view raw text
Withers Main Racing Fixture of Week Alsab Among Probable Starters For Belmonts Week-End Stake j Juvenile, Acorn and Two ." Steeplechase Events Also On Westchester Calendar ELMONT, L. I., N. Y., May 16. Belmont Parks spring turf season, which is attracting r record-shattering crowds that seem to substantiate beyond refute racings popularity in war times, enters upon the second of its four full weeks, Monday afternoon, with an. interesting prospect that records will continue to fall, both on the racing strip and at the turnstiles. Five of the Westchester Racing Associations lengthy roster of stakes annuals, Americas closest counterpart of Englands Ascot, will be decided during the ensuing week. The Withers mile is most popular of these fixtures, this special for three-year-olds having accrued a rich background and tradition in 66 earlier runnings and boasting an endowment of 5,000. The Withers is a monument to David Dunham Withers, one of the forefathers of New Yorks turf, and will be notable for the appearance of Alsab, who recently electrified a Preakness crowd with a dazzling stretch charge that carried him to a new time mark for that fixture. Metropolitan racegoers recall vividly that Chicagos pauper prince of the sport of kings established a worlds two-year-old mile mark of 1:35 in his latest local appearance, which came in last falls memorable Champagne. Trainer Sarge Swenke is sanguine that, if necessary, Alsab is ready to better that spectacular run. Hes the outstanding box office magnet on the American racing scene just now and his presence seems to assure the floral park in Nassau County a huge attendance. Climax of Big Week of Racing The Withers will be presented next Saturday, as the climax of the weeks sport, and has the Juvenile, a time-honored two-year-old special, as its companion piece. Despite Alsabs fame, it is indicated that eight or 10 will oppose him in the weekend eight furlongs. One of these is his "Shadow," Ben Whitakers Requested, and sporting Warren Wrights Sun Again, who dead-heated the Texan for second honors in the Preakness. Mrs. Payne Whitney will be represented, she expects, by the Derby-winning Shut Out or his more rapid stable-mate, Devil Diver, probably .the latter. Bright Willie, who recently won the Swift in a manifestation of a return to peak i Florida form, also is a probable. Then, there are Domingo, Fairaris, Dogpatch, Fair Call, First Fiddle, Wait a Bit and Apache. It is one of the sharpest Withers fields in the recent annals of the stake. The Juvenile, inaugurated in 1874 at .Jerome Park, is almost as intriguing in j its aspects as is the Withers, for the reason it will develop a contest among some mod-, erately fast newcomers trotted out in recent days. The "Red Flash Special" of Prexy George Wideners string Red Son- net isnt an eligible. But Mrs. Payne Whitneys highly promising Hickory Head, Jock Whitneys whip-horse, Four Freedoms, , and such other smart youngsters as Bos-suet, Corona Corona, Careless, Quillon, All : Hoss, Menex, Joe Burger, Sunday Puzzle, Jack S. L., Ringmenow and Camptown are possibilities in a topheavy field. Careless is the colt Plain Ben Jones f lat-1 I iters with the pronouncement he is the I most promising spring two-year-old he . i ever has handled. While Camptown is, re-; putedly, the sage Andrew Jackson Joyners fancy of Erdenheims entire males Red , Sonnet is a gelding, of course, Quillon should have won the Pimlico Nursery, in , which he was beaten the proverbial profile. Jack S. L., eluding the haltermen ; when racing for ,000 at Jamaica, came back to literally run off and hide from a mediocre lot of rivals in the unique Jockey Club Plate. ! Chasers May Settle Private Feud The week-day specials begin Tuesday 1 with the Appleton Memorial Steeplechase, 1 in which the rejuvenated Cottesmore, re-5 cent herp of the International, and his Pimlico conqueror, Bath, may settle a pri-1 vate feud. 1 On Wednesday theres the Acorn, which bears the same relation to the Coaching Club American Oaks as the 1,000 Guineas does to the Epsom Oaks at Epsom Downs. I The Acorn doubtless will be distinguished by the presence in the field of Jockey Club t chairman Woodwards tall, brown Vagran-. cy, who captured the Pimlico Oaks and is 3 the early Coaching Club favorite. In fact, 5 the daughter of Sir Gallahad HI. shapes up ; a more logical Coaching Club performer : than she does in the eight-furlong Acorn, which distance may be a trifle short for so I long a strider. Foxcatchers Selima heroine, Ficklebush, W. W. Crenshaws fleet Zaca Rosa, Brook- T ! 1 ! meades Smiles, Arnold Hangers Light Lady, Charley Howards Chiquita Mia, La-vann Stables Chuckle, Breckinridge Longs recent Pimlico stake winner Equipet, Jock Whitneys imported The Swallow and Maj. C. V. Whitneys robust Mackerel are among-those who are confidently expected to test Vagrancy in the Acorn. -The other of the cluster of five stakes crowded into the weeks orgy of high class racing is the Belmont Spring Maiden Steeplechase, for maidens at time of closing on Thursday. This picturesque fixture "through the field" is not notable for any "name" horses, of course, but always provides plenty of thrills and action. Delightful Surprise Packages Belmont Parks meetings not only are remarkable for their sequence of valuable stakes, but maintain the interest of racegoers for the delightful "surprise packages" that racing secretary-handicapper Campbell is forever fashioning in his overnight offerings. On almost every day of the meeting theres at least one offering which, unexpectedly, draws a field of stakes caliber for some moderately important purse. Attendance and handle figures were running well ahead of statistics for the corresponding matinees in 1941 during the early days of the current meeting of 24 days. However, Belmonts enormous overhead and an average daily purse distribution of near-record proportions renders it one of the least profitable of all American racing plants. In addition, it has pledged its support in the turf war relief fund. The Westchester Racing Association long has rivaled Hialeah and Saratoga in the matter of a high percentage of beaten favorites, but thus far this spring has been happily out of character in this respect, with the average of winning choices resting around 45 per cent the first five days. .
