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«P laattifcw. THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton t 67 Days Has Washington Park Lindheimer Shares the Wealth I Horsemens Expenses Soaring I Governor Dewey and the Trot Meets NEW YORK, N. Y., June 19. Sixty-seven days of racing, a fabulous number of purse-proud stakes and big "name" horses begins Monday afternoon with the confluence of the Arlington and Washington summer turf season out on the Homewood prairie. It will be by no means a lone prairie during this Chicago racing extravaganza one imagines. That affable fellow, Webb Everett, has written those extremely captious reviews that horsemen would call "a good book." And executive director Ben Lindheimer is sharing the wealth with horsemen through a sequence of five 0,000 stakes, literally shoals of ,000 and 0,000 features and a ,500 purse minimum. It is no exaggeration to say it is the most remarkable of all Chicago turf seasons so far as concerns the quality of the racing. A point of no small *degree of interest to thoroughbred enthusiasts over the country will be the comeback efforts of the lion-hearted Alsab and the turfs Mr. Money Bags, Whirlaway. There are three opportunities for them to meet in Chicago during the 67 days, in the Stars and Stripes on the glorious Fifth, the Arlington Handicap on July 31 and-, the Washington Park Handicap on September 6, each enriched with 0,000. Whirlaway and Alsab are progressing steadily along the comeback trail, the former being perhaps rather advanced at the moment. Sarge Swenke 7~" hoped to have Alsab in the Stars and Stripes post v»narles nation parade, to our last accounts, but since has en countered an unprecedented succession of backtracks. Neither Plain Ben nor the Sarge is going to jeopardize his charges future, hurrying him unduly for any particular engagement, you may depend upon it. Occupation, another who adds interest to the roster of the Arlington-Washington fixtures, bears the scars of the firing iron now. However, his works and Fridays successful Lincoln Fields debut reveal the Futurity specialist as a quick horse still. That patient little horseman, Burley Parke, never has made any vainglorious predictions about Occupations capacity at a mile and a quarter, but is giving Bull Dogs photogenic son every opportunity to report "fresh and fit" for the Classic on July 24. Meanwhile, Occupations little brother, Occupy, is making menacing gestures at the Arlington and Washington Futurities. Count Fleet will resume his departures from the "norm" for equine mobility in the Classic or American Derby, and perhaps both. He is getting on the track daily at Belmont Park. That sagacious Scot, Don Cameron, is a most painstaking conditioner and you may be sure that when The Count entrains for Chicago he will be* ready to start a conflagration comparable to anything since Mrs. OLearys spirited bovine kicked over the lantern. On the whole, this observer thinks too much is being made of the osselets Occupation developed last autumn in references to the Pimlico Futurity result. He worked satisfactorily for that stake. We venture to say nothing is hurting any colt who runs head and head with Count Fleet a first six furlongs in 1:11 flat over Pimlico. That is only our inexpert opinion, however. If we know Ben Lindheimer he will bid for any special event that seems worth while after the Stars and Stripes, Classic, Arlington Handicap and American Derby before these "name" horses trek East in September. We suppose everyone knows by now that Col. E. R. Bradley, the last of American racings colorful, self-styled gamblers, predicts World War II. will be ended in 1943. Idle Hours extremely popular master won wagers on somewhat similar predictions about World War I. He bet that one would be over by Nov. 12, 1918. The armistice was signed on November 11, which you will allow is calling the turn. The Colonel no longer is the high roller of a couple of decades ago, a thing one imagines is a source of no regrets on the part of Bet Mosie Coss-man, who handled those rather unnerving commissions. None of those picturesque fellows known to the craft as plungers is much given to plunging in the "tote." The robot bookmaker quotes only one price and the more one wagers, the less the odds. It is doubtful if any more illuminating examples of the influence of excess profits tax on racing are available than that Churchill Downs, Inc., charged the Keeneland Association the large sum of to conduct its spring meeting at the Louisville property and the Metropolitan Jockey Club is said to have exacted a similar rental of the Empire City Racing Association for the latter clubs summer season. All of which indicates, of course, that when turf impresari move to greener pastures they do not get much of the grass, actually, if you can stand for a remarkably tepid simile. Horsemens expenses are expected to be hyped again soon with another increase in the cost of hay. Now 2 a ton, it may zoom to 0 within the next few weeks. The price rises in hay are owing to a shortage of farm labor to bale it for the market. Recently it was possible to acquire this part of thoroughbreds daily menus at 0 per ton, purchasing it in carload lots. This is one more reason racing associations which are considering the regrading of their purses should effect that economically necessary change without reducing the minimum purse values. There is no notable difference in the cost of feeding, training and shipping a stake horse and a plater. The trotting horse phase of the racing industry in the Empire state is receiving Gov. Thomas E. Deweys attention though there are more generous contributions to the state budget. The trotters and pacers hold forth upstate, for the most part, and the chief executive is not an unfeeling individual who fails to appreciate his support politically in that area. It is a kind of reciprocity. This observer believes Bill Kanes Hambletonian will be renewed as a sort of old home folks affair, in August. The Hambletonian has assumed a status in standard-bred circles quite as exalted as the Kentucky Derby in the thoroughbred sphere. This country style classic, decided in an irresistibly charming horse and buggy atmosphere at Goshen, is of importance to the nations trotting horse breeding business and the auctions.
