view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Arlington Bids for Match Race Can Accommodate Huge Crowd Snark Tops Paumonok Field 1 High Weights Have Fared Well Arlington Park, Chicagos largest race course and comparable with the finest in the country, has offered a purse of 00,000 for War Admiral and Seabiscuit. Within a few days an announcement may be forthcoming that the race will be staged providing no mis--2 haps are suffered by either horse in their preparation for the event, which would be at a mile and one-quarter, under scale weight, 126 pounds each. If any track can afford to give 00,000 for such a race, it is Arlington Park, even though the Chicago course is not a big money maker. Arlington happens to haye a well-equipped plant, one that can handle as large a crowd as any track in the country, and the match between War Admiral and Seabiscuit should attract a capacity crowd. A gathering of this sort probably would net the association a modest profit, to which it would be entitled. The race between War Admiral and Sea-hiscuit at Arlington Park, or any other Chicago track for that matter, would give racing in the Middle West a wonderful impetus, which it needs badly. Persons who have not enjoyed racing in years could not help but become excited enough to witness the meeting between the two outstanding candidates for handicap honors. Since War Admiral won the Widener Challenge Cup, and Sea-biscuit all but captured the Santa Anita Handicap, many arguments have ensued regarding the relative merits of the two horses. Each has a tremendous following and it would be difficult to select the probable favorite, hence the reason why a race between them would bring out the patrons in almost endless numbers. Arlingtons race would be handy for both horses, because during June War Admiral has an engagement in the Massachusetts Handicap, and -Seabiscuit the Hollywood Gold Cup, both 0,000 affairs, with a maximum top weight of 130 pounds. Considerable headway was made in bringing about the match even before the first announcement appeared. Charles S. Howard, Seabiscuits owner, was approached during the winter and stated his willingness. Samuel D. Riddle, who races War Admiral, as he did the colts daddy, Man o War, has informed John Hertz, chairman of the executive committee of the Arlington Park Jockey Club, that he will discuss the matter within a few days. So the race has an excellent chance of being brought about, particularly as the time is during July, which would fit both horses perfectly. If Belmont Park or some other leading track wishes to offer 00,000 foe a meeting between the two stars, that is well and good, but Arlington Park seems to have made considerable progress in lining up the contest and may have first crack. Concrete information that the opening of the New York season at Jamaica is close at hand is shown by the issuance of weights for the Paumonok Handicap, one of the outstanding sprints in the country. This dash of six furlongs, with ,500 in added money, a pleasing increase, will headline Jamaicas inaugural program and possibly will draw a well-balanced field. Snark, the top weight under 132, is one of the fastest horses in the country, but he encountered first one obsta- . , ; : cle and then another in his campaign last season. Nevertheless, the son of the unpro-lific Boojum and Helvetia, by Hourless, was good enough to capture the Metropolitan, Queens County and Rochambeau handicaps and was second in the Toboggan, What Cheer and Narragansett Special handicaps, a record which speaks for itself. His position at the top of the Paumonok group is a recommendation for the event. Quite a few of the fastest horses seen at winter tracks may be expected to try for the Paumonok, in which their seasoning would stand in good stead, but handicapper John Campbell has taken stock of their campaigning and he cant get away from Snark as the logical top weight. A total of twenty-two horses are eligible to the six furlongs dash and, with the closing time as late as it was, a large percentage may be expected to go postward. Although Snark will be asked to give much weight to all the others and there will be a question of his fitness, his record, which included the world n.ark for six and one-half furlongs before Menow won the Futurity last fall, commands the Wheatley Stable veteran to be well supported. History shows that high weighted horses have done quite well by themselves in the numerous runnings of the Paumonok, with hardly any of them having come off the winter tracks.
