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JDISCUSS WHIRLAWAYS CLASSIC OPPOSITION OPPOSITIONGallant Gallant Fox and Omaha Only Other Triple Crown Winners to Display Prowess in Stake StakeWith With trainer Ben Jones having announced that Whirlaway will be pointed for the 40000 added Classic Stakes at Arlington Park the question naturally arises as to whom he will have to beat to take down top honors in that coveted prize With the exception of Robert Morris who raced both in the Derby and the Belmont Whirlaway had different op ¬ ponents in the three victories that merited him the title of triple crown winner winnerThe The men who stay awake nights figuring how the horses should be correctly weighted will have trouble enough finding opposition for him in the handicap events but where is his opposition going to come from in the weigh tforage races Conditions for the Classic call for the starters to carry 126 pounds while nonwinners of a threeyear ¬ old race worth 20000 are allowed three pounds nonwinners of a threeyearold race worth 10000 five and nonwinners of a threeyearold eightCrack race worth 5000 eight Crack threeyearolds have come up to the Classic before after haying swept all before them Of the four threeyearolds who quali ¬ fied as winners of the triple crown before Whirlaway only two Gallant Fox and his son Omaha have run in the Classic Both won it Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha in 1935 1935Gallant Gallant Fox and Omaha stood out over their rivals in their threeyearold seasons fully as much as Whirlaway stands out above his opposition this year Both Belair repre ¬ sentatives went to the post in the Classic with the record of having won the Derby Preakness Belmont and Dwyer Stakes just as Whirlaway will this year indications now being that he will start in the Aqueduct fea ¬ ture as he already has accounted for the American triple crown events In 1930 and again in 1935 however the fact that Gallant Fox and Omaha had accomplished the un usual feat of winning all four of those events didnt mean a thing when they took the track for the Classic CLASSIC SCORE OF GALLANT FOX Six horses went to the post in 1930 when Gallant Fox ran in the Classic The field might have been bigger but the Fox of I j Belair had swept all before him Before his name could be inscribed on the roster of I Classic winners however Sande had to put Gallant Fox to a drive to come from behind and beat Audley Farms Gallant Knight a j neck Ned O was third Hal Price Head leys great race mare Alcibiades dam of the speedy Menow also was in the field that daju and finished fifth Oddly enough the finish of the Classic that year Gallant Fox Gal j I lant Knight and Ned O was the same as that in the Derby early in the season I Of course Gallant Fox went on to win nine of ten starts as a threeyearold and to set j a mark for purse earnings during one year j of 308275 but his connections were worried that day at Arlington Park The Belair aces defeat of the year came in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga when he bowed to the 100 to 1 chance Jim Dandy Omaha won the Derby Preakness Bel mont and Dwyer Stakes as did his daddy before him In keeping with the family tra dition the chestnut son of Gallant Fox Flabino had to uncork an unusual effort to win the Arlington Classic Under light pressure Omaha had to come from be hind the stretch leaders and go the mile and a quarter in the track record time of 201 to lead the Coldstream Studs St1 Bernard to the wire by a length and a half Perhaps some threeyearold will emerge from the pack to prove himself as a rival worthy of Whirlaways mettle by the time the Classic rolls around just as Sirocco did last year The Dixiana representative was 1 among the also rans at Louisville but he 1 was not as good in May as he was in July I when he whipped a field in the Classic which included Bimelech BimelechRECALL RECALL JOHNSTOWNS DEFEAT DEFEATA A great deal can Happen between now and 1 July 26 when the Arlington feature will be i run Going back beyond Siroccos victory in the Classic and not quite as far back as j the victories of Gallant Fox and Omaha we can recall going out to Arlington Park to see Johnstown run in the Classic The son of Jamestown La France and won the Derby by nine lengths finished behind Chal ledon in the Preakness and had won the Belmont Stakes He and the son of Chal ¬ lenger II Laura Gal were to hook up in their rubber duel in the Classic and there was considerable interest in the race al ¬ though few felt that the Marylandbred could take the measure of Sunny Jims charge on a fast track trackThe The result is too well known to need much recounting here Challedon proved himself more than a match for Johnstown and went on to become the leading threeyearold of the year returning later the same season to Chicago to carry off the Hawthorne Gold Cup againSixtythree Johnstown never ran again Sixtythree horses are still eligible for the mile and a quarter Arlington Park feature for 40000 added Among them are such familiar rivals of Whirlaway as Blue Pair Curious Coin Porters Cap Dispose Ocean Blue King Cole Swain and Our Boots BootsPerhaps Perhaps Whirlaways big rival in the Clas ¬ sic will come from among such horses as Cavalier Attention WireTapper Monday Lunch Bull Reigh and New Yorld horses who have shown a bifcof class and could improve enough to be a factor in this three1 yearold feature
