Churchill Downs meeting opening May 1 will be twenty horses owned by the several branches of the Whitney family. This will be in keeping with the combined efforts of Matt Winn and his Churchill Downs associates and Hal Price Headley, Maj. Louie A. Beard and other Keeneland leaders to elevate the caliber of Kentucky racing through an increase in stakes and purses at both tracks. Just what horses will represent C. V. Whitney. Green-tree Stable, John Hay Whitney and the Man-hasset Stable at Churchill Downs have not been determined, but whatever they arc they will be thoroughbreds in readiness for competition. All of these stables are so equipped that they can send horses, tardy in their training, to other points. The personnel of this combined stable may be expected to include several candidates for the Kentucky Derby. C. V. Whitney has three candidates for the Downs classic in Black Look and Flying Cross, which at present are at the farm near Lexington training under the direction of Thomas J. Healey, while Ptolemy is in the East in care of John A. Healey. The Green- tree Stable named four colts for the Derby, I of which Eli Yale and Tattered were injured J in Florida, but Forty Winks and Chicolorado are reported to be going smoothly in their preparation at Red Bank, N. J. Forty Winks, winner of the Saratoga Special by ten lengths, is the most highly regarded of the quartet. William Brennan has Forty Winks and Chicolorado in his charge, with John Gaver having the others, as well as White Tie, owned by the Manhasset Stable of Mrs. Joan Shepman Payson and Mrs. Thomas Loughlin. Mrs. Payson is a sister of John Hay Whitney and a daughter of Mrs. Payne Whitney, who owns the Green-tree Stable. Roustabout and Tatterdemalion, prominent older members of the C. V. Whitney stable, likely will be pointed for the Clark Handicap, 0,000 opening day feature at Churchill Downs. They are working right along with Black Look and Flying Cross and are well ahead in their preparation. Roustabout, especially, appears in excellent condition, and trainer Healey is hopeful the veteran son of Chicle and Traffic will have the best season of his career. Other Churchill Downs attractions interesting the Whitneys are the Bashford Manor Stakes and the Ken-lucky Oaks, especially the latter race which will be staged on May 15, a week after the Derby. The Whitney forces are leaders in the effort to obtain more stakes for fillies and mares, and they may be expected to patronize such contests whenever possible. " "Whitney horses have been prominent in past runnings of the Kentucky Oaks. Nominations to the twenty-four stakes on the Saratoga roster number 110 less than the total entries for the same events during 1936, but the decrease has no significance as the percentage is very slight. The comparison shows 1,989 nominations for this years running of the two dozen stakes as against 2,099 for last season. All of the claiming stakes, with the exception of the Kentucky, showed decreases. They are the Amsterdam, Mohawk, Seneca and Troy and cater mostly to two-year-olds. The Wilson and Whitney Stakes, whose conditions were changed from allowances to weight-for-age, also closed with fewer-entries, the Wilson at one mile with fifty-one, a drop from sixty-three, and the Whitney at a mile and one-quarter with forty-two, ten less. Most of the other races for three-year-olds and older horses were off slightly, which may mean the competition offered by other tracks for Continued on twenty-seventh page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. material is taking its toll. Sharpest increases were noted in the better two-year-old events. Narragansett Park, which will open the New England season this year on May 1, is receiving elaborate preparations for the occasion. Even though it is one of the newest tracks in the country, the Rhode Island plant is being done over just the same, the policy of Walter E. OHara being to have it spick and span at all times. A major improvement at Narragansett in handling the crowds is the construction of new roads and bettering the parking lot, so that motorists who furnish a large percentage of the tracks tremendous crowds, will have less trouble getting to and from the park. Even though Narragansett will be operating at the same time as Pimlico, Jamaica and Belmont Park on the eastern circuit, it will not lack for horses, judging by the heavy requests for stabling accommodations. Of interest is the fact that many of the reservations are for stables that campaigned at Santa Anita Park this winter.
