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i 1 1 jCIENCIA CHALLENGES COLTS Santa Anita Derby Winner in Many Three-Year-Old Stakes. Preakness Next Big Objective of Star King Ranch Filly — Two Fillies Have Won Feature. BALTIMORE, Md., April 26.— The 1939 three-year-old champion — will it be a king or a queen? Not very often is such a question asked as the probability or even possibility of a filly champion is usually so remote that mere mention of such an eventuality is ventured only with excellent reason. This year the hopes of a public, always eager to admire an underdog, and a filly in a race against colts is an underdog, are pinned to a real star— Cienca. Owned by the King Ranch, the daughter of Cohort-Science, looms as one of the smartest feminine prospects in many years to emerge on top of the heap of three-year-olds vying for first honors in the important stakes events and division championship for the victor. Many things are against Ciencia achieving such a distinction, although most of the obstacles are in the form of precedents or law of averages. On the other hand the performance record of Ciencia, has considerable to commend her chances of victory, most notable being her clean-cut triumph in the Santa Derby last February 22. In that race the King Ranch miss ran and won in the manner of a champion; she came from behind and easily outdistanced all the others, hone of which had an excuse. In the pack several lengths behind Ciencia were such notable and ambitious three-year-olds as Xalapa Clown, Impound, Porters Mite and Teddy Kerry. The first three are frequently mentioned as potential three-year-old leaders, and Porters Mite has the added distinction of having been second only to El Chico in the juvenile scramble of 1938. PREAKNESS NEXT. Assuming the feminine prerogative of doing things her own way, Ciencia is planning a victory in one great race — the Preakness at Pimlico. She was not named for the Kentucky Derby and will probably not be seen under colors until May 6 in the Pimlico Oaks, a mile and a sixteenth test for three-year-old fillies. Victory in the Oaks would place her at the top of her own sex .and establish her as one of the choices in the Preakness a week later. And the Preakness, if the experts are to be relied upon, will have the winner and the contention of the Kentucky Derby, plus a few more of championship caliber such as Eight Thirty, Volitant, Gilded Knight and Birch Rod, which will not journey to Louisville for the Downs feature. Despite the precedents of Rhine Maiden and Nellie Morse in the Preakness renewals of 1915 and 1924 and of Regret in the Derby of 1915, only feminine victors in those races, Ciencia will have her work cut out for her. Thoroughbred- etiquette does not demand that a lady be first. Rather, it seems, a lady must prove she is a lady by getting there first. If Ciencia can prove that in the Freak- ness she deserves not only to be called a-lady but also "Queen of the Three-Year-Olds."
