view raw text
j14225 raandSv j | JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Pukka Gin Grows in Public Fancy Preakness Has Added Significance Keenelands Programs Realistic A Pensive Note Anent Calumet LOUISVILLE. Ky.. April 19. The impression Col. C. V. Whitneys floppy-eared Pukka Gin is the one to beat" for the Wood and the Derby, a baga telle of 00,000 in added money, now is pretty general. The Firethorn colts chances appear more roseate as the dates of these stakes approach. Snooping through Will Shelleys stakes book, it occurs to us Colonel Whitneys Cerulean Blue colors may be borne by the favorites . I A 1 l • • I r j j • ; i ; : , t • • t • j i • . I , i [ 1 i . .J j I j also in the Bashford Manor and Demoiselle. He has the plucky Red Pixie in the former. That dust-spurning frlly. Flyweight, looms formidably in the latter. Strolling along the mall of the shedrow here this morning, we chanced upon Burley Parke, who said some perceptive things about the Derby. The little Idahoan is the latest to cast a vote for Pukka Gin. "He seems to be coming up to the race in good order. the Marsch trainer observed. "I should guess he will go well at the distance under that 126." Reflecting that the New Yorker is in competent hands, Parke became profound, saying that: "It is what candidates for these important races do, or fail to do. in the last 10 days or two week3 that is often the difference between winning and losing. A man must know his horse thoroughly and how much to do with him to obtain best results.* Platters deflection from the Derby, incidentally, enhances Pukka Gins prospects in the local mile and a quarter by just that much. It also invests the Preakness with some special significance as the vehicle of bringing together these two intense rivals. The factor that frustrates many railbirds who attempt to prophesy the Derby result and who doesnt these days? is the apparent improvement in Stir Up, Director J. E.. Skytracer and Challenge Me. The Wood, Blue Grass and Chesapeake, will eliminate some of the chaff and help to resolve this confused situation, though the eastern delegation still must ship here satisfactorily. In thit connection, it is apropos to note Puk-, ka Gin is "a good shipper." That is in rather sharp contrast to the Ar-, kansas Traveler, Challenge Me. It is only a matter of time until crass observers point out the marked discrepancy in the conditions of Keenelands races and those hypothetical programs Lexingtonians are fond of advocating. The Keeneland meet presents a royal oportunity for the preceptors to apply their Utopian condition books, but there is a preponderance of claiming events on the Keeneland-at-Churchill cards. One imagines this is the source of a pain in the seat of Pharisaical hardboots convictions. It is disillusioning to note the number of claimers exceed the quantity of races exclusively for fillies. or even the number of condition events. Several condition races drew three or four entrants and were promptly abandoned, indeed. And distance racing is a novelty. All of which inclines this observer to think that whoever is actually running Keene- land is somewhat more of a realist than an idealist. He suits the races to the available horses, rather than attempting to disguise the platers. That seems to us to make sense. But the poor fellow probably will be ostracized when he returns to Chitlin Switch, even though this is Keenelands most successful spring meet. William Woodwards old favorite. Fighting Fox, one of the swiftest performers of recent seasons, now is making an auspicious beginning as a sire. This brother of Gallant Fox and Foxbrough was represented by his first winner here Tuesday when Lt. Com. W. Montgomerys Fox Rime earned his racing diploma. Fox Rime is scarcely any ball of fire, but one of the quickest two -year -olds in Kentucky this spring to be sired by the Belair stallion, it is said. Fight - ing Fox himself was handicapped throughout his turf career by crooked underpinning. He is deformed in almost the same painful degree as is Boojiana. And like that filly he occasionally was sore and sour, racing in a manner that did not endear him to form students. He nevertheless had the spirit and the class to win 22,000. Warren Wright may not have a color - bearer in the Derby. But if it were not for his underpinning, the Pensive of the racing records would be quite a3 capable as the Pensive of zealous admirers Imaginations. The Wrights incidentally have reason to celebrate the arrival of a recent Calumet foal, though she is a filly. Thi$ is a husky daughter of Blenheim II. -Lady Peace. She is a sister of Miss Keeneland and half-sister of Son of Peace. Lady Peace is among Whirlaways mates this spring.
