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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Erring Riders Fairly Treated Some Data on Historic Met G D Widener Approves Awards Kyne Benefactor of Calif Turf NEW YORK N Y May 14 14We We suppose it would be a fairly simple matter to fill our allotted space by using the public interest created in Don Meades case as a springboard for some exhausting harangue about erring riders We know sports scribes who for years have virtually made their living flailing Meade Indeed it would not much surprise us were these professional Meade persecutors to appeal to the racing commission demanding he be licensed on the grounds that failure to do so deprives them of their livelihood also Perhaps in the primitive days of yore a good many jockeys would have been pushed off a high cliff amid scenes of popular rejoicing but we cannot pretend we enjoy the spectacle of seeing anybody kick a man when he is down No matter how deserving he may appear Racing officials have been anything but harsh with Meade and Arcaro and some other rueful jockeys who are not riding this spring by forgiving them again and again like mischievous children We should not wonder if the officials have concluded that certain of these wayward jockeys are incorrigible That it would be unfair to the public and to those riders who observe the rules to continue optimistically granting them licenses licensesWithout Without making any pretense of being privy to the intentions of the officials this observer has no doubt that it is a question of longevity if some of these jockeys sans license ride again We are con ¬ vinced they must first outlive the present solons These men are not to be swayed by outside influences But while we are on this subject it seems somehow pertinent to note it is no secret certain members of The Jockey Club who have fortunes invested in thoroughbred racing and breeding have displayed a portentous interest in the proceedings The Metropolitan Handicap a stake that has contributed nuggets of memorabilia to the annals of the American turf celebrates its golden anniversary tomorrow This traditional mile fixture is enriched with 10000 by the Westchester Racing Association and tomorrows renewal contains the promise of another exciting chapter in its checkered history Its very first running at Belmont Park on opening day of the Nassau County courses inaugural meeting in 1905 resulted spectacularly in a dead heat between James R Keenes brilliant Sysonby and O L Richards obscure little Race King That spirited finish was somehow prophetic presaging a sequence of unforgettable Metropolitan The 1934 Met was one of the most eventful races we ever have covered It was in this edition of the stake that Mr Khayyam won on the disqualification of Equipoise and Chase Me broke a leg turning for home The wistful and hilarious horse opera Three Men On a Horse is based on that 1934 Metropolitan MetropolitanIn In New Yorks Lavender and Old Lace era Walter Vosburgh released his weights in midwinter and the Metropolitan was the medium of a tremendous future book play It then was the most talked about turf event on the American sporting scene There are no Sysonbys nor Equipoises in tomorrows Metropolitan Mile but perhaps Ekkys famous son Shut Out will win it George Widener who operates his Erdenheim Farm and racing establish ¬ ment on such a sporty and exemplary basis is tremendously interested in the program of breeders awards His stamp of approval on this policy is most encouraging lending the movement an authentic aura of merit Belmonts prexy by the way is delighted with the new crop of foals at Old Kenney his Kentucky haras Eight Thirtys colts and fillies in particular are a source of pardonable pride Jerry Gieslers rather headlong message to the NARC still was echoing Tom Underwood voice along the cavernous miles of WaldorfAstoria hallways when Bill Kyne announced that his Bay Meadows club was distributing 102100 among war relief agencies This sum is not a portion of the really grand total of 225000 raised at the San Mateo course and which Giesler noted was being held in trust for war relief organizations j jBill Bill Kyne is this observers nominee as the most farsighted of Californias turf impresari He is also the most experienced Kyne waged an almost singlehanded fight with the blue noses and unfriendly politicos to legalize racing in the Golden State carrying on for discouraging years before his efforts finally were crowned with success Last winter Kyne again stood alone or nearly so in his struggles to remove the hypocrisy from the transportation problem Under existing conditions Bay Meadows has been operated almost exclusively for the benefit of War Relief and the states horsemen and breeding industry Dick Handlen is so widely known for his remarkable facility of making obscure members of Willie duPcnts string capture important stakes that Suncap and Supermont are regarded with a certain degree of expectancy In fact they are mentioned hopefully by followers of Foxcatchers mercurial fortunes as potential threats to Count Fleet But Handlen seemingly is inclined to think Suncap a smart sprinter af best While Supermont is not a Withers eligible and is a rather conspicuous absentee also from the classical Belmont owing to his having been altered Your bewildered correspondent never has quite been able to put in with the theory Count Fleet should have made an objective of attempting to eclipse the Kentucky Derby time record Come to think of it his initial venture of 43 was in the mud and the other three over debilitating dryingout courses But if any harassed members of the CFIW club would like a handy explanation of his failure to set a Derby record there are any number of entirely plausible and factual reasons reasonsThe The more obvious ones are al that Longden would have been foolhardy in the extreme to indulge in such histrionics abroad The Count after having his field thoroughly beaten at the end of the first mile and b that the racing strip was not rolled and scraped as in Whirlaways year but on the contrary was comparatively deep Incidentally this latter factor would have suited Ocean Wave nicely could hevhave started There also are two other available reasons if you feel explanations are necessary and prefer to be profound Firstly the injury to The Counts hoof altered the training schedule Cameron had tentatively outlined and he moved his charge up sharply from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter quarterSecondly Secondly quantities of sulpha powder were applied to Count Fleets hoof between the Wood and Derby A prominent Nassau County doctor discussing the action of sulpha gives it as his opinion this drug inevEably is picked up in the bloodstream and after constant application over a week or so is conducive to sluggishness in the animal slowing him down Even so the Derby field found The Count a mockingly elusive phenomenon
