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I|f ■■ ■9$ :h| wl ISE: t WILLIAM B. FINNEGAN — Believes Domingo will make his presence felt among the three-year-olds with further education in actual competition. ♦ [reflections I By Nelson Dunstan | Alsabs Victory Enlivens Division Preakness Winner Goes in Withers and regardless of what he accomplishes in the future, he has now joined the long list of three-year-olds who have won one stake event this year. His Preakness win will undoubtedly be one of those still remembered when the statisticians sum up for the year. But if he is to be the three-year-old champion, he must go on to accomplish more than this one triumph — brilliant though it was. They said he was "being raced into condition," but it took eight races to bring him up to the Preakness win, and the question now is whether that composite of steel, iron and thoroughbred heart will carry him on to the important summer and fall events the top-notch three -year-olds ordinarily go after. Colin raced three times as a three-year-old, Domino eight times, Equipoise three, Gallant Fox ten, Man o War eleven, Omaha nine, Sarazen twelve, Top Flight nine, War Admiral eight, and Zev fourteen. Whirlaway ran twenty times as a three-year-old, and Hindoo, twenty-one times. Whirl-away started eleven times after his Preakness victory last season, and if Alsab can duplicate that he will be entitled to ranking with Display and others who won fame as "iron" horses. He is an eligible for the Withers at one mile and, we understand, will be a supplementary entry for the Belmont. It takes a whale of a horse to win at one and three -sixteenths miles, then at a mile, and follow that with a victory at a mile and a half. Man o War and Sir Barton did it, and you can bet your bottom dollar the Alsab camp will send their colorbearer after it. All of which is pleasant for the Circulars Tip Alsab Cant Lose Domingo Last-Minute Hot Horse NEW YORK, N. Y., May 11. Alsabs victory in the Preakness will go far in reviving the fast-waning interest t in the three-year-old division. A composite of steel, iron and thoroughbred heart, ;, the son of Good Goods was cheered to the echo as he returned to the winners s circle, but the cheer was more for his courage and gameness than for the victory 7 itself. This horse is apparently out to match Exterminators record for travel, and Kingstowns mark for number of starts. But with it all he is ever giving his best ■ 1 Belmont management and certain to keep alive the interest in the three- year-olds. Between the Withers and the Belmont is the Suburban, and Alsab is eligible. He is also named for next Saturdays Metropolitan, but it is extremely doubtful that he will be sent against older horses at this stage of the game. Wearing a beard or rolling a peanut around the block has often been the lot for those who lose a bet, but one of the most ambitious schemes to win a bet we ever heard of took place in Baltimore on Friday night and Saturday morning. During that time the hotel lobbies, clubs and cafes were visited by men carrying a little circular which read: "Alsab cant lose today," printed on both sides. It developed j that some mysterious person had made a wager of ,000 to ,000 that Alsab would go to the post as favorite. From all accounts, he left no stone unturned, even to a last-I I minute visit to the mutuel window to make a sizeable wager, and thus make the , J mutuel reckonings reveal that when the field went off, Alsab was favorite. Some say ; he was a bookmaker, but whoever he was he certainly had a field day for, not only did he win the wager, but also the sum which he threw into the mutuel machines to i j protect himself. We endeavored to find out who the man was, but were unsuccessful i i beyond learning that he did a little sweating when the mutuel boards showed that I I | both the Greentree entry and Alsab were at two to one. The final figures showed Alsab at .05 to , and the Greentree entry at .40 to . A "tip" can go the rounds fast once it gets under way. Just prior to the start, Domingo became a "hot" horse, and the word spread fast throughout the crowd. We failed to understand it for, on the night before, we sat with Bill Finnegan, who saddled Domingo, and Blackie McCoole, trainer of Requested, and listened to them talk about their horses for over an hour. Finnegan said that he did not have a great deal of confidence in so far as Domingo was concerned in the Preakness, although he felt, as the season wore on, the imported Mayer colt would make his presence felt among the three-year-olds. "He needs education," Finnegan said, "and he has run into a different difficulty every time he has started. If he gets bumped, he doesnt know what to do, and while I think he might go all right, Im not kidding myself that he is going to beat the horses he faces today." Blackie McCoole revealed that Requested had injured himself and that he did not discover the injury until the horse had reached Baltimore. "I am running a short horse today," he said, "and while I am hoping that he will be up there, I would feel much more confident if I had been able to give him a real blowout before the race." There can be no taking any of the credit from Alsab, but had l Requested been keyed up to the right pitch, Alsab would probably have found him the same tough little horse he was in the Flamingo and the Wood Memorial. This is one of the years when interest is sustained by the fact that the three- t year-olds have been consistently defeating one another. The Derby and the Preak- s ness, to say nothing of the preliminary trials, have added rather* than detracted from Belmont Parks two outstanding events for that division, namely; the Withers, I to tbe run on Saturday, May 23, and the Belmont Stakes, which will be run on the t closing day, Saturday, June 6. At one mile, the 5,000 added Withers has drawn a the best three-year-olds in the land, and besides those who have been in both the a Derby and the Preakness are such eligibles as Bleu dOr, Ramillies, Half Crown, Mar-Kell, Some Chance, Blenson and many others. We look for a big field in this mile event for there has actually been no horse including Alsab to scare off the others. The field for the Belmont Stakes will undoubtedly be smaller than that for the Withers, for the main trouble with most of the present crop of three-year-olds appears to be their inability to go over a mile. Judging by the Wood Memorial, a i horse like Bleu dOr would be a real dangerous Belmont contender, due to his staying possibilities, based on that race behind Requested. Vv Wee
