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Limited Field Expected to Travel] Postward in Inaugural Handicap j I j , I I j I | | j j ] j I j j t , j I ! i I I j ! i , rl Estimate 35 Entries Will Be t Made for Sportsmans Park Race; Heavy Training Period CICERO. 111., April 26.— With 22 horses already named for tire Inaugural Handicap, opening-day feature of the Sportsmans Park 14-day spring meeting, which ushers in the 1944 Illinois season Satur-| day, and with entries for that ,500 event not slated to close until tomorrow, it is conservatively estimated that racing secretary Patrick C. Galliger will have some 35 or more entries by the time the deadline arrives. As practically all those already named have been seasoned by winter competition very few declarations are expected Friday morning. And as the maximum number of starters permitted in any race at the Na-I tional Jockey Club course is 10. a full field will parade postward. General manager William H. Johnston, who has been at the track from early morning until late at night since his arrival here from Florida early last week, pronounces everything in readiness at the spic and span half-mile oval and is espe-! cially gratified at the response of horsemen in making entries to the Inaugural. John-, ston also expects the other seven races- on the card to fill well, too, especially the Hawthorne Purse, which will bring to-| gether a shifty field of three-year-olds to vie at seven furlongs for a ,500 purse. | In addition, there are five events carded | for four-year-olds and upward, one at five j furlongs, one at seven, two at a mile and I a sixteenth and one at a mile and an eighth, and also a claiming test for three- [ j year-olds at six and one-half furlongs, , i Total purse distribution on Saturdays opening program is 0,500. Candidates for Feature Work Among the 100 or so horses testing the Sportsmans Park strip this morning were three candidates for the Inaugural, namely. Cabin Creek, Devalue and Eniscorthy. Cabin Creek, who was quite a favorite in these parts last season, breezed a half-mile in :55 over the prevailing slow strip, while Devalue was timed seven-eighths in 1:42, being held all the way. Eniscorthy turned • in the lone distance move among the Inaugural hopefuls, going a mile and an 1 eighth in 2:0933, breezing throughout. In all, this mornings training period 1 was the heaviest of the season. Besides those Inaugural candidates working this morning, Galliger also has the ■ entries of the following for the race: Take j Away, Eugene, Devalue and Powdered Bluff, all named by the Circle W Stable; Bobs Dream and Topnard. representatives | ■|of Hilltop Stock Farm; Zaca Rosa and | Stitch Again, from the Crenshaw stable; I Gourmet, Top Boots. Quizzle. Bright Willie, I Sand Storm. Night Shadow. Liberty Pan, « [ Martian and Potranco.
