view raw text
I REFLECTIONS I By Nelson Dunstan ] Arlington Has Fine First Week Officials Seek Filly Match Race Robby a Credit to His Profession Ariel Cross Deserves Better Fate Alex Gordon has purchased about 20 yearlings for clients. . . . Valdina Orphan will be on the shelf until fall. . . . Calumet Farms Nellie L. will be given a long rest. . . . Norman Church, Los Angeles owner and breeder, arrived to attend the Arlington meeting. . . . Many horsemen tell us they plan to attend the yearling sales at Lexington in August. . . . Arlington officials are hoping* for a special race betwten Mar-Kell, Miss Dogwood and Pomayya. Ben Jones is willing to start Mar-Kell. . . . Arlingtons handle is away over the totals of the same day last year. . . . Hugh Fontaine of the Brookmeade Stable arrived in Chicago today. . . . Tom C. Piatt will sell a sister to Occupation and Occupy at the yearling sales. . . . Chicago and Boston fans are keenly waiting to see what Brooklyn Handicap starters will go in the Stars and Stripes or Massachusetts Handicap on July 5. . . . Alsab is rounding to form and should be ready for the Arlington Handicap. . . . Louis B. Mayers Free France greatly resembles his daddy, Man a War. . . . Grass races, always last on the card, are popular with Chicago fans. . . . Charley Kenney, of Coldstream Stud, is in Detroit looking over the late J. O. Keenes fillies for prospective brood mares. . , . Make your hotel reservations for the yearling sales in plenty of time or you may be shut out. . . . Porter Roberts has won 00 in bonus money at Detroit. Occupation gave Slide Rule five Pounds and Ne|sQn beat him a head in a seven-furlong race at Washington Park on Friday. As a horse race, it was one of the most interesting of the first week, having the throng in an uproar from the turn for home to the wire. Game as a pebble. Occupation stuck to his task as Slide Rule closed on him with a rush. After the race John Marsch seemed pleased with Occupations showing and said to us: "Had Occupy been rated yesterday as Occupation was today, he, too, would have won." But after the Friday race we thought Slide Rule would have been the winner in a few more jumps and formed the notion Slide Rule will be the winner when and if they meet at a mile or more. Up to six furlongs, we believe the Marsch colt will give a good account of himself against any three-year-old, including Count Fleet. But we doubt if he can hold his speed over one mile, and therefore will be at a disadvantage in the two 0,000 events, the Classic and American Derby. We can be wrong, of course, and with our admiration for his owner and trainer, hope we are. But if he can hold his speed over one and one-quarter miles, it is going to be a pleasant surprise to this writer. A great little race rider has hung up his tack. Alfred Robertson retires as a credit to the game and his profession. Never once, to our knowledge, was the finger I of suspicion pointed at him. Starting in 1927, he had 11,207 mounts during his career and won with 1,865 for purses totalling over ,100,000. Some six weeks ago we talked with his father, Robert Robertson, in Boston. The father had been with the Toronto Light Company for 15 years, and until his son came along to show promise as a jockey, he was well satisfied with his job. He went into the racing business to become a successful tiainer. But, wherever he was he closely followed his sons career. "I am mighty proud of that boy," he told us. "He has been a credit to his family and to the racing game.He has saved about a quarter of a million dollars and every dollar of it has been honestly earned. He is a family man and that is best for every boy who rides for a living. It keeps them out of trouble." Robbie may become an owner or trainer or both. He came up under the famous Whitney trainer, Jimmy Rowe, and being a smart lad, knows the game from many angles. He has a large following who will be rooting for bin in his future work. Probably you noticed the box in this paper on Friday entitled "Poor Old Ariel Cross," dated from Mexico City. It told of the pathetic case of the once stake winner who performed so honestly in the colors of Harry C. Hatch. Whoever wrote the story said: "And now, provided he can be brought to the track, a very lowly plater among platers who were never anything else, he is worthy of a better fate." The horse has three legs and should be mercifully shot. If he is raced again the man who saddles him should be shot. One of the crying shames of the American turf is the number of hopeless cripples; aged horses who burn up the publics money; bleeders and nerved horses now racing. There would be no talk of overproduction if these wreckers of form were removed from the scene. How it can be done is a problem that the HBPA once tackled, but the number they have removed is but a small fraction of the total. The day must come when the racing fathers will have to give it serious attention, for at no time has there been so many horses who, for one reason or another, are unfit for competition. Next Saturdays feature event at Washington Park will be the Arlington Lassie Stakes, an event designed to bring together the best juvenile fillies to date. Prom- inent among the eligibles is A. T. Simmons Smart Lookin, a stake-winning daughter j of Reaping Reward— Marciana. Calumet Farm holds a powerful hand in this event, with no less than five named. Whirlette, full sister to Whirlaway, is named, but will ! not be a starter. The two most likely to answer the bugle are Miss Keeneland, who ! won on the opening day of the meeting and Twilight Tear, a Bull Lea miss who won her first start over a promising group of maidens on Friday last. Ben Jones is undecided as to which is better, so plans to start both. Greentree has four on the list and it is fairly certain they will start Music Hall, a well-regarded daughter of Snark. A glance at the long eligibility list reveals many beautifully-bred youngsters who have yet to go to the post. Which will start is problematical, but it is certain that after the race is run, the filly division will take definite shaping. Many of the best known stables in the country will have colorbearers in the post parade.
