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Owners of Rival Horses Defer Decision On Starting Charges Against Aletern Ernst Colt Strong Choice To Make Lincoln Handicap Third Stake Success in Row STICKNEY, 111., June 16.— Having discouraged most of the handicap horses here by the ease with which he won the Francis S. Peabody Memorial and La Salle handicaps, A. C. Ernsts Aletern may not have much to do to score his third straight stakes triumph when he sets sail after the ,000 Lincoln Handicap which features the final program of the Lincoln Fields Jockey Club at Hawthorne Saturday. Eleven other horses are eligible for Saturdays run of a mile and a quarter, but owners and trainers of few of them are nurturing hopes of victory and some may not even try for it. Aletern, if he holds his current form, may become one of the outstanding handicap horses of the Chicago season. He already has demonstrated his superiority over the handicap division at Hawthorne and trainer Jack Skirvin has his sights set on many of the rich features that await the son of Eternal at Washington Park. One of Aleterns main objectives during the early part of the season at Washington Park is the 0,000 Stars and Stripes Handicap in which he may encounter some of the top ranking thoroughbreds heading this way from the East. He also may be a starter in the Equipoise Mile, though the distance of that 0,000 fixture may not suit him as well as races of greater length. Carries 122 Pounds Though he must shoulder top weight of 122 pounds, Aletern appears to many to have the Lincoln Handicap at his mercy. In winning the La Salle Handicap, he passed Valdina Orphan, the most formidable rival he has encountered this season, and literally ran away from him. The Ernst colt also has decisively whipped most of the others eligible for the closing day headhner, among them Galbreath and Diensts Best Seller, Mrs. Marie Evans Shot Put, Walmac Farms Bushwhacker, Mrs. Clyde Troutts Take Wing and David Straus Daily Trouble. Rollie Shepp, trainer of Best Seller, said that he would decide later whether he will send his charge after Aletern Saturday, and trainers of other eligibles said about the same thing. None of them appear to look very hopefully for victory over Aletern. The only Lincoln Handicap eligible Aletern has not yet whipped this season is Valdina Farms Rounders and whether he is to start Saturday also remains for a later decision from his stable. That Rounders is ready for the test, however, was seen this morning when he breezed a mile in 1:43. If he starts in the Lincoln he must share top weight with Aletern for his impost also is 122 pounds. In the weights, Rounders stablemate, Valdina Orphan, is next with 121 pounds and then comes Best Seller with 115. The only other Lincoln nominee to indulge in a private drill this morning was Bushwhacker who stepped a handy five furlongs in 1:02.
