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I ! ! I I i I 1 i ; j CRACK HORSES IN WIDENER Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Stagehand and Lawrin Among Nominees. Possibility of Six Best Horses in Country Meeting at Hialeah Park in Out- standing Stake. j MIAMI, Fla., Dec. 6. The possibility oi bringing together the six greatest horses of the year for a national championship race took definite form today when racing secretary Charles J. McLennan revealed that Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Stagehand, Lawrin, Dauber and Pasteurized had been nominated officially for the 0,000 added Widenet Challenge Cup, to be run at Hialeah Park next March 4. McLennan stated that the complete list of entries for the mile and one-quarter stake for three-year-olds and upward would be announced shortly. When informed of these nominations, Joseph E. Widener, president of the Miami Jockey Club, in whose honor the race is renewed annually, said: "A meeting of these great horses at Hialeah certainly would ere- ate the greatest race of its kind ever run on the American turf, wtih the winner definitely entitled to the crown of champion. Also such a race would provide another meeting of Seabiscuit and War Admiral, a re-match which the public is clamoring for again." LEADING MONEY WINNERS. Four of the six horses included in the nominating list for the Widener are the leading money winners of America for 1938, and the other two are within striking distance of the leaders. Their records for the year are: Total Horse. Sts. 1st. 2d. 3d. Unp. Earned, Stagehand .... 15 8 2 3 2 89,710 Seabiscuit 11 6 4 1 0 130,395 Lawrin 11 6 2 2 1 123,215 War Admiral.. 11 9 1 0 1 90,840 Dauber 7 2 4 1 0 74,175 Pasteurized ... 8 2 4 1 1 38,405 Seabiscuit is the oldest of the group, he being a five-year-old bay horse by Hard Tack and Swing On; War Admiral, four-year-old brown colt, by Man o War and Brushup; Stagehand, three-year-old bay colt, by Sickle and Stagecraft; Lawrin, three-year-old brown colt, by Insco and Margaret Lawrence; Dauber, three-year-old chestnut colt, by Pennant and Ship of War, and Pasteurized, three-year-old chestnut colt, by Milkman and Peake. Seabiscuit seeks to better the money-winning record of the world for his San Francisco owner. The horse has climbed to within second place of Sun Beau, the leader, which holds the record of 76,744. Seabiscuit has earned to date 40,480, and a victory in the Widener would skyrocket him to the top of the all-time list. War Admiral, with 72,140, is in eleventh place. TRUE TEST. That the Widener will provide a true championship is best indicated by the fact that the six horses named captured practically all of the major racing classics of the country this year for horses of the age of three or upward. Their most important stake triumphs were: War Admiral The Widener Challenge Cup at Hialeah, Queens County Handicap at Jamaica, Jockey Gold Cup at Belmont Park, and Saratoga Cup, Saratoga Handicap, the Whitney Stakes and the Wilson Stakes at Saratoga and the Rhode Island Handicap at Narragansett. Seabiscuit Pimlico Special, beating War Admiral; Agua Caliente Handicap, Del Mar Special Stake, Bay Meadows Handicap, Havre de Grace Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup. Stagehand Santa Anita Handicap, Santa Anita Derby, Empire City Handicap, Narragansett Special and Governors Handicap at Narragansett. Lawrin Kentucky Derby, Hialeah Stakes, Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah, Hollywood Trial Stakes at Inglewood and American Invitational three-year-old championship at Inglewood. Dauber Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Pasteurized Belmont Stakes. Other important victories were recorded by War Admiral in 1937, when he won the Chesapeake Stakes at Havre de Grace, the Kentucky Derby, Pimlico Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Washington Handicap at Laurel and the Pimlico Special. In this same year Seabiscuit accounted for the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita, the Marchbank Handicap at Tanforan, Bay Meadows Handicap, Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct, Butler Handicap and Yonkers Handicap at Empire City, Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs, Continental Handicap at Jamaica and Riggs Handicap at Pimlico. COINCIDENCE. It is a unique coincidence that Stagehand, the years leading money winner, was bred by Joseph E. Widener, Miami Jockey Club president. Stagehand never raced in the Widener colors, having been purchased by Maxwell Howard of Dayton, Ohio, prior to his racing debut. Placed in charge of trainer Earl Sande, Stagehand made his first start at Empire City on July 6, 1937, as a two-year-old. Weights for the Widener will be announced prior to the opening of the Hialedh Park meeting, scheduled January 11 to March 4. Imposts on all candidates will be issued Wednesday, January 4. According to McLennan, the number of nominations for this years Widener will exceed that of last season and will include other thoroughbred stars in addition to the IFil already named. , The entire list will be made public on completition of a final checkup.
