view raw text
| ; : ] 1 I « ] , j | j ; ] j j i ] j j j s ] » , j ] j y , , j j j . ] Devil Diver and Apache Clash in Metropolitan Renew Long-Standing Feud in Belmonts 5,000 Headliner ELMONT, L. I., N. Y., June 8.— Devil Diver and Apache renew their long-stand- : ing feud at Belmont Park tomorrow in the fifty-second running of the 5,000 Metro- ! politan Handicap. Nine three-year-olds ! and upward are entered for this highly im- portant mile test, and they include some j fit, fast and ready middle-distance horses, but principal interest centers in the 1945 "rubber match" of the Greentree and Belair Stud horses. Racing secretary-handicapper John B. Campbell has assigned them level weights of 129 pounds for tomorrows fixture, and there is little doubt, rigged that way, that "The Devil will be a solid choice, probably at odds-on. The others, in order of weights, are: Millbrook Stables Alex Barth, 123; William Helis Rounders, 115; Longchamps Farms Professor Lee and Crispin Oglebays Boy Knight, 112 each; William Zieglers Bounding Home, 110; Helis Olympic Zenith, 106, and R. Sterling Clarks Smolensko, 102. Apart from Devil Diver and Apache, principal support is expected to go to Alex Barth. There is another stake on tomorrows agenda — the ,000 Juvenile, which will have its sixty-ninth running. This fixture, one of the more important Long Island stakes for younger horses, has drawn a small field of seven who will compete at five furlongs down the Widener Course. Devil Diver will be seeking his third straight victory in tomorrows Metropolitan, having scored decisively in 1943 and 1944. The son of St. Germans also was in quest of his third straight Toboggan Handicap score, when Apache beat him in that six-furlong dash down the straight course here Monday. On that occasion Devil Diver was trying to concede six pounds to Apache and was solidly trounced. Earlier this year, as well as last season, he had beaten the Bel-air colorbearer in the Paumonok, at Jamaica, conceding slightly less poundage. The principal contention in the Juvenile is expected to come from Vera S. Bragg s Twenty-Six. winner of the Youthful Stakes at Jamaica but previously beaten by Fred Lansburghs hard-to-identify Grandpa Max and Maine Chance Farms pair of Lord Boswell and They Say.