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■"" 4 " " REFLECTIONS By Nelson Duns tan Eastern Season Opens Saturday Outlook for 1944 Very Bright Saratoga Announcement Due Triple Crown Discussions On NEW YORK, N. Y. April 1. The long New York racing season will get under way next Saturday, with the Pau- monok Handicap the feature event of the I day. After a rainy week the Jamaica strip is not in the best of condition, but if good weather should prevail for the next six days it is likely to be in good shape when the bugle summons the field for the first race. Harry Parr III., president of Pimlico, was in New York today and was concerned about ] j | i j i | I ! | i ! the track conditions for the Maryland opening on April 12. "Even if it stops now we will have our job cut out to get the course in first-class shape," he told the writer. Officials in New York, New England and Maryland look for a very successful year jfrom the start. There is hardly a doubt jthat the season will be a very big one, but we doubt if the ",000,000 days" some fans anticipate will materialize. New York tracks are not equipped to handle the crowds for such record-breaking days at the mutuel windows. The eight Jamaica stakes consist of two for juveniles, two for three-year-olds and four for three-year-olds and older horses. The two-year-old events are the Rosedale Stakes, for fillies, on April 26, and the Youthful, for colts and fillies, on May 3. The three-year-old fixtures are the Experimental Free Handicap, on April 12, and the Wood Memorial, on April 22, the latter being the final New York prep for Kentucky Derby candidates. Following the Paumonok, the stakes for older horses are the Excelsior, Jamaica and Grey Lag Handicaps, the latter at a mile and a furlong, bringing the meeting to a close on Saturday, May 6.. Since Governor Dewey signed the Sherman Bill there has been some revival of the talk that Saratoga will operate on its home grounds this year. The governor has made no indication that this will take place and we fail to see any connection between his signing the Sherman Bill and an upstate meeting. When the upstate track does operate the state will only take 5 per cent instead of the 6 per cent as heretofore. Saratoga is in Zone 2. There is no change jin the four New York City tracks, which are in Zone 1. Announcement regarding Saratoga probably will be forthcoming within the next few weeks. The Jamaica, Pimlico and Keene-land meetings will all contribute interest to the preliminaries for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the first and second legs of the coveted "Triple Crown." In late years we have seen horses capable of winning all three, but as the season is wide-open, we have a hunch that any one of the candidates will be lucky to win two of them. Pensive, Platter and Pukka Gin still rule the favorites and there was a fellow around town today who was willing to wager that a horse whose name started with the letter "P" would win both Derby and Preakness honors — its not a bad bet, if he can find any takers.
