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Nelson Dunstan REFLECTIONS Bv Nelson Dunstan Will Count Fleet Break Records Illinois Bill Bad for Chicago Racing Eastern Tracks Hit by Gas Edict Ghost of Golden Gate Returns NEW YORK N Y May 21 Probably no phase of a race causes so little discussion before the running as time After a race many will glance at the time which has been posted although the vast majority will be studying the payoff board on the money horses But the time in tomorrows Withers has been discussed freely all week and will be keenly watched immediately after the running It was over the same course at Belmont Park last year that Count Fleet ran the mile in 134 a new track record and also the fastest mile run bv a twovearold in all racing history That was one full second faster than the Withers mark of 135 and speculation is rife not only as to whether The Count will create a new Withers record but whether he will smash his own track record Still others maintain there is a possibility he will equal or better the American record of 134 which Equipoise created at Arlington Park back in 1932 His trainer Don Cameron is more concerned with winning the race but the interest in the Withers for a great many fans will center around Count Fleets time He is certainly one of the fastest horses ever to come on the American scene and has amply proved it But just as many people get a real kick in seeing a knockout at a fight so do those at race tracks get a kick out of seeing whether a horse can better a record he created in the year before The new ban on gasoline use is certain to have an effect on attendance at eastern tracks not served by train trolley bus or subway Sol Herzog general counsel to the Eastern States Gasoline Dealers Conference terms it a shame and a disgrace and invidious discrimination against the eastern motorist Even if Herzog is right the conservation of gas for army use should be the first consideration of every true American But let us hope this time that the racegoer is not to be singled out while night club patrons and those who seek other amusements continue to make a farce of it If Saratoga had any chance of getting Governor Dewey to approve an upstate meeting this year it vanished com ¬ pletely with the release of the ODT edict Empire City officials still insist they will have adequate trolley service but we are wondering if this new restriction will have any effect on their determination to stage their own meeting at Yonkers rather than a Long Island course There is no telling how long this ban will remain in effect and eastern racing officials will have to make plans on the assumption it will remain in force during the fall The day of worrying about rubber tires is over but by fall racing fans are going to be hard up against it for more shoe leather They had a street car Derby and we suppose the next trick name will be the barefoot Belmont For the past few days racing folk have been speculating on whether or not Herbert Bayard Swope or someone equally familiar to the sport will be named on the three man board that President Roosevelt has suggested as coordinators The speculation goes deeper however with the wonderment that surrounds the duties of the trio We cannot get excited about it for we doubt if any board regardless of what they are called can improve the conditions now existing If a track cannot operate due to lack of transportation it is pretty certain to follow the precedent set by Delaware Park and some of the Maryland tracks If it can Tun then we see no reason for a board to tell them they can do so The Important thing is to keep strictly within the regulations laid down as an aid to the war effort and for tracks wherever possible to shift where it will make it easier for the fans Racing hardly needs a coordinator to cover that either On the other hand if the work of this committee is to keep Washington officials informed as to what is taking place the idea is a good one Racing will ask no favors but it would certainly be good for the sport if someone in sympathy with it could be close to Washington to offset the attacks constantly made upon it Out in Chicago the lawmakers have a bill asking that the tracks be rotated as to dates Its a bad bill not only for Chicago but for turf in general Just imagine what would happen when the Arlington Park meeting opened the season It would mean that the 20000 Arlington Futurity would be run before the twoyearold division took shape and the Classic sandwiched somewhere between the Preakness and the Belmont The net result would be that Chicagoans would never get to see a real good horse Threeyearolds go from Louisville to Baltimore and then New York for the Triple Crown events Then they go to Chicago for the Classic and American Derby If the Classic and American Derby were moved up to interfere with the Triple Crown events they would soon become minor affairs Such a rotation would upset the whole stake schedule in this country and it would only be a question of time before Chicago became a secondrate racing town With all due respect to the other Chicago tracks this bill should be killed Arling ¬ tonWashington stake schedules give the fans the kind of racing that goes with July and August and which draw horses from other cities A passage of the bill would be equivalent to staging a championship fight at eight oclock followed by the preliminaries i iIt It was not surprising to read that a company was being formed for the purpose of ferrying horses across the ocean after the war nor that winter racing would become even more popular than the summer variety in the years to come Strangely the news that Gulfstream had been sold immediately followed Then lo and behold came the announcement that Slip Madigan had applied to General DeWitt for permission to reopen the Oakland ghost track Golden Gate It took more than courage for Slip to tackle that job With a couple of million dollars worth of dis ¬ illusioned stockholders a lake for a racing strip and yet the most beautiful grand ¬ stand and clubhouse we have ever seen he is attempting what many claim to know is impossible One thing may make it possible however and that is the boom of racing when Hitler and his bloody gang have been given what they deserve New tracks will spring up in many localities and Golden Gate could be one of them Madigan deserves a break for the way he has stayed with an almost hopeless proposi ¬ tion and we would like tb see him get it v
