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SMALL FIELD FOR VALUABLE PREAKNESS STAKES Prospects for Only Six Starters in Saturdays 5,000 Race ■ — « . Johnstown and Stablemate, Gilded Knight, Scare Away Contestants From Other Establishments — Latest . £ Gallops of Expected Starters ♦ BALTIMORE, Md., May 10.— Just as the Kentucky Derby drew its smallest field in twenty years, Saturdays renewal of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico promises to have its smallest number of starters in the same period. Back in 1918 the Maryland Jockey Clubs great spring three-year-old special was split into two divisions with that won by Jack Hare, Jr., having but six starters. Only a half dozen of the eligibles appear certain of accepting the issue Saturday, but despite the small size the 0,000 added affair of a mile and three-sixteenths will gross 1,345 and continue to be the richest three-year-old rtfce of the season. As William Woodwards Johnstown and Mrs. H. C. Phipps Wheatley Stable color- Nearer, Gilded Knight, will be paired as the trainer James Fitzsimmons team, and they are considered the two outstanding Preakness candidates, the odds against them promise to be short that if either should triumph the entry undoubtedly will be the shortest price on the winner in the events history. War Admiral at 35 to 100 holds that honor now. UNDEFEATED THIS YEAR. Johnstowns five promised opponents Saturday include two that he hasnt met so far this season in his uninterrupted march to three-year-old honors. They are Gilded Knight and Ciencia, which carried the King Ranch silks of Robert J. Kleberg to a decisive victory in the Santa Anita Derby. Gilded Knight likewise is undefeated so far during the current campaign. Only Challedon, the runner-up to Johnstown in the Kentucky Derby of that field, will dare oppose the fleet son of Jamestown and La France in the Preakness, while the other likely starters, with the possible exception of Challenge, are Saratoga Stables Volitant and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilts Impound, both of which tasted the Woodward flyers dust in the Wood Stakes. Challenge, Johnstowns stablemate, will start if the track is off. William L. Branns candidate continues to be considered by many observers to have the next best chance after Johnstown, despite the impressiveness of Gilded Knights record this year. The Maryland-bred colt was third to the Wheatley star in the Chesapeake, but that marked his first start of the year and, with his Derby effort also behind him, he should be in the best possible condition. Challedon defeated the son of Sir Gallahad III. and Gold Brick in both the Pimlico and New England Futuries last fall. WEATHER UNSETTLED. With the weather continuing unsettled here, uncertainty exists as to the track condition, but even if Johnstown isnt partial to off going, and he hasnt shown that he doesnt like it, Gilded Knight is expected to go well in mud. The favored entrys odds may not be so short, however, as Challedon has demonstrated that he can handle himself just as smartly on a wet track. Continued on twenty-ninth page. SMALL FIELD FOR VALUABLE PREAKNESS STAKES Continued from first page. Johnstown didnt display any particular dislike for the slow track prevailing this morning as he underwent his final lengthy trial for the Preakness. He breezed a mile in 1:45 under very strong restraint from jockey Jimmy Stout. Fitzsimmons wanted him to race along at a faster clip, but Stout failed to see the trainers .signal until reaching the furlong pole. The Derby winner was timed the first quarter in :25%, half in :52 and the three-quarters in 1:18%. Volitant carried off training honors in working a mile and one furlong in 1:55%, handily, after covering the half mile in :49, three-quarters in 1:16 and the mile in 1:41%. The George H. Bull-John A. Morris hopeful was carefully rated all the way and trainer A. J. Goldsborough was well pleased with the effort. Challenge was kept in readiness by working a mile in 1:43%, handily, doing the half in :50 and the three-quarters in 1:17. He was at Louisville, but did not start in the Derby when the track remained fast, coming here with Johnstown. J. B. Theall, trainer of T. M. Dorsett, announced today that the Joe W. Brown colt would not be a starter and will be shipped to New York tomorrow, along with Brown King, which he saddled in the Dixie this afternoon. Dorsett came here from Louisville with the Woodward colts. The probable Preakness field follows: Horse. Jockey. Owner. Johnstown J. Stout Belair Stud Challenge Belair Stud Gilded Knight . . . R. Dondso.Wheatley Stable Impound L. Fallon. A. G. Vanderbilt Volitant D. Meade. .Saratoga Stable Challedon G. Seabo W. L. Brann Ciencia C. Bierman. . .King Ranch fStarts only if track is muddy. j
