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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton MidWest Tracks Cooperate Joliet Tests Black Swan Detroit Expands Chasing The Count Is Measured Up NEW YORK N Y May 18 18Things Things in racing are booming like the f irsfc three reels of WellsFargq in the midWest where the venerable Downs and the neat but not gaudy Sportsmans courses terminated successful meetings last weekend the dispossessed Lincoln Fields Jockey Club introduced a 30day season Monday at Hawthorne and Detroit inaugurates a 73day run Saturday One of the most refreshing things about this martial turf year is the quiet efficient way the men behind these courses have snived transnortation Droblems And the air of hospitality and cooperation attendant on the transfer of those gas patients Keeneland Lincoln and Arlington to accessible tracks Was it not that lovable old cynic Rochefoucald who said Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests We could wish there were more of this Saroyan spirit and com ¬ munity of thought East of the Alleghanies Public in ¬ terest in the recent spring meetings in Kentucky and Illinois are a source of vast encouragement to the sponsors of the more pretentious summer meetings Especially to that farsighted fellow Ben Lindheimer stagemanager of the Arlington and Washington seasons easily the most ambitious around the Boul Mich what with the Stars and Stripes and American Derby Wash ¬ ington and Arlington Classic etc etc Clearly Lincolns young session will be unusually interesting for its two yearold competition Eastern activities of the 1943 kindergarteners have not revealed any such precocious upstarts as are Ogham Black Swan and Civil Liberty This itinerant observer saw these three race at Louisville Every one is a runner They should jnake Lincolns fivefurlong Joliet a week from Saturday a thrilling spectacle and a stake of significance In 1941 Alsab began a succession of triumphs in the Joliet that since has ceased to a mere recitation of the names of feature evenis but is a veritable roll of drums drumsIt It is much too early to speculate intelligently about what awaits this trio of young Lochinvars out of the West of course but we imagine they do have a future Black Swan is perhaps bred to stay farthest for he is a half brother by Burgoo King to Riverland and is strikingly like that leggy emancipated plater in certain physical aspects Ogham is a Wise Counsellor and Civil Liberty is by the Counsellors son Deliberator We recall vividly the grit Black Swan displayed to overcome trouble and win the Bashford Manor Civil Liberty is the colt for whom Mrs Al Sabath paid 1200 at Lexingtons fall auctions arid he is marked curiously like Alsab AlsabAt At the time of his purchase Sabath called interviewers attention to this similarity and they chided him a good deal about it in print But he may now enjoy the luxury of a hearty last laugh for Civil Liberty outworked every Miami juvenile and earned his diploma with a breezing 100 Vs smartest time of the Louisville meeting Ben Lindheimer is one of the most progressive figures among present day turf impresario it seems to us In the spring when some associations were pessimistically hastening to reduce purses still others hedged about operating at all Lindheimer calmly announced increased Arlington and Washington purses and stakes This confidence had a stabilizing effect effectWithout Without making any vain pretentiqns to being a seer we note that Lindheimer an avid charter member of the CFIW Club is by way of showing Chicagoans Count Fleet in the Classic and American Derby And with perhaps the first 1943 encounter of that extraordinary running Ocean Wave and Occupation Detroit will christen a bright new chase course at its ensuing summer meeting This colorful fascinating phase of the sport should come into vogue with Motor City racegoers The association is not making any trivial halfhearted gesture at innovating steeplechase competition On the contrary it offers several 5000 features through the field and proposes three or four overnight hedge events weekly Perhaps the Detroit Fair Grounds project will help to take up the slack created by Delaware Parks abandonment of its summer meeting one placing special emphasis on this branch of competition competitionFred Fred Parks does not anticipate any pronounced dearth of material for Aqueducts chases and hurdle contests what with the duPont course and Marylands halfmilers temporarily idle idleI I believe that those breeders awards in New York steeplechases may have a more noteworthy influence on this field of production than on the large flathorse breeding Industry Parks incidentally observes We need to breed and rear more thoroughbreds especially for steeplechasing steeplechasingThe The Saratoga association scarcely can be expected to make a definite announcement until its directorate meets next month but its homeless August meeting now seems more likely to take up lodging at Aqueduct than at Belmont despite the somewhat untoward factor this sums up to 48 con ¬ secutive racing days at the Queens County Jockey Club course with the latter organizations meeting following the Spa associations associationsUntil Until Long Island railroacl cars remained nonsensically idle on the Belmont Park spur serving no other purpose than an abode for spiders while the customers wore out rationed shoe leather the Nassau County Park was expected to be host to George Bulls meeting meetingAqueduct Aqueduct is handier to the public by seven furlongs but racing men prefer Belmont Mrs John Hertz Count Fleet the colt who makes the watches sing was the most overwhelming mutuels favorite to win either the Derby or Preakness and will perhaps be an even more prohibitive Withers choice Man o War was a countyourchickens 1 to 7 in the books in 1920 opposing Wildair and David Harum It now appears there will be sufficient entries to offer win and place wagering By the way we doubt if it occurred to Harry Straus that in starting New Moon for the Preakness he was not only assured fourth money but also assured a place pool with whatever dividend accrues the tote company The twodollar bettor may consider it flagrantly trivial but as a point of some interest to horsemen we note that Dr Harold Sheetz who explored The Count with a tape last autumn measured him again the other day The colt has indeed grown still is growing for that matter matterAt At two he stood 152 girthed 69 inches was 18 inches across the chest had a 20inch forearm 34inch stifle 16 inch gaskin measuring 8 inches between the eyes Now he stands 152 girths 72 inches is 21 inches across the chest has a 2114inch forearm 35J2inch stifle 17inch gaskin and is 8 Ms inches between the eyes eyesHis His development of chest or girth and forearm are unusual Man o War who stood 161 girthed 71 inches Vagrancy who stands 161 girths 71 Vi inches Probably in view of his moderate stature Count Fleet has an outsize heart and lungs His salient visible attribute is we think his under ¬ pinning
