view raw text
Here and There nfheTurf J Wood Promises Good Race Qualifies New York Derby Hopes Lawrin Is Returning to Form Flying Heels Daughter Impresses ,.-..-.-....---.4 Jamaica promises to present quite a horse race tomorrow in the fourteenth running of . the "Wood Memorial Stakes, with a purse of j 0,000 provided by the Metropolitan Jockey ! Club. Numerous good fields of three-year- olds have decided previous runnings of the I Wood when the value was not so great, but i none can say that the larger prize has not 1 had the effect of attracting all the available prospects in readiness in New York, as -well as a Kentucky colt, which picked up the Chesapeake Stakes on his trip to the big city. Furthermore, the greater sum has had the effect of increasing interest in the mile and seventy yards contest, and, weather permitting, the Jamaica course will be well jammed with racing enthusiasts tomorrow. The Wood long has been New Yorks most important qualification test of Kentucky Derby candidates and out of this years renewal will come one or more of the out- standing members of the select group which will contest the Churchill Downs classic. The team James Fitzsimmons will send to j the post for William Woodward, Mrs. H. C. Phipps and, possibly, Ogden Phipps, prob- ably will rule the favorite, principally due to the act that it includes Fighting Fox. He will sport Woodwards Belair silks as Quick Devil and Stormscud comprise Mrs. Phipps entry. The Ogden Phipps candidate is Magic Hour, but some doubt exists as to whether he will start. Sharp opposition to the Fitzsimmons array should be forthcoming, however, what with Bourbon King being fresh from his Chesapeake triumph and Nedayr expected to improve over his performance in the Stuyve-sant Handicap, at six furlongs, in which he finished third. Greentree Stables Wood Song has worked sharply since his recent outing and the Woodland Farms Opera Hat gained numerous admirers by a winning effort last week. In addition are Myron Selznicks Cant Wait and Mrs. W. Plunket Stewarts Pasteurized, both of which are fast horses of some quality. Not all the Wood candidates are Derby eligibles, but the three leaders in the field, Fighting Fox, Nedayr and Bourbon King, are aiming for the Blue Grass special and their efforts tomorrow will determine whether they shall be shipped to Kentucky. Fighting Fox won off by himself in his first start of the season last Saturday over the six furlongs course, but his time, by comparison, was slow to that of his stablcmate, Merry Lassie, in winning the Stuyvesant. Nedayrs actual time was about the same as that of Fighting Fox and the Pimlico Futurity winner carried four pounds more. An impressive victory by either Fighting Fox or Nedayr will have the effect of reducing the margin by which Stagehand is the fu-.ture book favorite for the Derby. Both colts .have been in the top bracket of candidates all spring, particularly the brother of Gallant Fox. With Bourbon Kings form well established, a triumph by him in the Wood would j reduce the followings of Fighting Fox and Willis S. Kilmers hopeful. j Just when doubt existed as to the Derby status of Lawrin, that powerfully-made son of Insco Margaret Lawrence in the Wool-ford Farm stable came through with the fastest trial of the spring by any candidate for the May 7 prize. The Flamingo Stakes winner forgot all about the fact that he had an ailing hoof to step a mile in 1:38 and ease up nine furlongs in 1:52. Such an effort should have the effect of putting the Missouri-owned colt in first-class fettle for the Derby Trial Stakes on Tuesday, the race calculated to put him in complete readiness for the Derby, unless his ailment has been aggravated. Lawrin was best of the three-year-olds in Florida this winter and, considering the manner in which he captured: the Flamingo, his final advantage of a length and one-half over Bourbon King was decisive enough, as he finished out the mile and a furlong like a stout-hearted colt with no dislike for distance running. Those who knew how Flying Heels "dug in" when called upon to protect his advantage in the stretch were reminded of the fact by the performance of Shining Heels at Keeneland Wednesday when she defeated the best band of three-year-old fillies brought together at the meeting over the mile and one-sixteenth route, her time for which was 1:444,S, which was exceeded only by the record effort of Bull Lea. Shining Heels was expected in some quarters to find the distance too far, but after getting to the front she just kept on going, galloping Cross Keys into defeat and then responding with a fine show of courage by covering the mile in 1:38 to stave off the stretch challenge of Flying Lee. Shining Heels is eligible to the Kentucky Oaks and, while that assignment may prove too tough for her, she at least must be regarded as an outstanding candidate at the present time. She is a member of the first crop of foals by the son of Flying Ebony Heeltaps; by Ultimus, others of which can. run, too, as well as many among his current two-year-olds.
