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STAGEHAND WILL BE NOMINEE Howard Star to Start in 00,000 Handicap on. Coast. Sande Changes Plans and Will Prepare Sickle Colt at Columbia, South Carolina Quarters. ARCADIA, Calif., Nov. 18. It was learned here today on good authority that Col. Maxwell Howard will nominate his sensational Stagehand, as well as The Chief and Scene-shifter, for the 00,000 added Santa Anita Handicap, and that Earl Sande would give the trio their conditioning in the winter quarters at Columbia, S. C, and would make a special shipment out in time to start in the big race on March 4, if all went well with the training. This is a switch in the plans that Sande j himself had outlined in a recent letter to j the Los Angeles Turf Club, in which he re-I gretfully stated that he was going to lay up the Howard horses this winter and also start in on that fine opportunity of getting a select division of John Hay Whitney yearlings ready for a promising campaign next season. It is known that Sande is on his way or has reached Columbia, S. C, and evidently he will give Stagehand, as well as the other two, a let-up and rest, to be freshened up before being taken in hand again. In view of the fact that there is more than three months time intervening before the big race it would allow Sande to go through with such a plan. LOOK FOR COME-BACK. The fact that there is this excellent chance of Stagehand coming back to defend his title won last year in that thrilling nose-and-nose finish with Seabiscuit is perhaps the most important pre-season lineup for the worlds richest stake. The way the colt closed liis three-year-old form by taking that crack field into camp in the 5,000 Narragansfitt Special in September evidently convinced Howard and trainer Sande that the seasons , biggest money winner 89,710 and the ranking three-year-old of the year has entirely recovered from the sick spell that laid him low before the Kentucky Derby and that he could be put back into training again after a rest. Stagehands marvelous feat of coming to j Santa Anita last season as a maiden and winning five races, including both the big handicap and the Derby, was perhaps the most outstanding performance of the entire turf year and, naturally, racing enthusiasts would hail his return with great joy.
