view raw text
JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton r Aspiring Miss Americas at Chi. Late Scratch Rule Is Unpopular Free for All and Third Degree Anent Washingtons New Course There was a lot of high octane glamour in last seasons crop of thoroughbred sub-debs. It produced Twilight Tear, Durazna, Miss Keeneland, Boo-jiana, Mrs. Ames, Co-copet and the luckless Bee Mac. The "quantity if quality" was so extraordinary indeed it would be the ultimate in optimism to expect the 1944 turf season to develop as many good fillies. The division nevertheless has the usual complement of aspiring Miss Americas and several of these are expected to participate in the week-ends 5,000 Lassie renewal of six furlongs at Arlington-Washington. You may recall that Calumets Twilight Tear and Miss Keeneland finished one-two in this stake last summer. Warren Wright will be represented in the ensuing renewal by a shifty Bull Lea filly called Twosy, probably. She led Elsie Asburys Blue Skimmer to the wire in the Miss Dogwood Purse, a prep for the rich fixtures today, but was disqualified and placed second. Col. C. V. Whitneys hopeful, Monsoon, has shown a good deal of ability. Flyweight is ineligible for the Lassie and will concentrate on the Princess Pat. Altogether, the Lassie promises a keen contest and one of some significance. Since time immemorable, horsemen have taken advantage of the late scratch rule in stakes 45 minutes before post time to indulge in sparring about for riders, postpositions, track conditions, etc. It also permits such skullduggery as "padding the entries." Why the rules should provide opportunities for thus disappointing the public is Incomprehensible. Once entered for a stake, a horse should not be permitted to scratch, at any hour, except when changed track conditions militate against him or the track vets certify he is unfit. Nick Nacks: Bloodstock breeding pundits may be interested in learning, if they have not already, that Free for All is virtually, a "brother in blood" to Johnny Gavers favorite horse, Third Degree. That youthful Greentree sire is by Questionnaire Pa- nache, by Broomstick. The next dam is Panasine. Free for All is by Questionnaire Panay, by Chicle. His next dam is Panasette, by Whisk Broom ri. Panasine. The mare Panasine, one of the more prolific Whitney matrons, produced the stakes winners Excalibur, Justinian, St. Brideaux, Cristate and the aforesaid Third Degree. For all his dash and trappiness, Free for All is not specifically a sprinter by inheritance. Washington Parks reupholstered racing strip is one of the clubs proudest little boasts. The inside half of the oval got a new clay bottom last fall, so benefited from the winter freeze and thaw. The outer half was completed in the early spring. General manager John D. Jackson and his crew burrowed into the course to a depth of four feet in spots, in others had to cope with quicksand, which was removed and replaced with clay. It was quite a project, but the results are most gratifying to the management and, we should think, pleasing to horsemen. Perhaps our acquaintance with the strip and its reaction to the elements is too short to permit an authoritative report, but it does seem to dry faster, and surely should with the elaborate new drainage system. The eastern delegation of candidates for various of Chicagos valuable two-year-old stakes will include Col. "Sonny" Whitneys Jeep,-as well as Monsoon and Flyweight, and Miss Gertrude Donovans Fighting Fox colt, Fighting Don, it is indicated. Jeep and Fighting Don are in the Arlington and Washington Futurities. Flood Town is in only the former and is an intended starter. Debits and Credits: Operative GVs, who pursues obscure racing data with the zest of a maniacal philatelist in search of a fugitive Bolivian, ad libs that Myrtlewood traces to Shotover, one of a few mares who have won the classical Epsom Derby, that Brownell Combs rejected 0,000 for her near the close of her turf career, and that the Combses are related by marriage to the family of Dan Swigert, who bred Hindoo, Sal-vator and Firenze. ... By Jimminy, Mrs. Alfred Parkers Shevlin winner, is an eligible for the Classic and American Derby. . . . George Woolf is commuting between Chicago and New York. . , . Ben Lindheimer sometimes is on the job before 5 a. m. at Washington. . . , Al Sabath j may be a NARC speaker. He plans buying some fillies, destined as mates for The Sab, this fall.
