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• I | -1 REFLECTIONS I By Nelson Dunstan J No Handicap Races for The Count Weight-for-Age Favored by Hertz Whirlaway to Start in Equipoise Belmont Is Ideal for Spa Meeting There is no chance of Count Fleet meeting older horses before September, if then. In a letter to Webb Everett, racing secretary at Arlington-Washington Parks, John I Hertz says: "We still are planning to race him in your Classic and American Derby, but I am very much opposed to entering him in handicaps this year, if somewhat later . : I can get another opportunity to accomplish the same purpose under weight-for-age , conditions.- Ben Lindheimer was a close observer of Whirlaway when, in his 1943 ; debut on Tuesday, he ran third to his stablemate, Mar-Kell. He will also be a keen j ■ observer when Alsab first goes to the post. Both Everett and Lindheimer agree with i i I 1 1 , i ■ I Mr. Hertz that any thought or discussion about Count Fleet meeting older horses should be postponed until after the running of the American Derby late in August. Everett says: "I cannot discuss such a race at this time of year, for too many factors are involved. Only public demand brings about match races and until we see Whirlaway and Alsab in action, who can say the public will ask for a three-way meeting? All three horses are busily engaged in their own divisions for the next three months and much can happen between now and Septem-[ ber. For the moment I am more concerned with Count Fleet getting to the post in the Classic and the American Derby." Ben Lindheimer would be the first to offer a fitting purse if the owners agreed on a match at weight-for-age. While Whirlaway could do no better than third jT~j ~ Nelson Dunstan to Mar-Kell and Kings Abbey on Tuesday, we look for a much improved effort in the Equipoise Mile on Saturday. A bit high in flesh, the worlds champion money-winning champion was a magnificent specimen in the post parade. He needed the race and Saturdays event should bring him nearer to the edge he will require in later races at distances more to his liking. The Equipoise, also at a mile, has drawn horses who will set a fast early pace and whether Whirlaways stretch run will find him picking off the leaders is a moot question. The "I Beat Whirlaway Club" will be represented and the nomination list also includes Aletern, Slide Rule, Ended, Some Chance and Valdina Orphan, who ran fourth to Whirlaway on Tuesday. On Tuesday night Frank Gilpin unloaded Fairaris and said he was fit for Saturdays race. This field on the first week-end should draw a large throng to the Homewood course. During the first three days Webb Everett carded some fine races, but from a competitive standpoint the Equipoise Mile should be the most bitterly contested of the first week. It is a fitting preview to the Stars and Stripes, first of the five 0,000 events to be run at Washington Park. •Breeders awards took another long step toward realization when a group of Kentucky horsemen and breeders recently recommended to the Thoroughbred Racing Associations a schedule similar to that adopted in New York. The New York plan, now in force, calls for 5 to the breeder of the winner of overnight races and 5 per ; cent of the added money to the breeders of winners of stake events. Some members j of the TRA are opposed to an award for winners of cheap claimers, which, if gen- erally adopted, would put the greatest share of the burden on the tracks fostering ; high class racing. One of the most prominent officials in the country still leans to a ! 1 flat 2 per cent of all events. A glance at his schedule shows this would mean a powerful sum to an industry that richly deserves it. The TRA is how considering the , ! matter and it is going to be interesting to see what the committee finally recommends. 1 We have had letters from breeders with farms in many parts of the country — many of them big breeders — and th§y, in the vast majority, favor an award for all winners, j j but naturally with a scale that would reward the better grade of winners more than the cheaper ones. Due to a sprained ankle, Eddie Arcaro will be delayed in joining the Greentree string John Gaver is shipping for the Arlington meeting. There is some speculation in the Windy City as to when The Jockey Club fathers will relent and restore the Italian lad to good standing. We do not know, but even though we have been one of his severest critics, we hope it will be soon. For, while he deserved all they handed out to him, his punishment has been severe. In setting down top-notch. riders the officials served notice on all boys that none of them are bigger than the game or above the punishment awaiting offenders. The talk that he was "Greentrees rider" and would therefore have powerful persons "go to the bat for him" did not help his case. Arcaro has taken his expensive lay-off like a man, and the fact that John Gaver has stuck with him impresses us as proof that he realizes his errors and will play the game when given another chance. When that will be is purely for The Jockey Club stewards to decide, and in saying we hope it will be soon, we are only expressing an opinion. Too much punishment is just as bad as none at all. Now that the ODT has sanctioned the operation of electric trains, saving shoe leather, cutting down laundry and bunion doctors bills, the traditional Saratoga | meeting will be staged at "beautiful" Belmont. That wonderful old veranda of the Spa clubhouse will be sorely missed. But in these years we cannot have everything and besides saddling under the trees, the Saratoga Association will have the opportunity 1 of using black ink rather than the red which has so persistently covered its ledgers 1 in recent years. The Spa meeting will be a novelty for New Yorkers who could not 1 get upstate during August and who never had the thrill of throwing those roped fire escapes out of a hotel window. Or, looking under the beds to see if Napoleons J j * brother was still hiding there. We hear whispers that the upstate Spa is "done," but ] dont believe it. We will all get back there some day, for regardless of the haunted houses which serve as hotels and the commercialism which has gripped the game, ! there was a charm to that old center that those who truly love the sport will not allow to die. Maybe we are just a sentimental old fool — knocking the town one minute, i then missing it the next — but, we cannot go on without smelling salts and a crying , towel. ,
