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Count Fleet Wins Withers With Ease Sianator Aaain Best in Crete Handicap Covers Mile in 136 on Muddy Track While Held at 1 to 20 Sensational Hertz Colt Has FiveLength Lead at Wire Over LegWeary Slide Rule RuleELMONT ELMONT L L N Y May 22 Per forming sensationally in the mud Mrs John Hertzs Count Fleet added the sixty eighth running of the Withers mile to his imposing string of victories before a sur ¬ prisingly large attendance of 22356 at Bel ¬ mont Park this afternoon Zooming into cormnand at the break in a threehorse field The Count never gave his tremen ¬ dous following any real concern sallying down the alley with five rapidly increasing lengths advantage over W E Boeings leg weary Slide Rule as Belair Studs TipToe brought up the rear a dozen more lengths to the rear rearThe The crowd sent Count Fleet to the post a 1 to 20 favorite the shortest within memory for this historic stake and he per ¬ formed like that sprt of risk The Count who makes the watches sing was scarcely expected to exhibit speed over the muddy deep surface that obtained But he sped along in the amazing time of 13J 23 46 5835 110 track record 110 123 and was only coasting the final fur ¬ long in 136 on a strip dockers called at least two full seconds slow to the mile In addition The Count was steered past the center of the racing strip in quest of the firmer footing curving for home thereby defiantly spotting Slide Rule who cut the corner half a dozen lengths When jockey John Longden dismounted to declare He could have run in 134 were the track fast this afternoon nobody much doubted him Nears Withers Track Mark MarkThe The Withers mark is 135 held jointly by Man t War Snob II and Johnstown all performing on fast strips and carrying 118 pounds while Count Fleet raced over Belmont at its worst and was only a fif th second off that time while shouldering 126 pounds His facile triumph this afternoon added 12700 to his total earnings earningsThe The gathering that witnessed this exhi ¬ bition of speed in leash did not compare with 31201 present for the similar after ¬ noon in 1942 but no fair comparison was possible in view of the bleak elements and transportation restrictions In the attend ¬ ance were many notables including Her ¬ bert Bayard Swope Col E R Bradley George Widener George Bull S D Riddle Walter Salmon and of course Mr and Mrs John Hertz proud owner and breeders of the phenomenal Count Fleet FleetCharming Charming Mrs Hertz unmindful of the mud appeared on the front stretch as her colt trotted back to take his accustomed place in the winners ring and led him into that enclosure before a battery of more than a score of photographers photographersSlide Slide Rule appeared the most debilitated entrant upon coming back to unsaddle Encouraged by the vast economy of ground the favorite spotted him on the home turn Snarks game son attempted futilely to close on the Stoner Creek colt This effort seemingly exhausted him completely Of a total pool of 135731 wagered on this memorable Withers 112322 was bet on the winner It just missed being a minus pool poolThere There is no available record of a horse capturing the Withers at a shorter price Man o War for a classic example having been 1 to 7 in the books in 1920 While Count Fleets exhibition far over ¬ shadowed anything else during the after ¬ noons proceedings and indeed was the theContinued Continued on Page Three W F BERT MULHOLLAND Saddled SaddledGeorge George D Wideners Lucky Draw for his hiswinning winning performance in the Juvenile his hissecond second straight stake success Count Fleet Takes Withers With Ease EaseRuns Runs Sensational Mile in Mud to Whip Slide Rule Lucky Draw Wins Juvenile JuvenileContinued Continued from Page One Onemagnet magnet that attracted this unexpectedly large gathering it should be noted that George Wideners Lucky Draw won the 5000 Juvenile Stakes renewal at five furlongs down the Widener Chute ChuteSeveral Several speeches were made over the public address system about the day in reference to racing and the war effort One of these was by M J Curran New Yorks Secretary of State another by Stanley J Gould of the War Activities Committee CommitteeThe The story of this Withers like the vic ¬ tors performance is soon told He skipped to the front leisurely at the break while discouraging TipToe in his efforts to keep up On the far turn McCreary sent Slide Rule to his task as Longden flattered the Boeing colt with fairly close proximity of three lengths while still snugging his mount along alongAt At the hot corner The Count retained three lengths with consummate ease when Longden steered him to the middle of the strip for the firmest going thereby enabling Slide Rule to be within a length and a half of him straightening for the run by the stands standsDraws Draws Away Rapidly in Stretch StretchThus Thus encouraged McCreary went at his mount with renewed vigor Longden let Count Fleet bounce a few strides coming to the eighth pole and from that juncture to the finish was rapidly drawing away piling up a fivelength margin with Long ¬ den taking up again at the end endLucky Lucky Draw unexpected winner of Jamaicas Youthful made another claim to distinction as the smartest of the Easts twoyearolds thus far in the season when he carried George D Wideners colors to a wellmerited triumph in the sixtysev ¬ enth running of the Juvenile JuvenileFollowing Following the early pace of Depth Charge and the favored Ravenala within easy striking distance early he moved to the front when McCreary urged him the final furlong and won comfortably by two and a half lengths lengthsDepth Depth Charge gave way badly after a half mile and Ravenala also weakened after falling heir to the lead finally drop ¬ ping second to Victor Emanuels Surro ¬ gate who closed belatedly and led him by three lengths lengthsTen Ten ran and the homebred Jack High gelding paid 980 He was top weight under the conditions with 122 pounds in ¬ cidentally and was timed in 59 a smart performance in view of the track condi ¬ tions and his impressive manner of win ¬ ning The victory netted 7925 It was the Belmont prexys first Juvenile win ¬ ner since 1925 when Galetian won this stake stakeAnthemion Anthemion racing for C T Chenery and ridden by Johnny Gilbert was an easy winner of the fifth race a dash of six furlongs for fillies The place portion of the purse went to J E Wideners Fair Weather while Mrs W H Canes Sun tegra was third
