Reflections, Daily Racing Form, 1943-06-19

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fly BT jFaEH ► reflections! By Nelson Dunstan J Myrtlewood Cap Draws Fine Field Arlington Meeting Opens Monday | Two-Year-Old Division Takes Shape I Talk of Hollywood Racing This Fall I Arlington Parks rich meeting will swing into high on Monday, with the running of the ,000 Myrtlewood Handicap, a six-furlong race for three-year-olds and older horses. Sun Again and Thumbs Up were assigned 122 each by racing secretary Webb Everett, but a glance at the 18 others named and the weight assignments forecasts a I fast race that will be bitterly fought from end to end. Signator and Fairaris are in 1 at 118 each and then, at 114, comes a trio that will grip the attention of many, ! namely, Mar-Kell, Some Chance and Slide Rule. Mar-Kell defeated Vagrancy by eight lengths on one occasion this year and shipped to Chicago in perfect shape. Calumet holds a strong hand with Sun Again, Mar-Kell and Quien Es, who is in at 113. The possibilities do not end there, however, for Overdrawn is assigned 113; Burnt Cork, 111; Parasang, 110, and Sales Talk, 109. That way weighted, the Myrtlewood shapes up as a wide-open race. Sun Again ran once in New York, and while he flashed his old-time speed, it was evident he needed the race. Thumbs Up, who is slowly coming up to the peak of form he displayed last fall, must be respected despite Everetts top assign- - it. Parasang cannot be ignored at the weights. If .u a running mood, he could be dangerous. Before the week is out three more stakes will have been decided at the Arlington meeting. On Wednesday, they will stage the Princess Doreen .. . Nelson Dunstan Stakes, at six furlongs for three-year-old fillies, and on Thursday will follow with the Primer Stakes, for two-year-olds at five and a half furlongs. These three events carry ,000 in added money. Chicagoans are naturally interested in Occupy, who will be seen in the Primer Stakes, for not only is he a full brother to Occupation, but is also owned by John Marsch, a very popular Chicago owner. Rare indeed are full brothers who race simultaneously and prove top-notchers, but in his two starts at Hawthorne, Occupy gave the same promise his older brother did at this time last year. The Primer will prove a more searching test. On the first week-end, June 26, Arlington will feature the Equipoise Mile, for three-year-olds and older horses, and we look for a strong field to answer the bugle. Since its inauguration in 1941, when it was won by Ekkys son, Equifox, it has become highly popular with Chicago fans. Carrying 0,000 in added money, the coming renewal will draw a more powerful field than it attracted in the first two runnings. The Arlington-Washington meetings are certain to reach a new high for Chicago racing. In the "good old days- of the early American Derby, Lucky Baldwin and other characters of the turf wrote a chapter of sport that will never be erased from the records. Ben Lindheimer, who is more modern in his ideas and methods, took over Washington, then Arlington Park, and the result is 67 days of racing comparable . with any staged throughout the world. He loves a horse he owned Patricia Marian,! | but as a successful business man who was willing to take a gamble, he welded | together a smoothly functioning organization that now operates like clockwork, j I John D. Jackson, the general manager, is not only an engineer by profession, but a man of ideas and a tireless worker. To him, Lindheimer credits much of the success | of the two tracks. Joe Foley, Butzow and Ted Williams are a publicity trio comparable to the best in the country. Webb Everett, latest to join the official family, knows the work of the racing secretarys office from end to end. In each department it is the same, and with a man at the helm who was willing to spend money to give Chicago the best racing obtainable, racing is the richer nationally. Lindheimer has two main considerations — "honesty of all concerned with the sport" and "the racing fan comes first." The two-year-old division is slowly taking shape. It is likely that some of the good ones have yet to make their initial appearance. Here in Chicago, fans are talking about Occupations brother, Occupy, but whispers are constantly heard about Louis B. Mayers Free Speech, a striking colt by Man o War — La France. In Pensive, a Hyperion colt, Calumet, too, has one that the stable believes to be above ordinary. Detroit has developed Black Badge and a few others, while George D. Wideners Lucky Draw and the Longchamps Farms Mrs. Ames have justified the attention of those seeking champions. Two-year-olds will play their part in the Arlington-Washington meetings, and it would not be surprising if the division developed still other contenders before the Washington Park Futurity came up for decision. Every one of the big stables at Chicago appears to have one or more of some promise, so the juvenile competition should be of a high order among the youngsters as well as the older divisions. Rumors are flying thick and fast that Hollywood Park, in California, will be the scene of a meeting this fall. Jerry Giesler, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, is hopeful that it can be brought about, and Neil McCarthy, one of the best j informed men in the Golden State, spoke on the telephone for one hour assuring a well-known eastern official there was more to it than wishful thinking. In Chicago, Lawrence Armour asks: "Why should there not be a Hollywood meeting?" And we can think of no answer beyond the possibility of objections due to its close proximity to airplane and other production plants of vital war implements. Bill Kynes Bay Meadows, in northern California, will open in October for a 55-day run, and should the Hollywood meeting materialize, it would give southern California fans an opportunity to see the sport at the only major track that could be operated in the Los Angeles sector. Santa Anita and Del Mar are definitely out of the picture for the duration. There has been talk of a Santa Anita meecing at Hollywood, but with Doc Strub busily engaged in war work, that hardly seems possible at present. Hollywood could make a fine start for a southern California revival as it is one of the most modern and spacious race tracks to be found in this country.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1940s/drf1943061901/drf1943061901_32_7
Local Identifier: drf1943061901_32_7
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800