Double for Woodward: Fighting Fox Takes Carter Handicap, Johnstown the Dwyer, Daily Racing Form, 1939-06-19

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F 1 i 1 ] j , 1 . ; J . | i j I • ! , [ ! ; I J DOUBLE FOR WOODWARD Fighting Fox Takes Carter Handicap, Johnstown the Dwyer. Three -Year-Old Fifth of Second Off Record — Fighting Fox Lowers the Seven-Eighths Mark. NEW YORK, N. Y., June 17.— William Woodwards Belair Stud, with Johnstown, its brilliant candidate for championship of the three-year-olds, and with the four-year-old Fighting Fox, stole the show on Saturday at Aqueduct, winning the fifty-first Dwyer Stakes with the former and the forty-first Carter Handicap with the latter. Johnstown, the magnificent bay son of Jamestown and La France, stamped himself the pick of the Hhree-year-olds by adding this Dwyer triumph to earlier triumphs in the Paumonok Handicap, the Kentucky Derby, the Wood Memorial, the Belmont Stakes and the Withers. His margin at the end of the mile and one-eighth journey was one length. The time. 1:48ts, missed the track record by one-fifth of a second and equaled the time mark for the special. Second honors in the Dwyer fell to Mills-dale Stables Sun Lover; third to Wm. L. Branns Challedon, and fourth to the Sara- toga Stables Volitant. SETS NEW TRACK RECORD. In the Carter. Fighting Fox was an easy winner in 1:22%, which bettered the old track record set by Naturalist by one-fifth i of a second. Myron Selznicks Cant Wait ran second in this affair; J. Y. Christmas Rough Time, an invader from Suffolk Downs, was third, and Maxwell Howards The Chief fourth. While from a speed standpoint, Fighting * Foxs performance was more spectacular ; than Johnstowns, the latters nevertheless ! will stand out in the minds of some 15,000 who saw him run, as one of the most dazzling " they ever saw a horse turn in. The j long-striding bay did everything that a horse can be asked to do. He encountered keen opposition from the start and through the | first quarter of a mile and came away near the end of the back stretch, gained on the turn and then, nearing the wire, when danger 7 loomed from a fast-closing rival, held , on gallantly to win. It was the perform- 7 ance of a champion, and not even the most rabid backers of other horses in the small , but select field could find any excuses for their favorites. While the final time of Johnstowns per- formance was impressive by comparison Continued on twenty-eighth page. I ; n b t J ! f 7 £ r t e c c r r s " c l ! I ! c ■ c i E 1 ] c J i ! I . JOHNSTOWN ADDS DWYER TO LIST OF IMPOSING VICTORIES Continued from first page. with the track record for the distance as was Fighting Foxs, the fact remains that the Jamestown — La France colt ran the first mile in :»%, :46, 1:10%, 1:35%. That time bettered by two-fifths of a second the mile track mark at Aqueduct, which is held by John P. Grier. It is very possible that the speed at which Johnstown was forced to run in this first mile slowed him up in the final eighth, but if this is so it also is true that in that remarkably fast mile the Belair bullet made his opposition holler "Uncle!" BANNER CROWD PRESENT. As was to be expected, in view of the unusually high quality of the program, a banner crowd turned out for the festivities. Seldom, probably, have so many notables of racing, society and business crammed into the Queens County Jockey Clubs clubhouse enclosure. Owners of all the Dwyer candidates were on hand, but, curiously, not all of them visited the paddock to watch their equine representatives saddled. However, the paddock was crowded just before the rich and venerable Dwyer came up with many of the big names of racing. The weather, cloudy and sultry until shortly before post time for the opening race, took a turn for the better about the time the bugle got under way. The clouds disappeared and a benevolent sun shown upon the setting for what were to be two scintillating stakes renewals. A brisk wind sprung up, dispelling the hot mugginess of the morning and making the big crowd en-! tirely comfortable. In the Carter, the story was short and sweet— Fighting Fox, at 8 to 1, was in front all the way. never was seriously threatened and in winning added ,600 to his gleanings. CHALLEDON