view raw text
_ — — Here and There on the Turf — — — — Pompoon Camp Confident Colt Ready for Top Effort War Admiral Strong Choice Suburban Enthuses Public Prevailing in the camp of Pompoon is a quiet yet noticeable confidence that in the fifth meeting between the son of Pompey and Oonagh, by Friar Rock, and War Admiral the former will attain his second victory. The next clash between the two colts is due to come about tomorrow afternoon at Belmont Park and all persons liking a good horse race should be there if possible. Pompoon took the honors in the first meeting between the two colts when he captured the National Stallion Stakes, going on from there to establish himself as the two-year-old champion of 1936. Not until the Kentucky Derby last year did War Admiral again confront Jerome Louchheims colt and he led from end to end although Pompoon came through with a smashing performance to finish second about two lengths away. On the following Saturday the feud was renewed in the Preakness but Pompoon had no business in the race. He has since demonstrated that he doesnt wish his engagements to be very close together, but he went into that Preakness condition with an ailing foot. Nevertheless, over a drying-out track, Pompoon held the Samuel D. Riddle colt to a head and some observers believe that if Wayne Wright had sent him up on the outside the Louchheim color-bearer would have been the winner as he was kept in the worst part of the going by the Derby winner. Coming out of that engagement even more the worse for wear, Pompoon had less business in the Belmont Stakes in which he finished well back. That was the last clash between the two colts; but the Pompoon connections still have an idea their performer can and will take another verdict over War Admiral. In California this winter, Pompoon, entirely recovered from the injury troubling him since the Derby, trained brilliantly for the Santa Anita Handicap until he suffered a bruise which may have prevented him from running his best race in that 00,000 event. Nevertheless, the Pompey colt was good enough to take third place ahead of a distinguished field although being well beaten by Stagehand and Seabiscuit. Entirely cured of his latest ailment Pompoon went into the Dixie in such tip-top condition that he easily won that historic handicap while clipping three-fifths of a second off Pimlicos track record for the mile and three-sixteenths. He had 118 pounds on his back, but he took the overland route around the turns. Yet he went to the leaders Continued on thirty-first page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. gradually without any rush on the part of George Woolf and drew out easily in the stretch to win well in hand. The Suburban Handicap comes two and a half weeks after the Dixie and trainer John Loftus welcomed the interval. He has been able to handle his protege in just the fashion calculated to send him into tomorrows engagement just as sharp as Pompoon was for the Dixie. Pompoons task tomorrow is much more difficult than it was at Pimlico as an increase of ten pounds has been made in his impost and then he must meet War Admiral too. But the increase in weight and the additional sixteenth of a mile havent made the Pompoon partisans fearful. With the knowledge that their champion is right, they feel that no horse in the country today can give him four pounds and a licking. And if the confidence in Pompoon is justified by what takes place tomorrow at Belmont Park, the many thousands of persons who gather there will be treated to one of the finest exhibitions of the season. War Admiral, of course, will have much to say about Pompoons bid for supremacy, so much so that he will rule the favorite, perhaps as low as even money. Others in the field will get support due to the difference in weight. Aneroid, which went into the lead in the Dixie turning into the stretch, has a shift of ten pounds in his favor with Pompoon and he has worked brilliantly. Snark also displayed fine speed in preparation for the Suburban, but he has yet to display a willingness to go the distance. In the publics eye, however, the Suburban looms as a race between War Admiral and Pompoon, the customers taking to it with almost as much zest as they manifested for the match between the Riddle ace and Seabiscuit, and an extraordinarily large crowd tomorrow will cause the Westchester Racing Association to forget much of the woes attending cancellation of Mondays special. , * —
