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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND Bv Charles Hatton Applaud Mr Average Racegoer Mexicos Largest Sports Crowd Another Victory for California Hirsch Jacobs Versatility NEW YORK N Y June 2 The American turfs contribution to War Relief and charities now approximates 4000000 and doubtless it will exceed 5000000 generously by the end of 1943 if thoroughbred enthusiasts quota of ration stamps number 17 and halfsoles hold out It seems to us that Mr Elmer Snafflebit the average racegoer is entitled to the conceit of a slight bow of 45 degrees when it comes to pointingwithpride to the sports really superb war record A little regretfully this observer is reminded he was nof nresent at the recent NARC dinner when the speakers somehow fell to debating the relative importance of various factors in racing For we are told we suffered an intolerable privation when we missed Herbert Bayard Swopes eloquence on behalf of Elmer and all his ilk Mind you this is not to minimize horsemens and the associations role It just occurs that it is high time somebody applauded Elmer the fellow who braved fallen arches charleyhorses and financial anemia to attend Memorial Day programs 170000 strong and toss about a quartermillion dollars more into the racing War Relief hopper Some associations like Bill Kynes Bay Meadows for rather a shining example have gone virtually allout for War Relief federal and state taxes leav ¬ ing a diminutive margin Of course War Relief would become racing relief were associations to overcharge themselves for the use of their plants on benefit days or introduce other subtle tis Inncplv categorized under the head of business But when one realizes the 53200000 contributed to War Relief last season is equivalent to 50 per cent of the profits of racing and that taxation skims 86 per cent off clubs profits annually it becomes pretty obvious no association may reap a golden harvest in these war times Belmont Parks relief day attendance of 47148 that was the final tally Tuesday generated a good deal of excitement among those statistical burghers who noted this total was remarkably close to the 52011 who turned up last Memorial Day when one still might drive to the course and there were special trains to the entrance entranceThat That 52 Oil is the most outsized crowd of any record in New York racing And it was in the Empire State at Hempstead Long Island in 1668 that the first American horse race of which there is documentary evidence was staged stagedThis This evidence is in the form of a porringer which is regarded as the oldest piece of American manufactured silver in this country and on which is inscribed the historic legend 1668 Runn at Hampsted plaines March 25 It is in the Yale University collection The largest gathering to attend a horse race in this hemisphere over the holiday weekend was not it may amaze you to learn at Belmont Park at all but at Mexico Citys Hipodromo Bruno Pagliai announces that attendance Sunday was more than 50000 a new record for a sports event in Mexico MexicoPagliai Pagliai is president of this glistening new course and is presumably in a somewhat better position to know the number present than any civicminded Gothamite who might bridle at this comparison We are reminded while on this subject of New Yorkers pride and prejudice that the Suburban Handicap handle of 472261 was hailed at Belmont as a new world record turnover on a single race The fact this sum was exceeded several times in Kentucky Derby wagering was blandly ignored Californias native sons who are almost without exception choosy about horses still are dancing in the streets about racing events of the weekend Not only did Birig Crosbys Don Bingo capture the Easts prestigeproud Suburban Handicap but W A Osborne who is one of the groaners fellow townsmen won Mexico Citys 100000 pesos Handicap de las Americas on Sunday Won it with an obscure black gelding named Step By who paid the equivalent of 2780 The Handicap of the Americas is the most tempting prize dangled before Hipodromo runners and the Los Angeles owned Step By had only to dawdle a mile and a quarter in 218 off the track record to earn a bushel basket of pesos One hundred thousand pesos we are assured still is a ponderable sum 20000 when converted to American currency Stinging Bee was runnerup and the illfavored Air Master a Pimlico record holder third thirdIn In honor of this gala occasion of the inaugural Handicap of the Americas the flags of the 21 American nations floated in the breeze high over the course Dr Alberto M Candioti Argentinian ambassador represented the diplomatic corps at the event An Insatiable curiosity about whatever became of Gold Shower prompted us to seek out the vast and vastly entertaining Jim Healy the other afternoon It seems Mrs Vera Braggs photogenic Jean Val jean gelding strained some muscles over his shortribs a while back but is training entirely to Healys satisfaction just now Possibly Gold Shower will be among Blue Swords rivals for Aqueducts 25000 mile and a quarter Dwyer on the 19th 19thHirsch Hirsch Jacobs it is clear has a longterm lease on the American training title He seems shrewdly content to dabble in unpretentious platers instead of chasing the Will o Wasp of name horses But the sandythatched native of Brooklyn has rubbed elbows with more poor relations of the turfs aristocracy probably than any contempo ¬ rary trainer For instance there is Suerto who is one of the byproducts of the South American mare Lirica dam of Don Bingo arid Ligaroti And Quickly who scarcely needs introduction Occasionally too one of Jacobs platers wearies of being suc ¬ cessful in an inconspicuous way and develops delusions of grandeur Such a one is the flaxenmanned Marriage who performs so creditably for Rand Coward A few like Bright Gallant and Action who is Jacobs one sentiment among the hundreds of thoroughbreds Tie has handled have come under his wing as platers then progressed to become stakes winners It has always been our theory a good deal of Jacobs rather extraordinary success at making a big string of runners of little merit total up to a profitable business venture is owing to his uncanny knack at measuring the ebb and flow of thoroughbreds wayward form formThe The champion trainer scoffs at suggestions some special skill is required to properly prepare horses for certain routes or various branches of competition A distance runner trains like any other kind of horse he says for instance Jacobs versatility is so widely known hardly anybody would care to argue the point In addition to his successes with the various types of flat runners Jacobs has exhibited skill at tutoring hurdle horses and fencers Amagansett and Frederic II are stakes racers through the field the B B trainer has handled
