The Judges Stand: Bumper Crop of Cap Celebes; Whirlaway Ready for Comeback; More on Disqualifications; Keene Saw Dream Come True, Daily Racing Form, 1943-05-29

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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Matron Bumper Crop of Cap Celeb Whirlaway Ready for Comeback NEW YORK N Y May 28 28We We are occasionally seized with the conviction that on the whole too much emphasis is being placed on the importance of handicap racing in America Possibly we might profit by Englands long experience in this connection On that tight little isle across the turbulent Atlantic the sportier classics are the thing and have been for centuries We are reminded too that only the other day Jack Campbell than whom no handicapper is any better known declared that indeed if he owned a race track there would be plenty of valuable weightforage races on the programs and More on Disqualifications Keene Saw Dream Come True they would be renewed every year come lto30 shots walkovers or the dawn of communism At the time we thought this attitude strangely like a weatherman being superior about a barometer But the more we thought vabout it and we have thought about it a good deal the more a feeling crystallizes the explosive Louisianan was right Weightforage racing has simmered down deplorably to the Saratoga Cup Jockey Club Gold Cup and Pimlico Special in the autumn When these affairs are staged there will be a lot of discreet absenteeism among the glorified Herefords who are cluttering up the tracks when Whirlaway Alsab and Market Wise run in handicaps handicapsIt It is none the less true that some of the best entertainment American tracks will provide this sea ¬ son will be in handicap events such as the Suburban Brooklyn Butler Massachusetts Stars and Stripes and Washington Park Handicap There is a place for handicap racing of course It is simply that it may be overdone especially that kind of handicap racing in which any assignment in excess of 130 pounds incites witch hunts for the poor handicapper handicapperThere There is an intriguing and unusual aspect in connection with handicap racing this wartime season of 43 however Beginning with the ensuing encounter of Market Wise Shut Out and Devil Diver in the Memorial Days Suburban Handicap which is a good beginning the tussle for the bayleaves in the handicap division will become more spirited and demanding as the season progresses progressesWhirlaway Whirlaway is sufficiently fit for a sprint event at this writing His nemesis of last autumn Alsab is galloping steadily at Chicago and other celebs such as War Relic Fenelon and Foxborough II are in training on Long Island Leading this league will be no small order we should think Market Wise who is making such menacing gestures at Crusaders proud record as the lone double winner of the Suburban is a colorful storybook horse and the most interesting handicapper of the moment momentThe The anecdote we like best about Too Timelys distinguished elder brother is Wash Carrolls crack that Two veterinarians have pronounced Market Wise a sufferer from heart trouble If so I shudder to think what kind of tickers my other horses have Carrolls admiration for this 500 to boot horse he developed into a champion distance performer is a beautiful thing and even though the erstwhile jockey obviously wished himself a thousand miles away when he stepped into the spotlight to receive the NYTW plaque at Arrowhead last August he overcame his embarrassment to blurt Market Wise is a good horse He can beat that Whirlaway any time Our forum on the disqualification rules takes a new tangent today with the following missive from a protagonist of the liberal western version which vests in stewards the power to award disqualified horses a lesser portion of the purse It seems to me there is enough difference between an accidental and a deliberate foul to justify rules that apply to each type Isnt it true that all other rules are designed to keep rider trainer owner and horse within certain bounds with which to establish a protection for the wagering patron Why then the old disqualification rule which ignores the bettor We like to put racing ahead of betting but where would racing be without betting Let us give betting and the fellow who does it some if not as much con ¬ sideration and thought when a rule is being drafted as is accorded racing He is willing to lose all under a deliberate foul but should not be required to when the foul is accidental and in a high percentage of cases traceable to the asso ¬ ciation In one discussion we are told the old disqualification rule prevents jockeys from saving place and show money should he be caught riding foul astride the winner In another we are reminded that racing must be conducted without taking betting into consideration considerationDo Do not overlook that application of the discretionary rule is more of a test of the steward or stewards than the old regulation And let us remember that under the discretionary rule the stewards may place any horse guilty of foul last lastThis This thing is beginning to assume an irreconcilable East is East and West is West overtone We suspect this forum will ultimately bring to light certain seeming inadequacies in each rule We are regarding them in terms of deliberate fouls now since such incursions on the rules are the source of the vast majority of disqualifications disqualificationsThe The Jockey Club rule automatically makes the public a partner in efforts to reform fraudulent riders often at an unseemly cost to the public publicThe The more elastic western rule appears comparatively deferential to the public but often achieves this by also permitting unscrupulous riders to collect collectIn In instances of accidental fouls the western rule is the fairer we judge judgeJ J O Jack Keenes demise at the Motor City marked the passing of one of the most prominent figures in American racing and bloodstock breeding We suppose everyone knows that years ago he trained the Czars horses saddling winners also in England and the Far East enjoying success abroad comparable to that of Boots Durnell DurnellUpon Upon his return Keene made come true a magnificent dream of a race course on his lovely Keeneland Farm near Lexington This of course is Keeneland Park with its anachronistic stone clubhouse patterned after the severe facade of a Russian fort amid the pastoral surroundings of rolling paddocks of Blue Grass It is his memorial memorialJean Jean Valjean was his favorite horse Alice Blue Gown and Jeanne Bowdre his besb mares Alice was the better runner Jeanne has been the better mother he remarked to us this spring at Churchill She Js the ancestress of Jean Valjean Grand Slam War Beauty Devils Thumb Ogma Seven Hearts Jeanne dArc and a host of other such familiar stake entertainers


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