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BmBBbF -Tjfcittfei£i $ JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Racings Popularity Undeveloped Example of W-F-A Races Value Avoid Pimlico Oaks-Derby Conflict By Jimminy and Blue Grass Stakes LOUISVILLE. Ky.. April 4. In a recent survey of the contrast in purse distribution and horsemens expenses, it was pointed out that most associations! I are increasing t h e 1 r I I prize awards, but in so doing have neglected to discriminate between the actual w o r t h of ,000 and ,000 horses. This is not only disparaging to "improvement of the breed," but ; i is an incredible abridgment • of economics. We ! know there are, happily, • some track man- • hope to elevate the e hope to elevate the e agements who sincerely quality of their sport. And we can think £ of no more effectual method of competing ? for the better horses than by readjusting purse values to be more commensurate with i the horses values. There is also, we are e constantly reminded, an element of promoters - who are content merely to program a eight limit fields daily, irrespective of i whether the entrants are registered in the e American Stud Book or with the American n Kennel Club. These are. candidly, parasites. - They do not have as much intelligence as greed, else they would perceive e that to present racing in the most attractive - guise possible is sound investment. • They do not give the public value received i and. we should think, the commissions in i these locales would realize that tolerating 1 this decadent condition is costly to the 2 state coffers and insist upon improvement. • On the whole, racing is too prone to sit t back complacently and "point with pride" to turnstile and "tote" statistics, blandly f ignoring the opportunity to further its popularity - to the fullest extent of its potentialities. - In increasing their total purse distributions, most clubs not only have pursued quantity rather than quality, they continue deplorably apathetic in their attitude toward weight-for-age stakes. For all our opulent stakes rosters, there still are only three such fixtures on this side of the Atlantic — The Saratoga and Jockey Club Cups and the Pimlico Special Sweepstakes. The reason for this dereliction is not far to seek. Frequently, "classics" produce small fields and prohibitive favorites and likewise minus pools. The sporting press of the country this past week has contained an illustration of ■ one of the benefits of weight-for-age racing. - Many columns of space were devoted 3 to chronicling the transfer of Count Fleet j. from the Blue Grass to the training stable e at Belmont Park. It was the best publicity y the sport has enjoyed in months. We have e several times discussed Count Fleets schedule with John Hertz and are aware e that, only for the rare "w-f-a" events on the late summer and fall calendar, this s brilliant entertainer would be lost to American racing for all box-office purposes. And -* at a time the sport can ill afford such a a privation. Hertz spent 20 years and a fortune " in breeding and developing a Count 1 Fleet and is by no means alone in his reluctance to subject a first-class horse to 0 the vagaries of handicap racing Harry Parr III. and his associates at ancient Pimlico chose wisely in designating May 10 as the date on which the 5,000 Pimlico Oaks will be decided this spring. Ordinarily it conflicts with the Kentucky Derby, and suffers no lapse of significance thereby, so few fillies ever compete in the Louisville race. How very different this season! Miss Keeneland. Twilight Tear, Thread o Gold. Harriet Sue and others of the more prominent candidates for the Pimlico Oaks also are nominees for the Derby and not merely as a compliment to Churchill Downs. Only the more myopic observers fancy there is a marked difference in the class of the crop of current three-year-old colts and fillies. Most conspicuous absentees from the Pimlico Oaks are Durazna, Boojiana and Mrs. Ames. Keats penned a poem in which he depicts 3 Cortez gazing at the Pacific. It was not Cortez, it was Balboa. The locale of a Shakeaspearian play is Sea Coast Bohemia" and Bohemia has no sea coast. And 1 Keeneland-at-Churchill will not be Louisville ■ racing at all, but Lexington racing! Interest in the meet that begins April 15 is evident everywhere in Chitlin Switch | and the hardboots will draw upon their f ingenuity to negotiate the intervening mileage somehow. Jimmy Smiths charge, , By Jimminy, is Lexingtons preference in t iheir proud spring special, the Blue Grass j Stakes. The races conditions will have an unmistakably Keeneland tone.
