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I TWO STAKES AT ROCKINGHAM Granite State Handicap and Matron Stakes Saturdays Features. Blackbirder Top Weight Under 124 Founds for Granite State New Deal Gets Weight Concession. SALEM, N. H., June 25. The first; Saturday of racing at Rockingham, Parle will be featured by two stake events, the mile and a sixteenth ,000 added Granite State Handicap, for three-year-olds and over, anil the six furlongs ,500 added Matron, for fillies and mares. The first named event looms as an extremely open contest. Ten have accepted overnight, with F. L. Flanders Blackbirder top weight under 124, conceding three pounds to the Araho Stables New Deal. Favoritism is certain to go to one of the top weights, but there should be little difference in the odds between them. Blackbirder has numerous stake victories at Suffolk to his credit and has been freshened up slightly since those contests. He has proved one of the most consistent horses in the stake division in this part of the country. He was out of the money in his last, but too much racing and high weight was responsible for that defeat. New Deal shipped here during the middle j part of the Suffolk Downs season and Bobby Curran has brought him up to the race grad- J ually. He will also go into the contest a ; fresh and fit horse. He had an exceptionally j j 1 good mile work for the event when he sped ! ja mile in 1:41 and a fraction, hard held all ! the way. He is looking and acting well and j should have no excuses on the score of con-i dition. His stable connections are very con-j f ident that nothing can beat him tomorrow ; ! , afternoon. i i UP AND UP AT BEST. I Mrs. E. I. Wades Up and Up, a horse that I has moved to the stake ranks from the ! claiming division, is at his best and should i give an excellent account of himself in the Granite State. He will probably rule the third choice under his impost of 112 pounds, which appears far from excessive in the light j of his Suffolk Downs races. Johnny Brouse, who trains this game campaigner, reports ! him exceptionally sharp. I Fair Knightess, one of the fastest fillies i in the country, has also been named for the I race. She has a tremendous burst of early j speed, but seems to have none the best of it j I at 116 pounds. j I Eight have accepted for the Matron. Toro , Lee, a campaigner from the coast, is the top j weight under 122, conceding four pounds to j Slavonia, who showed excellent form back , at Boston. However, it is likely that Black Mistress, which beat the best horses in New England last season and is making her 1937 j debut in this section, will be the favorite. Infinata qualified handsomely for the race when she won here the other day. Willis Sharpe Kilmer will send forth an entry in Beauedwina and Sun Celerina. Atonement II. and Lady Bewithus complete the field. Beautiful weather continued today and prospects were that it would prevail for Saturdays racing. The matinee will be the largest from the standpoint of handle that the week-old session has enjoyed.
