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FIVE IN BOWIE FEATURE ,000 Added Southern Maryland Handicap Draws Small Field. Honey Cloud Top Weight With 121 Pounds Track Drying Out and Should Be Good. BOWIE, Md., April 7 The Southern Maryland Handicap, most important of the three ,000 stakes on the spring program at Prince Georges Park, due to its placing on the meetings schedule, has drawn only a handful of entrants for tomorrows renewal, which will be the fifth. Five have been entered for the mile and a sixteenth event and barring the unforeseen, everyone of the quintette will face the starter. Top weight of the party is Honey Cloud, said to have worked in sensational fashion at Pimlico, though he turned in a dismal effort in the Rowe Memorial on the opening day of the session. The elderly son of High Cloud is being asked to carry 121 pounds but this will not halt him if hes as good as dockers claim. A mile in 1:39 at Pimlico was an almost unbelievable trial for this fellow but hes credited with stepping along that briskly. That Honey Cloud has class was shown at the Baltimore oval last November when he -defeated a good band of sprinters in the Ritchie Handicap, and then moved on to Bowie to win the Burch Memorial, later dead-Jieating with Conquer in the Prince George Autumn Handicap. IMPRESSIVE TRIUMPH. - Hypocrite had a big lead in the final furlong of the Bowie, a race he won with the utmost ease and by a daylight margin. That was decided through the mud and prior to the victory the son of Wrack vas rated by his connections as a better fast track performer than a mudder. The effort was good enough to cause Ral Parr, his owner, to shorten his stay in California and hell be here tomorrow to see his four-year-old run. The Marylander only takes on a bit of added weight, and again Shelhamer will be his rider. The Bowie, by the way, was the second stake of his career. The other was the aptly named Survivor at Pimlico last spring. Only the Parr horse and Bull Whip survived for it. Challephen, which won the Southern Maryland last April, was tightened thoroughly for tomorrows renewal in last Saturdays Bowie. He looked an easy winner of that mile seventy yards a furlong from the finish, only to collapse abruptly. It is probable that the son of Challenger H. was short on that occasion, and his connections are confidently predicting considerable improvement. High Velocity, high weight for the Bowie, showed speed for six furlongs but failed to lead a horse past the judges. He was beaten off at the end and would have to jump up plenty to gather principal honors in tomorrows stake. Nor can one enthuse over the chances of Unheralded. He showed good Continued on thirty-first page. FIVE IN BOWIE FEATURE Continued from first page. form over the track last fall but put in a sad race in last Saturdays feature despite the fact that he had been conditioned in Hot Springs competition. Though the field for the 1939 Southern Maryland may lack the class of last years, it gives promise from a competitive standpoint. Under Jack Campbells weight arrangement there does not seem to be any standout in the field. Last April Challephen just managed, to beat the heavily-burdened Aneroid in the final strides to gain a nose decision, with High Velocity a length and one-half farther away. In that running the W. L. Brann gelding had a twenty-three pound weight advantage over the runner-up, packing 106. against 129 on John A. Man-fusos star. The previous seasons renewal went to Calumet Dick, with 121 up, that gelding being the best horse ever to make the accounting in the brief history of the Southern Maryland. Previous to Ray Brysons sturdy racer, Purple Knight, Evergold and Gay World won. All were fair performers in their respective seasons. The Good Speed Handicap, six furlongs secondary attraction, has attracted a crack field, one which includes such good 1938 stake winners as Sun Egret and Clodion. Both are extremely partial to the track and have been training well of late. That Campbell thinks well of them may be" judged from the fact that they top the list of eleven with 120 pounds each. This race would be a feature in itself, on an average racing program. There is a half-mile dash for juveniles, titled the "Fairlee Purse." Five of the half a dozen newcomers named for this have been winners, all of which points to a stirring contest. Four claimers round out the card, two of them being at a mile and a furlong. The track dried out steadily this afternoon under the influence of a warm sun and a brisk breeze. There seems slight chance for further rain, so the oval should be good for the Easter Saturday competition. The attendance should be better than "good" if the weather is fair, the greatest crowd of the meeting being anticipated by Joseph Boyle and his associates in the Bowie organization.
