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REFLECTIONS By CHALLENGER Eight Thirty Name Horse of Day Is Whirlaway Really That Good Widener Champ Met Favorite Calumet Champion to Arlington These lines are written before todays entries were released but it is a foregone conclusion barring the unforeseen that Eight Thirty will be the favorite for the renewal of the Metropolitan Handicap For one reason or another the Widener horse has always reminded us of Equipoise even though built on different lines they are two of the bestlooking horses it has ever been our privilege to look upon In Eight Thirty there is hardly a doubt that Pilate outbred himself The latter was a good race horse but his clocknamed son Eight Thirty is a better one True Eight Thirty won but three out of seven races as a twoyearold but improved at three to win seven of his ten including the Travers Whitney Stakes and Saratoga Handicap As a four yearold he started eight times to win four finish second in three just three of his victories being in the Toboggan Handicap Suburban and Massachusetts Handicaps In the Suburban he ran one and onequarter miles in 201 and in the Massachusetts beat such a fine horse as Challedon to the wire This year his only start to date has been in the Toboggan and if anything he won more easily than he did in the same race last year Regardless of which horses start against him today we will be surprised if he is not returned the winner of the timehonored Metropolitan A few days back one of our good contemporaries quoted the veteran William II Shelley racing secretary of Lincoln Fields as stating that Whirlaway is a better horse than Hindoo Ben Brush Gallant Fox and to come down to more recent date he says Challedon is a nice horse and so is Mioland but I think lie meaning Whirlaway could spot them six or eight pounds and whip them easily That goes for any of those older horses Here we believe is one of the strangest reversals of modernday racing Until the Derby most commentators and racing officials even Ben Jones himself pronounced Whirlaway erratic and undependable He had been beaten by horses which oir the records had no right to beat him Overnight he became a DerbyPreakness sensation and Mr Shelley is not the only one now going so far as to infer he is the greatest horse within their recollection With all due respect to the Calumet horse we do not believe that he can take Challedon and Eight Thirty give them weight and whip them that easily The Challedon we saw win the Tranter Stakes at Kceneland and the Eight Thirty we saw win last years Suburban would give Whirlaway the race of his life He is good yes but not that much superior to handicap champions They have yet to say he is another Man o War hut until he proves it he will have to show us he can give Challedon and Eight Thirty weight and a beating beatingThe The victory of Whirlaway over Mioland in the Henry of Navarre Purse at Belmont oh Tuesday once again centered attention on Blenheim II as a sire On the very next day the filly Proud One was a winner over Cis Marion in the Acorn Stakes a race said to be a preview of the Coaching Club American Oaks though neither Proud One nor Cis Marion are eligible for that event The victory of Proud One however once again brought Blenheim II to attention and these two youngsters will go far in aiding the sire which was brought here haled as the sire of the Derby winner Mahmoud Both Whirlaway and Proud One are Calumet homebreds The latter is out of Pompeys daughter J3ome Pomp second dam Some More by Polymelian Kiss Again by Tracery Some Pomp was a good racer winning 16840 and is well bred as her dam Some More also produced the good racers Osculator winner of 97460 and of the geld ¬ ing Pomposity winner of 42740 Like Whirlaway Proud One has vastly improved over her twoyearold form Last year she won one race in four starts while this year she has won four and been second in three in her nine starts The get of quite a few stallions seem to improve when they become threeyearolds and this appears to be the case with the sons and daughters of Blenheim II Attendance and mutuel figures have been sharply on the upgrade ever since the 3941 season opened Today for the first time racing will be staged in five major cities and also at smaller centers throughout the country In all probability 300000 or more fans will attend the sport at one or another track today The eastern peak however should be reached on Decoration Day when the Suburban will be rim in New York and the Argonaut Handicap will be rim at Hollywood Park in California The West Coast track will probably not reach its peak until such events as the Hollywood Derby and the Gold Cup will he run on July 12 and July 19 respectively The Derby with 25000 added has drawn the record list of sixtyeight eligibles and among them Whirlaway Dispose Porters Cap Curious Coin Staretor and numerous other wellbred threeyear olds With 75000 added it is no surprise that besides Challedon and Mioland the Gold Cup has drawn Bay View winner of the Santa Anita Handicap Whirlaway Curious Coin and many others If as some seem to believe Whirl awajr is capable of defeating the best handicap horses in the country this is the race in which he could be given the opportunity to prove it We must add after reading Ben Jones plan for Whirlaway that we doubt if the Calumet cannoriball will be sent to the Hollywood meeting In discussing his plans Jones has said that Whirlaway will remain for the Aqueduct meeting then be shipped to Arlington Park and follow the stay in Chicago with a trip to Saratoga Springs Though he is a glutton for work Whirlaway could hardly be expected to be shipped from Chicago then back and still be in condition for such events as the Travers at the upstate Spa Still it remains that Whirlaway has been named for the Hollywood Derby and Gold Cup and that the owner and trainer have a perfect right to change their minds The Charles S Howard stable will leave for the coast immediately after the running of the Suburban next weekend This last one has been the most disastrous trip the California owner has ever made East and in late weeks little has been heard of the lucky so often applied to Charles S Howard Tom Smith and company There is a definite cycle ups and downs on the turf so do not be surprised if after the setbacks in the East Howard and Smith once again stage a whale of a success in California
