view raw text
.Qnnrl-cmonc Sportsmans rr£»nc I JUDGES STAND By Charles Harton Previewing 44 Season Up North Some Important Changes Indicated Derby Prelims Stimulate Interest Crucial Test Near for Favorites" LOUISVILLE. Ky.. April 11. New Yorks most successful turf season, to use successful" in the present indicative, got under way Saturday at band box Jamaica. Marylands amalgam of its spring meets begins tomorrow at Pimlico, Narragan-sett Park opens the season down East at the same time. The ensuing week-end marks the inception of the mid - western racing year, with the initial Keeneland - at -Churchill program. +V10 the fHii-vo Chicago rrrv cnon April Anvil .Qnnrl-cmonc Sportsmans rr£»nc +V10 the fHii-vo Chicago rrrv cnon April Anvil opens span 29. Besides being productive of new record patronage and state revenue, it is expected that this year American racing will be the medium of raising ,000,000 more for War Relief. It is also expected that racing will be resumed at three tracks which have been in temporary eclipse as a consequence of gas and rubber rationing — Delaware Park, Hollywood Park and Del Mar. The turf season of 1944 will see changes of healthful significance in at least two phases of the sports mechanics, i.e., an increase in overall purse distribution to | make it more commensurate with horse- | mens expenses, and a decrease in the pro-1 portion of claiming races. Further, this year | will produce a new record average in thor- oughbred yearling prices, it is confidently predicted. It would be an error of omission in this "preview" to neglect making some mention of the fact Illinois, New York and Maryland are taking steps to improve the character of the sport, through more exacting qualifications for license and stall applicants. The academic aspect of this new "major season" of racing that interests the general public most, at the moment, concerns the activities of candidates for the springs three-year-old classics. The decisions of such important prelims as the Wood, Chesapeake and Blue Grass Stakes during the next three weeks excites conjecture as to the colt or filly who will emerge as the "name" horse of Americas coveted "Triple Crown." Pukka Gin and Platter, current Derby choices, may meet first in the 5,-000 Wood, a week from Saturday. A factor that strengthens the interesting prospect Pukka Gin and Platter will match strides in the Wood, assuming they continue training satisfactorily, is the disdain of Col. C. V. Whitney and George Widener to duck any issue when they feel they have bred and reared a top sawyer, as in the present case. The presence of Olympic Zenith and Stir Up, heroes, respectively, of the Louisiana Derby and Flamingo, contributes to the general fascination of racing : on the Jamaica scene. Indications are that while these pretentious colts are molesting one another on Long Island, the Calumet • "tribe" of Pensive and the fillies Twilight 1 Tear and Miss Keeneland will have Havre-at-Pimlicos Chesapeake as their principal 1 Baltimore objective. Here on Kentuckys 1 historic site at Louisville, the most prominent eligibles with a prospect of starting • appear to be the sensational Arkansas 1 Derby victor, Challenge Me, Alfred Parkers By Jimminy and M. B. Goffs Skytracer, runner-up in the Flamingo. Durazna we ; saw this morning. It is not proposed she shall start until near the close of the - Downs meet, or at Chicago. Thus, if a filly 7 emulates Regret, probably she will be one ; of Calumets. The Derby occupies the unique position of being at once the climax of the series of early spring trials, only the beginning of the "Triple Crown."" It will be supplemented on May 13 by the Preakness and on June 3 by the Belmont Stakes. The Preakness is at a sixteenth mile shorter route than is the Derby, because of the brevity of Pimlicos stretch. This, coupled with its later date, annually determines several backward colts to await the Preakness decision. Following the Belmont, it will be westward ho again for many of the outstanding three-year-olds, lured by the 0,090 Classic and 0,000 American Derby on July 22 and August 26, respectively. While we are about this cursory review of the 1944 turf season, it may not be entirely " inapropos to mention we find two ■» distinct "schools of thought" among racing r men when they attempt to guess the postwar | worlds influence on the sport. There j is that optimistic group which includes Col. Matt Winn, Herbert Swope, Lou Smith and j Ben Lindheimer. They foresee 100,000 j crowds, elaborate new courses, international championships, etc. In sharp contrast to this roseate view is that entertained by lugubrious depressionists, who fancy they are merely being realistic in i their dire prediction that when war In- • r | j j j dustry ceases it will inevitably precipitate an economic crisis which will be cataclysmic to racing. That is over-stating war industrys benefit to the sport and is not even clever.
