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W GEORGE H. PETE BOSTWICK— Gave one of his best saddle exhibitions when he piloted his own Cottesmore to victory in the International Steeplechase at Belmont Park. y __ — . _ I REFLECTIONS I By Nelson Dunstan Metropolitan Will Draw Fine Field Pete7 Bostwick Riding in Best Form sen, is a Belmont visitor. . . . Fifty-one horses in training will be sold at Belmont Park on the morning of May 22. . . . Me-now leads the sires with seven two-year-old winners to May 10. . . . Hickory Head, Greentree winner on Tuesday, is a half brother to Devil Diver. . . . Col. John F. Wall has issued a new edition of his "Horsemens Handbook on Practical Breeding." . . . Seabiscuits first juveniles have been paraded and will make their debuts at Agua Caliente. This year the Biscuit has 12 babes, with eight more to come. . . . Ficklebush, winner of the Selima, was a rank disappointment in his 1942 debut. . . . King Georges Big Game won the War Substitute Two Thousand Guineas on Tuesday and will probably be favorite for the Epsom Derby, to be run in June. There will be no stake events at the major tracks today or tomorrow, but on Saturday, Belmont Park will stage the 0,000 added Metropolitan Handicap, the Churchill Downs meeting will come to a close with the ,500 Kentucky Handicap, while the feature at Suffolk Downs, in New England, will be the ,000 Governors Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses at one mile. Although eligible, Whirlaway is a doubtful starter in the Metropolitan Handicap, but even though he will be missing the field promises to be one of both quantity and quality. Mrs. Parker Comings Attention, who was beaten by Whirl-away in the Dixie, is expected to be the top weight at 126 pounds, with both Market Wise and Mioland at 125 and both keyed to a pitch in their training where they are certain to offer stout opposition. Omission, who Hold Saratoga Meeting as Planned No Change to Long Island Track NEW YORK, N. Y., May 13. The Virginia Horsemens Association will hold a thoroughbred yearling show at Upperville Horse Show Grounds on Sunday, June 28. . . . F. J. Baker, who saddled the winners Zaca Rosa and In Charge at Belmont on Tuesday, was the boy who rode Jim Dandy when he astounded the racing world by defeating Gallant Fox and Whichone in the Travers of 1930. . . . Impound, the recently retired Vanderbilt racer, has been bred to the mare Lickety Split at the Janon Fisher farm in Maryland. . . . A. T. Jergins, director of Hollywood Park and owner of the Peruvian invader, Meis- scored a brilliant victory in the Toboggan at Belmont on opening day, is also a likely starter, and so are Reading, Pictor and Third Degree. However, Omission is also an eligible for the Governors Handicap at Suffolk Downs, but it is doubtful if his connections will send him to New England. At 122 pounds, Hysterical is high weight for the Governors Handicap and among the other eligibles are Air Master, Little Beans, Alaking, Bull Reigh, Doublrab, No Competition and Bulwark. Steeplechase enthusiasts watched the veteran Pete Bostwick give one of his best saddle exhibitions when he piloted his own Cottesmore to a brilliant victory in the International-Steeplechase Handicap at Belmont Park on Tuesday. Behind his champion of the 1941 season were Redlands, Ossabaw, Castletown, Cupid and others. Cupid, it will be recalled, was runner-up to his stablemate, Massa, in the 0,000 Gran Nacional at Agua Caliente in March, and although this Ladkin gelding and Ossabaw were well supported, they were no match for Cottesmore, with Bostwick in the saddle. Bostwick rode in his first steeplechase event back in 1927, and not only has won virtually every major jumping event on the American turf, but also went to England to ride in the Grand National Steeplechase. He was the last and one of the few jockeys in this country to ride a steeplechase and flat winner on the same day. It was back in October, 1932, at Belmont Park, that he rode Silverskin to victory in the Coligny Steeplechase and followed that by booting Ha Ha home in the Bellport Purse. That was the first time the feat had been accomplished since a boy named Slack achieved the same double at Hawthorne Park in 1892. It was in the year following this double that Bostwick went to England to win ten races, despite the fact that he came a cropper in the Grand National Steeplechase. Recent reports that the Saratoga meeting would be transferred to a Long Island course, due to gasoline and tire restrictions, are without foundation. At a meeting Monday, the Saratoga officials decided to go through with the upstate meeeting in August and will only change their plans as a result of military orders. They realize that under present conditions the season may not compare with that of last year, but are ready to take a loss, if need be, to keep the sport at the center that is often referred to as "the shrine of the American thoroughbred." George H. Bull is endeavoring to have adequate train and bus service from Albany and other points to offset the curtailment in automobile use, and is now at work on this problem of transportation. Even though automobile space will hardly be a problem this year, the Spa officials are carrying out their plans of removing enough trees to accommodate about 200 more cars. This meeting will open on July 27 and the colorful Saratoga sales will get under way, as usual, in the second week. From all indications, about 600 yearlings will be auctioned to the highest bidders. There can be no doubt that the restrictions on gasoline and tires are going to cut deeply into the attendance figures at Saratoga and other tracks. One course certain to feel the change is the sporting little Delaware Park, where racing gets underway on May 29 and will continue through July 4. The only answer to be found is train service and then by bus to the racing parks. From all indications, Sportsmans Park in Chicago was well patronized, but there is a question as to just how Lincoln Fields will be reached by racing fans unless adequate train service is furnished. The railroads have their problems these days, and, while from the very start racing associations have emphasized they will do everything within their power to aid the government, attendance is bound to fall off — unless the railroads and bus systems can supply enough vehicles to make up the shortage certain to result from restrictions. As Herbert Bayard Swope has stressed, the sport can ask for no special privileges, but when we read of a little track like Charles Town putting on eighteen days of racing, with the entire proceeds going to Army and Navy relief and to West Virginia charities, then it can only be hoped that adequate transportation can be secured. Racing is more than willing to do its share, but it stands to reason that the returns are going to be smaller if the attendance is to drop as the result of transportation.
