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PRESENCE OF STARS SCARES OUT OTHERS OTHERSBlue Blue Pair and Little Beans Top Field of Five Named Overnight for Commonwealth Handicap HandicapBOSTON BOSTON Mass June 13 That recent dazzling speed trial of five furlongs in 58 turned in by Mrs Vera S Braggs Blue Pair Wednesday in preparation for the Common ¬ wealth Handicap at Suffolk Downs Saturday probably was one of the principal reasons that only five were named through the entry box for the seventh running of this rich prize This sprint feature attracted a nom ination list of thirtysix and no less than half of the nominations are quarters at the Boston course at the present time timeArrayed Arrayed against the invader from the Illi ¬ nois sector will be such a capable threeyear old as Mrs Palladinds Little Beans The locallyowned son of Mirafel and Florhi as well as Blue Pair never have been headed over stripLittle the Boston racing strip Little Beans and Blue Pair have met only once and that was in the Kentucky Derby The Mirafel colt finished in advance of the Braggowned colt but both were out of the money At the six furlongs of the Common ¬ wealth it shapes up as one of the best races of the New England season seasonSTERLING STERLING PERFORMERS PERFORMERSOther Other sterling performers in the field are Bull Brier from the stable of Benjamin F Lister prominent Rhode Island mill owner The Bull Dog colt a 11600 yearling came up with a smashing effort last start his first outing since undergoing an operation on his throat and finished second to Little Beans in an overnight condition test In that event Little Beans picked up 118 pounds against an impost of 115 for Bull Brier In the Commonwealth Little Beans is asked to tote the top weight of 122 pounds four more than Blue Pair and is conceding the Lister owned colt eight pounds Weighted that way it should be a closely fought contest G C Greers Cape Cod credited with the fastest mile race of the meeting when he raced to a frontrunning score and gained a hollow victory in 137 comes next under his impost of 110 pounds Since that performance the Bostonian colt disappointed but a return to the same fine form that he displayed in his winning race should make him a formidable factor Maple Crest Farms General Jack is dropping three pounds from his recent effort back of Little Beans and Bull Brier in the Fort Banks Purse In his recent good form he is capable of extending the most of the threeyearolds to the limit over sprint dis ¬ tances Of the half dozen fillies among the nominations not one accepted the issue leaving it strictly up to the colts to fight it out for the 5000 added prize prizeGREAT GREAT LOCAL INTEREST INTERESTHardly Hardly ever before has there been such interest shown locally in a race as in the meeting between Little Beans and Blue Pair Both the colts have a host of supporters and opinion is almost equally divided as to the relative merits of the two twoPrevious Previous winners of the Commonwealth have been Boxthorn under 108 pounds in the inaugural of the stakes in 1935 Party Spirit won the first renewal in 1936 under an im ¬ post of 107 pounds Rough Time toted the heaviest burden that has been carried to victory when he picked up scale weight of 126 pounds to take the 1937 running Be Blue and Sassy Lady under 112 and 108 respec ¬ tively a pair of fillies were triumphant in the 1938 and 1939 runnings Halcyon Boy drove through the mud to be the first New Englandowned threeyearold to ever cap ¬ ture the feature in the 1940 running
