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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Nation Helis Important Turf Figure Takes Interest in Production McLennan Campbell Example Strive to Avoid Conflicts NEW YORK N Y May 29 29A A graying conservatively dressed quiet gentleman from the quaint old French capital of the New World looms importantly among the recent recruits to the thinning ranks of Americas turf patrons He is William Helis a Louisiana oil baron who first made page 1 as a great philanthropist A native of Tropea Helis is vice president of Greek War Relief which has exported shiploads of food to his native heath Last year he became associated with Anthony Pelleteri in the Louisiana Jockey Club and assisted in the fumigation of New Orleans racing substituting a carbon copy of its sporty flavor of the days of Lexington and Lecompte Last winter he began buying the nucleus of a racing stable Yesterday he bought Attention for 55000 the highest sum for a horse in training at public auction in America Clem McCarthy says and set himself up in the thoroughbred breeding industry with the pur ¬ chase of Straight Leads dam Next week who knows he may buy Texas as the site of his stud farm It is not that Helis is either vulgarly rich or an exhibitionist we hasten to add Say rather that he can afford to indulge his enthusiasms in racing somewhat more fully than most It seems to us that the fact racing has captured his fancy is a tenstrike for racing racingWhether Whether Attention will prove worth 55000 is on the knees of the gods or perhaps it would be more accurate to say on his own underpinning It was gossiped about in the tense and expectant atmos ¬ phere of the sales ring as Equipoises slender son entered that 60000 had been rejected for him earlier in the forenoon But we hasten to add it is our experience that such conversational sums are often subject to discount discountTwo Two factors that have not been overlooked in trackside discussions of the sale are his intrinsic worth as a progenitor and as copy for New Orleans Fair Grounds The other day it was noted in this hodge podge of turf trivia that the Butler was decided on July Fourth in 1942 but was moved to July 10 this season which seems to have virtually forced the decision of the Massachusetts on July Fourth This we reflect might be construed by some readers to imply Empire City was somehow unneighborly It has since come to our shellpink auditory ossicles that when the shift in the Butlers date was announced Suffolk Downs had not decided to renew the Massachusetts MassachusettsOn On the whole we are not sorry we placed the wrong construction on the matter for it was enlightening in another respect Far from ignoring one anothers stake dates Jockey Club handicapper Campbell and Charley McLennan handicapper at Suffolk Garden State and Pimlico assiduously attempt to avoid conflicts in drafting their schedules ifc appears appearsWe We could wish there were more of this spirit abroad what with the general decrease in purse distribution and general increase in horsemens overhead Adlibbing about weightforage stakes in America now almost as extinct as the dodo bird it occurs that possibly the classical contests might be better adapted to pur commercialized kind of sport were they programmed in the spring or early summer Before the vicissitudes of racing and training have depleted1 the lists of name horses and the results of competition the first half of the season reveal one or two performers as standouts This would tend toward more sizable fields more interesting spectacles and betting races racesAt At the same time we are aware thab all this represents a compromise with commer ¬ cialism a thing that revolts those of us who prefer racing pour le sport sportBen Ben Lindheimers Stars andstripes on the glorious fifth is Alsabs firsb objective of 1943 But the Sabs prospects of being among those present fade in exact ratio to the presence of wet weather in Chicago Sarge Swenke who developed Mrs Sabaths colt from a 700 yearling with hocks that were suspect into one of Americas most valorous runners advises that the Sab is doing especially well He might progress more rapidly however with some of young Dr Sunshines elixirs Good Goods stout son was the champion twoyearold in 1941 and champion threeyear old last year polling a good many votes for the ethereal Horse of the Year honors both seasons and Col Al Sabath hopes fondly he will prove the champion handicap horse of 1943 1943Alsab Alsab and the sprightly juvenile Civil Liberty who is no traffic jam hazard himself by the way may journey East following the Washington Park meeting in September SeptemberWhirlaway Whirlaway is well along the road back indeed is ready for a sprint race and may pop up in the entries at Beljnont any day Warren Wrights blue bookish and purseproud little bronze is liberally engaged both in the East and out on the Homewood prairie Of course the usual factors of weight etc will influence plain Ben as to Whirlaways itinerary this summer summerWarren Warren Wright the dapper master of Calumet has an uncommonly formidable string this year In addition to Whirlaway there are the sisters MarKell and Nellie L the colt Ocean Wave and the precocious kinder ¬ gartener Heralder Herbert Bayard Swopes suggestion that the NARC adopt a resolution binding each commission to respect the rulings of other state turf governing bodies is urgent in tone and not some idle afterthought of the recent New York conference of the National Association of State Racing Commissioners CommissionersOne One would have thought such a resolution would have been the very first adopted upon the formation of a nationwide association of racing commissioners to forestall the now familiar phenomena of erring horsemen and riders who are persona non grata in one state licensed in another This sort of thing is water on the wheels of the thoroughbred industrys enemies Racings character nationally is defamed rather than benefitted when elements found detrimental to the best interests of the sport in one state or section of the country are welcomed elsewhere elsewhereIt It is going to be extremely interesting to note what becomes pf Swopes proposal proposalLincoln Lincoln Fields successful season moves entertainingly on to next week ¬ ends Steger Handicap a 5000 annual of six and a half furlongg for three yearolds and upward for which weight assignments are due The Steger accrues unusual interest for the reason that among the candidates is John Marschs Occupation whom Burley Parke has been tightening by easy stages The Steger is the Futurity specialists lone stake chance during Lin ¬ colns Hawthorne meeting
