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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Valuable Handicaps Conflict 110000 Worth in Fourteen Days Foul Marred Metropolitan Renewal Effect of Tax Upon Racing NEW YORK N Y May 17 17A A story emanating from East Bostons steel stucco and rococo Suffolk Downs where the Atlantic Ocean serves as a tributary to the centerfield duck pond is to the effect that Uncle Chuck Adams has established July 5 as the date of his lucrative 50000 Massachusetts Handicap Perhaps taking a cue from President Roosevelt who has found it expedient to have two Thanksgivings it has blandly been decided to hold the Fourth of July on the Fifth of July this year For the benefit of those ash souls who may wonder why racing does not celebrate the Fourth of July on the Third such a thing is unthinkable As preposterous as celebrating the Fourth of July on the Fourth of July and foregoing holidays altogether in racing After all one need not feel bereft and brood about this tampering with the calendar We shall have a Sunday that week It is not as if we were sailing to the Orient and some ¬ how lost a whole day crossing the International Date Line Returning to Suffolk Downs and the Massachu ¬ setts we are told Uncle Chuck shifted the date of this back bay turf function to the glorious Fifth in order to avoid conflict with other valuable handicaps And in it he means the Butler which was shifted from the Fourth in 1942 to the following Saturday this summer Adams hadnt much alternative Even though the interval between these stakes now is reduced from eleven to five days Of course it still is entirely possible for a horse to appear in both the Empire and the Bay State attrac ¬ tions and perhaps several will Rushaway we are reminded captured the Illinois and Latoma Derbies on succeeding days In the post war era to come when horses may commute between far distant points by plane even that will seem unremarkable we dare say Whirlaway the worlds richest race horse with upward of 500000 in his saddlebags doubtless will be conditioned by Plain Ben with the object of having him ready to attempt duplicating his last summers conquest of Beantowns most noteworthy contribution to the roster of Americas opulent stakes It seems scarcely possible Mr Longtail can be ready in time for the mile and a quarter of Belmonts 30000 Suburban Handicap on Decoration Day But there is a delightful prospect he will appear for Aqueducts 30000 Brooklyn Handicap on June 26 26Whirlaway Whirlaway will not lack opportunities of enhancing his already impressive moneywinning record There is 110000 added money in three handicaps The Brooklyn Massachusetts and Butler over a period of 14 days from June 26 through July 10 10In In the West is the 30000 Stars and Stripes Handicap and Arlington Park feature which will be run at Washington Park on July 5 5The The engagements Blenheim Hs popular son will fill when he resumes his career will depend to a degree on the imposts handicappers require him to shoulder This is an acamedic point of absorbing interest to turf enthu ¬ siasts many of whom consider it rather a sad commentary on something or other that a horse could manage to amass more than 500000 without ever carrying more than 130 pounds poundsThe The Metropolitan Handicap resulted in eminently satsfactory fashion for the favorite players with thanks to Devil Diver rather than his renowned running mate Shut Out Possibly it will be different Suburban Day but at the moment Devil Diver is infinitely superior to last years DerbyBelmontClassicTravers winner winnerAll All this may or may not be a solace to exercise boy Eddie Arcaro who chose Devil Diver as his mount in the 42 Derby then was chided no end when Wayne Cowboy Wright won astride the rejected Shut Out The foulest riding in New York racing is reserved arrogantly and with a welldeveloped mercenary sense for the richest most important stakes stakesThe The scrimmage at the Wood Memorials start was written off charitably as accidental The traffic snarl at the end of the back stretch in the Metro ¬ politan was unmistakably studied and deliberate And we will venture to say that as a result one of the most famous riders in America now has a black mark against him in the official archives He may fancy he got away with it as others have before him only to one sad day be confronted with a meticulously detailed account of the whole foul proceedings proceedingsRiverland Riverland and Vain Prince were the chief sufferers if you are interested in that besidesthepoint bit of information Herbert Bayard Swope plenipotentiary of the Turf Committee of America said Saturday of the Meade case that the cocky little westerner was refused a license not because of collusion in the Correction Handicap at Jamaica last fall but because of the repeated offenses suffusing his career The suspension of Meade incurred for collusion automatically terminated New Years Day DayBy By actual count Meade has been carpeted 24 times in the last 9 years Mean ¬ while New Yorks racing is managing to set new handle records despite the absence of so many diplomats insilks this season The American turf has much more at stake now than ever before The horsemen and jockeys must realize they owe it to racing and to themselves to sustain and if possible expand this newfound public confidence Mention of Whirlaways fabulous quality for winning money reminds us that of the cool halfmillion he has earned Calumet probably retained less than the owners of winners of half that sum a decade back due to the present tax system In the same vein the huge sums added to stakes such as the Derby Preakness and Massachusetts Handicap are actually preshrunk preshrunkCome Come to think of it there would be little point in Count Fleet pursuing the Golden Fleece and exploiting his singular order of speed for sheer monetary gain under the present circumstances circumstancesSome Some stables have worked out budgets and upon reaching that line of demar ¬ cation in earnings when the tax items law of diminishing returns applies have un ¬ wound their horses and left purses the remainder of the season to others othersWhat What the average racing man hopes associations will do in these times Is maintain a fair overnight purse minimum And a good many advocate graded purse values commensurate with the worth of the horses The cost of transportation of horses when they can be moved at all is up 10 per cent the cost of foodstuffs and straw up nearly 15 per cent It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain hay and straw because of the lack of workmen to bale It Jockey Johnny Longden to conclude this thing on a Ripleyesque note never saw Count Fleet run until he chanced to visit a newsreel theater recently and saw the running of the Preakness You see he has always been astride The Count when he performed
