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WOOD MEMORIAL TODAY AT JAMAICA PREVIEW OF KENTUCKY DERBY NINE NAMED OVERNIGHT Fighting Fox, Nedayr and Bourbon King Meet Today. Showing of Colts to Determine Their Derby Status Fitzsimmons Holds Strong Hand. NEW YORK, N. Y April 29. The Wood Memorial, New Yorks Kentucky Derby preview, promises to have its most interesting renewal at the Jamaica course of the Metropolitan Jockey Club tomorrow afternoon. The Wood is the first important three-year-old offering of the local season and supporting this 0,000 added attraction, the Long Island plant offers a running of the ,000 added Jamaica Handicap, a test of three-quarters for three-year-olds and upward. Because of its bearing on the Louisville race one week from today, New York thoroughbred enthusiasts are expected to turn out en masse to witness the Wood program. The stellar feature has drawn nine of the countrys best three-year-old prospects, headed by William Woodwards Fighting Fox, currently second choice in future book wagering on the Derby and coupled with Stormscud and Quick Devil, the favorite for this afternoons contest. From Kentucky comes Hal Price Head-leys Bourbon King, winner last Saturday of the Chesapeake, while Willis Sharpe Kilmer is represented by his Virginia-bred Nedayr, hero of the Walden and Pimlico Futurity last autumn. With all nine named yesterday starting the mile and seventy yards stake will have a gross value of 5,025 and net the winner 7,700. TRAINER OF BOTH FAVORITES. Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, leading trainer of the meeting, probably will send out the favorites for both the Wood and Jamaica Handicap with Wheatley Stable starting Merry Lassie in the latter contest. Only a continuation of warm spring weather is needed to give the Metropolitan Jockey Club the largest crowd in its history. The first Saturday of the meeting found a trifle over 20,000 folks turning out for a program not nearly so attractive as that offered tomorrow afternoon and that turnstile figure now stands as the tracks "high." The management of the little plant is making every effort to handle such an attendance more efficiently than on the first day when there was much congestion. It is doubtful if the Wood Memorial, a stake won by the Derby winners, Gallant Fox and Twenty Grand, and the Preakness winner, High Quest, ever before has drawn so many high class colts as for todays 13th renewal. In addition to Fighting Fox, brother of Gallant Fox, Nedayr and Bourbon King, it has attracted the entry of such accomplished colts as Cant Wait, Stormscud, Quick Devil, Opera Hat, Pasteurized and Wood Song. Each has 120 pounds and each has trained smartly for the engagement so that none can have any excuse on the score of conditioning and the weights. AFTER THIRD TRIUMPH. Wheatley Stable has won the most recent two runnings of the stake with Teufel and Melodist and in 1928 won it with Distraction. Continued on twenty-ninth page. WOOD MEMORIAL TODAY AT JAMAICA PREVIEW OF DERBY Continued from first page. Mrs. Phipps will make a strong bid this afternoon Avith both Stormscud and Quick Devil to represent her. Neither of the pair is in the Derby but both are in the Preak-ness. They will run coupled with William Woodwards Fighting Fox, whom the chairman of The Jockey Club hopes will emulate his brother, Gallant Fox, which won the Wood for him in 1930 and then went on to take the triple crown and the championship. Fighting Fox is generally considered the. stoutest of this trio and victory for him will make him the Easts main reliance for 1 a victory in the Kentucky Derby next weekend. The entry will be odds-on probably at about 3 to 5. Each of the Fitzsimmons-trained entry has been a winner at the meeting in impressive fashion, Quick Devil winning twice. Stormscud in his most recent appearance was beaten by Bourbon King in the Chesapeake at Havre de Grace over a track he did not like. Many believe he will turn the tables on the invader from the Blue Grass today. The three finished off their hard work for the race last Tuesday morning at Aqueduct and Fighting Foxs move was by far the most impressive, although Stormscud put in a couple of eighths in :12 in the middle of his prep. Fighting Fox worked with Quick Devil and obviously could have beaten off that less cheerful worker had Stout willed when they went head and head in 1:39 flat for the mile after going five-eighths right at :58 and three-quarters in 1:11. Theyre all three sharp at tacks. Fighting Fox may have an edge in his high flight of early speed, with Opera Hat now shaping up the only member of the field capable of going with him from the break. SUPPORT FOR BOURBON KING. Bourbon King will come in for plenty of support off his smashing score in the Chesapeake. The Whichone colt is good at such a distance as a mile and seventy yards. Nedayr turned in a very good effort to be third in last Saturdays three-quarters Stuyvesant in his 1938 debut. He was top weight with 126 and simply could not cope with the speed of Merry Lassie, who had a race previously at the meeting and turned three-quarters in 1:11 to register by plenty of daylight. Nedayrs training had been over more extended distances and trainer "Doc" Crawford informs us that he expects a far better effort from the dusky homebred son of Neddie this afternoon. Wayne Wright will have the mount. That lad also Avill be astride Nedayr in the Derby if he is a starter in the Blue Grass classic next week-end. This depends upon his showing today, according to Crawford. With a race under his belt and plenty of good mile moves behind him, the Virginian figures a stout contender. Opera Hat, a Jersey-owned and bred son of Top Hat, no longer is a dark horse of the Wood field. He will have plenty of support after his galloping victory in his first appearance as a three-year-old here recently. He came back last Tuesday at Aqueduct after that six furlongs score to show a good mile in 1:40 for trainer Feakes. CANT WAIT UNCERTAIN. Cant Wait ran so poorly in the Stuyvesant that it is impossible to enthuse over his prospects of beating tougher horses at a longer distance. The Californian raced during the winter and should havcbeen fit for his best in the six furlongs Stuyvesant, if not knocked out by the long trek across the Rockies. He needed no training for the race tomorrow, and if he doesnt show better than in his race last week-end, a freshening may be in order. Jockey Woolf has been engaged to ride him. Pasteurized put in a good work at Belmont the other morning for George Odom in preparation for the Wood, and is another which raced during the cold season, being active in Florida, where he failed to run to last autumns promise. The big son of Milkman was never better than at present, and Mrs. W. P. Stewarts representative will be handled by Charley Kurtsinger, who returns to the saddle tomorrow, after being suspended by Brookmeade for a couple of weeks. Wood Song, Greentree Stables representative, handed in a nice race recently when forcing Quick Devil out to the last ounce. The gray son of Royal Minstrel has nothing the worst of it in the riders, with Eddie Arcaro up. SPEEDY MERRY LASSIE. The Jamaica Handicap shapes up a corking sprint race, with Merry Lassie getting in under 111 and looming up as the strongest odds-on choice of the day. She is opposed by Little Miracle, with ll8. No boy was named for the latter, while Longden rides Merry Lassie. Clodion goes with Nick Wall in the saddle and packing 117 pounds. Grey Gold, that demon post horse, will be handled by Corona and has 112 pounds, while Black Look, with Wright and 119 pounds up, completes the small but select field. Every one has shown in public here at the meeting. Black Look, a recent winner, stacks up as the chief opponent for the Wheatley filly, which will be striving for her second stake of the season. She put in the best three-quarters of the meeting to date to gallop in 1:11 in the Stuyvesant. J. T. Mayberry was an arrival with the horses City Judge and Bail Out, Halle, one that he claimed in Florida has since died.
