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THREE-YEAR-OLD PROSPECTS OF 1939 PORTERS MITE By NOBRIS BOYDEN . - No winner of. the Belmont .Futurity ever has captured a Kentucky Derby, but that doesnt mean the feat is. impossible. Menow tried it last year and finished fourth, Pompoon the previous year only to finish at the heels of War Admiral. Porters Mite is being groomed now to attempt the trick, but despite the confidence expressed in him by his stable the odds against him are greater than those quoted in the future books. Porters Mite was a good two-year-old, but far from being the best, and he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional runner of a straight course, but this winter when tried over the mile and one-furlong distance of the Santa Anita Derby, he failed to stay. He may find the mile and one-quarter of the Derby even more difficult to negotiate, and his opposition in the Churchill Downs race should be much more formidable than that which contested the Santa Anita race. An excuse was claimed for Porters Mite at Santa Anita in that he was rushed into a contending position too quickly after being in slight trouble early, but if he had been more like the colt he was. believed to be he would not have, finished as far back as fourth, beaten a half-dozen lengths by the filly, Ciencia. He appeared to be going easily enough at the three-furlong pole when within striking distance of the pacemaker, but flattened out when put to a drive, and he was carrying level weight with his opponents. The son of The Porter and Minima, by Friar Rock, likewise failed to close stoutly in the San Vicente Handicap, but under 126 pounds in that seven-furlong dash preceding the Santa Anita Derby, he was called upon to give much weight to his opponents. In finishing third he was beaten five lengths by Impound and Our Mat, which were separated by a nose. In his other Santa Anita start, Porters Mite made his run through the final three furlongs to take the Santa Maria Stakes, at six furlongs, by a length over the filly, Sweet Patrice. His time over a good track was 1:12, not exceptional considering the speed shown at the Arcadia course last winter. As a two-year-old Porters Mite accounted for five of his nine starts, and was second three times. His lone poor effort was in the Junior Champion Stakes, in which he was last in a field of four, finishing six lengths back of El Chico, which was closely pressed by Volitant and Johnstown. He then moved on to Belmont Park to display his sensational speed over the Widener straightaway, establishing a new worlds record of 1:14 to take the Champagne Stakes by a length and, one-half over Impound, as No Competition was third and Hants fourth. Off of this effort, he won the Futurity by a half-length over Eight. Thirty, with Third Degree third and Johnstown fourth. A furlong from the finish of the Futurity Porters Mite was two lengths to the good, but he began bearing out and finished along the outside rail as Eight Thirty closed gamely on the inside. The latter had not raced in five weeks, and went into the Futurity with a hurried prep or otherwise he might have proven too much for the William E. Boeing colt. Porters Mite made his debut at Santa Anita the previous winter, just failing to nip Arjac in a three-furlong dash after being more than seven lengths back at the eighth pole. He did not run for nearly two months, graduating handily at Tanforan, where he easily won the Twin Peaks Handicap and nosed out Time Alone in the Tanforan Juvenile Stakes. After another lapse of more than a month, Porters Mite was beaten more than three lengths by Allegro in the Moslem Temple Stakes at Detroit, the five and one-half furlong test being decided over a muddy track. Held out of competition for another two months, he was beaten a length and a half by Entracte over six furlongs of sloppy going prior to his Junior Champion effort. From a breeding standpoint, Porters Mite could be a champion very easily. His sire, The Porter, has gotten many high-class horses, among them Torp, Aneroid, Rose-mont and Flying Scot. The Boeing colt is from Minima, a daughter of Friar Rock and half-sister to Grey Lag, that well-known bearer of the Rancocas silks some fifteen years ago, and his third dam, Spectrum, was a high-class race mare in England. Unfortunately, however, Porters Mite has something in his makeup that will deny him the three-year-old honors he otherwise might obtain and deserve. Bramble ; Bonnie Scotland Ivy Leaf Roscville........ Reform o. J Albia r "Domino...... ....... Himyar w5 L Pink Domino...... - Mannie Gray . L Belle Rose.... .. . Beaudesert 5 " i Monte Rosa ! . , o" . f St. Blaise Hermit "",.,." H -n r. Leonards. .....;.-......." 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