DISMAL FAILURE. The Dwyer was a different story— an amazingly different story— in that Challe-don, winner of the Preakness, and generally regarded as a sluggish starter, broke on top and, through the first three-sixteenths mile, matched Johnstowns early lick. Without attempting to make or find an excuse for Challedons failure to finish closer up in the race, it might be that this, his initial attempt at "speeding," may have taken too much out of him. In his other races, the Maryland-bred colt, which made such a show of Johnstown in the Preakness, always was rated well off the pace until the end of the back stretch run and then he was asked to "turn on." In the Dwyer, and nearing the wire, he was definitely "all in." The Dwyer starting field was reduced to ! five horses through the withdrawals of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilts Trailer and the 1 Belair Studs Thellusson. At the end of the first quarter Jimmy Stout had Johnstown in front by a scant neck. : Challedon, on the rail, was displaying speed 1 that surprised his most enthusiastic backers, and jockey George Seabo pushed him right I along. JOHNSTOWN DRAWS CLEAR. After going three-eighths, Johnstown began to draw away from Challedon, but it : appeared that Seabo was giving the son of - Challenger II.— Laura Gal a chance to catch 1 his breath. However, Johnstown was two » lengths to the good at the half-mile post, . four lengths in front at the three-quarters 5 mark and three lengths clear at the head of t the stretch. Challedon was in second place, . some four lengths in front of Volitant, which l was running third. Sun Lover was fourth i and Time Sheet fifth and last. The great throng, cheering wildly by the I time Johnstown came into the stretch, expected - Challedon to cut loose with his characteristic - charge once he came to the eighth i post. But even though Seabo used his whip, the Marylander couldnt make the grade. He was a tired horse and ready to call it t a day. In the stretch Basil James worked harder r on Sun Lover, and the dark bay son of Bay ! Beau— Dark Love closed much ground, getting - up to gain second honors by six lengths 5 over Challedon. Volitants performance was 3 disappointing to his many supporters. He ; wound up fourth, six lengths behind Challedon - and only a length in front of Time ; Sheet, last to finish. DOING BEST AT END. Johnstown wasnt hit with the whip, but t his rider showed it to him through the i stretch. While the Jamestown colt — the champion, if you like — wasnt staggering at t the finish, he was doing his very best, and Stout was really riding him out. Johnstowns victory added ,250 to his s earnings, bringing those for the year to 3 33,895 and for his career to 65,315. The e Belair star now has started eight times as s a three-year-old and has scored seven victories . and once was unplaced. In this race e he was the choice at 1 to 5. In addition to scoring with Fighting Fox c and Johnstown, Stout, the riding hero of the e day, came through in the sixth event with , a triumph aboard Falaise Stables War Dog ; FIGHTING FOX EASILY. When William Woodwards Fighting Fox was such an easy winner of the forty-first running of the Carter Handicap in 1:22% I j for the seven furlongs, breaking the track record, he atoned to a great extent for his Zj ;j recent defeat in the Queens County Handicap. ." The son of Sir Gallahad III. and Marguerite | J romped over the line five lengths *! before his field, with Jimmy Stout looking • back, and he had made every post a winning one in his record-making run. The score added just ,600 to his earnings. Myron „j Selznieks Cant Wait closed a considerable g gap to take second place and J. Y. Christ- t- mas Rough Time, which only arrived in n New York Friday night, saved third from n The Chief. When Sumatra was winner of the Lion n Heart Steeplechase it was a doubly popular r victory, for he was the betting choice, and d there are no better beloved silks in racing g than those of Mrs. Payne Whitneys Green-tree l- Stable. The son of Sumair was admirably 1- ridden by Willie Collins, and his Is! vigorous ride from the last fence to the line iei played an important part in the score.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800