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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan DunstanWhat What of These TwoYearOlds National Stallion a Milestone McCrearys Ride on Sun Again Old Bones Gets Birthday Cake CakeNEW NEW YORK N Y June 1 With the thirtysecond running of the National Stallion Stakes Saturday what of the twoyearolds We have just been looking through some interesting compila ¬ tions of the accom ¬ plishments of juvenile sires through May 23 The black stallion Ariel leads the list with sev ¬ en winners to date He always has been a sire noted for his quick ones but the National Stallion list reveals none of his youngsters naiiisd for Liis race which often is re ¬ garded as a milestone in the careers of twoyearolds Next on the list is Mah moud imported gray stallion by Blenheim n Mah Mahal by Gainsborough This Derby winner was imported by Col C V Whitney and from all indications he is destined to follow in the footsteps of his daddy He has six twoyearold winners to date and among them are Jeep and Alabama both of whom have demonstrated their speed Then there is Johnstown a young sire by Jamestown out of La France by Sir Gallahad m He has six winners to date and in that group is Flood Town a convincing winner in New York and re ¬ garded by many veterans as one of the best prospects for top honors among juveniles this season seasonIt It is too early in the season of course to form any opinions on the juveniles The National Stallion at ¬ tracts the best and for the reason that owners are loathe to start ex ¬ pensive and wellbred youngsters be ¬ fore the end of May or the early part of June We doubt if a finer bred lot of twoyearolds have been named for this important event in the past 20 years Charles S How ¬ ard of Seabiscuit fame named no less than eight by the exworlds moneywinning champion William Helis named eight including Peri ¬ cles Spartan Noble and Spartacus and if there is a starter among this trio it probably will be Spartan No ¬ ble Calumet Farm also named eight and among them the three Blenheim II colts CoastaBit Full Stride and Hail Victory Full Stride is out of Penicuik II thus a halfbrother to Pensive Col C V Whitney named six and among those with five are George D Widener and the Green tree Stable Brookmeade named six and in the two named by Long champs Farm is Baron Jack the Stimulus Heloise colt who cost 33000 Unless we are wide of the mark this is going to be one of the most revealing National Stallion re ¬ newals since the race was inaugu ¬ rated in 1898 1898Conn Conn McCrearys ride on Sun Again in the Suburban caused many a hot debate on Wednesday It still rages Some of our contemporaries point out that even a Babe Ruth can strike out when the bases are full and still be a dangerous Babe Ruth when he comes up to bat the next time The important thing as we see it is that Ben Jones had no complaint after the race He ordered McCreary to keep the horse in the ruck and use his own judgment as to when he should make his move but added I naturally could not forsee the trouble he was to get into in the stretch There is hardly a doubt that McCrearys timing was bad Had he made his move a few hundred yards sooner that would have changed the entire complexion of the race But like Babe Ruth striking out he missed He was a pretty downhearted youngster after the race but you can ad ¬ mire him even though he made a mistake It is the old story of Ty Cobb He was the greatest base stealer in the game When he timed it right he was a wonder When he missed he was a bum Life is like that so why get excited McCreary will come back to win many a race in exactly the same way he rode Sun Again AgainExterminator Exterminator was 26 years old last Sunday and about 150 admirers visited Sun Briar Court to honor the great gelding Mrs Willis Sharpe Kilmer had a huge cake of oats with carrots for candles and Old Bones enjoyed every bit of it His constant companion Peanuts had a smaller cake all his own and proved just as good a doer as the cup champion of the early twenties Bones is nat ¬ urally showing signs of his age for comparatively he is an old man to ¬ day But the intelligent head re ¬ mains his best feature denoting clearly the reason why he was con ¬ sidered one of the smartest of all American thoroughbreds They say records were made to be broken but it will probably be a long time before any horse duplicates his four suces sivc victories in the Saratoga Cup 4 say nothing of his triples in other important cup events Lets hope the old boy who thrilled racing fans on so many occasions lives to see many more birthdays birthdaysOut Out at Randall Park there is a jockey named Dale Charles Dew He is a younger brother of Earl Dew the brilliant rider who was killed as the result of a spill one Sunday afternoon at Agua Caliente back in 1941 We were at the Mexican track that afternoon and we will never forget the feeling upon arriving at the San Diego Hospital to be told his body was at the Bengough Funeral Parlors He was a nice kid honest and sincere and although we have not seen him ride we are told the younger brother is built along the same lines This younger brother carries a pic ¬ ture of Earl in his wallet and never rides without the rabbits foot his brother car ¬ ried in all of his races The youngster has ridden many winners in his four years of saddle work and it would not be surprising if lie hit the big time this year or next He will be welcome for the shortage of high class jockeys is all too apparent in hese days when the armed forces have a goodly share of competent race riders
