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JUDGES STAND — ~~ ~~ ~~ — By Charles Hatton Pavot, Hoop Jr. Duel Looms on Hilltop Supplemental Eligibles Help Make Race Close Sequence of Oaks Awaits Fillies Devil Diver Strives for Unique Honor BALTIMORE, Md.. June 15. Preakness Prattle: We know a Pavot is a poppy, but he looks like the "Black-Eyed Susans" to us. . . If Hoop Jr. squaunders this field as he did Derby rivals we shall all have to concede that he is the champion "pro tern" at least. if neither Pavot nor Hoop Jr. wins, drain the lake on Druid Hill. . . . Spec Dunne is looking for mud, with Bobanet. who is somewhat of a "rain runner." . . . "He is such a green long-striding colt, I think he may fit the Belmont better than these earlier shorter runs," Jimmy Smith says of Burning Dream. . . . "Hoop Jr. does not have to go right to the front, nor does he have to have mud," Ivan Parke is reminded. The Idaho hot potato is satisfied over the way in which the Sir Gallahad III. colt is coming up to the engagement. Hoop Jr. is somewhat of a dandy, carrying his traps about in a hand-polished cedar chest. . . . Massachusetts has adopted a bug rule similar to New Yorks. . . . "The bugler is an important functionary at Pimlico." Matt Daiger observes. •He blows the fields out of the paddock at a specific time." We might add that he does not first "tote" up the handle. . . . There were 14.000 service men at the Downs last week-end. . . . Noting that Basher already is "winning herself out" for Louie Mayer, who paid 0,000 for her, Jimmy Smith said: "I think she can beat any of the fillies and most of the colts. I would have trained her for the Debry had she not been sold." Another of his whilom charges, Bymeabond. is pointing for the Santa Anita Derby. . . . Pavot s juvenile half-brother Lovat, by Jamestown, is being brought along slowly to peak fettle by the patient Oscar White, a protege of the equally painstaking Pres Burch. . . . Clem McCarthy likes Twenty Thirty best of the Eight Thirties to appear thus far. . . . "Not so many people know it. but the boss Fred Hooper already is a thoroughbred breeder," says Ivan Parke. "He has a half dozen broodmares at Circle H Farm, near Montgomery. Raises the finest white-faced Herefords you ever saw, too." . . . Exercise boys are so scarce that jockey Hearn piloted both Pavot and Darby Dieppe in Preakness preps. . . . Ninety-three per cent of Mereworth mares old enough to be the dams of winners have produced winners. Many mares that fashionable studs supposed were "below par" for quality were sold. , . . Lt. Alfred Vanderbilt, in San Francisco as this is written, hoped to arrange his leave to see this Preakness. Pimlicos Preakness, second of the "Triple Crown" events, has drawn five eligibles for next week-ends Belmont Stakes in Pavot, Hoop Jr., Sea Swallow, The Doge and Adonis. Classic races are almost never run as the turfs "smart set" expects, but it is fairly unanimous that either "Poppy" or "Junior" will win this one and the Belmont as well. The important thing is that America has a "Triple Crown" this season and we are not kidding when we explain "for the improvement of the breed." Both Hoop Jr. and Pavot have shown themselves valuable sire prospects, and the formers worth would have been unknown except for the sports resumption. The Belmont management has, incidentally, substituted a later closing. Mid-December of the preceding year, for the supplementary closing of its stake. Bobanet. Hoop Jr., Polynesian, Sea Swallow and The Doge are all supplementary nominees to the Preakness. Originally it closed September 15, 1943, with the supplemental closing on April 16 this year. Whether original nominators in these "Futurities" would advocate permitting horses to be named as an afterthought is doubtful, but this Preakness would not otherwise have developed so significant a race. These are busy days for three-year-old fillies here in the East. Todays Pimlico Oaks will be followed on Wednesday by the 0,000 added Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park, and the latter affair by the Delaware Oaks, of the same value, at the Stanton track, eight days later, on the twenty-eighth. William Leavitt Branns Gallorette, who is generally regarded as "the one to beat" for the Pimlico Oaks, is not a Coaching Club candidate, but will be pointed for the Delaware Park version. It would, perhaps be an error of omission not to mention that Col. C. V. Whitneys Recce also is a Delaware Oaks eligible. This daughter of Ekkys undersized sister, Schwester, is Col. Whitneys favorite. He thinks her championship caliber and is eager for her to have the opportunity of proving it. Busher may project herself Into the picture in the East this fall. The Dixie and Suburban, two of Americas foremost handicap •vents, will be decided this week-end. Racegoers have a sentimental interest in Devil Divers effort in the Suburban. It. has •luded the Greentree stalwart in previous years and his connections hope that he may retire as the only horse to equal Whisk Broom II. s feat of bringing off a Metropolitan-Suburban-Brook-. lyn triple in a single season. Alex Barth, runner-up to "The Devil" in the Metropolitan, heads the field for the Dixie here on the Hilltop. Alex is a reformed plater. "Last year he won the dubious honor of being the "champion hard-luck horse," finishing second in a cluster of 0,000 stakes. One thing the Conflict in stakes along the Atlantic Seaboard has done is to enable those timorous owners to avoid Devil Diver profitably. Californias resumption has somewhat thinned the ranks of the handicap division and there will be a good deal of sharing of the wealth among them this summer. Conflicts are to be avoided, whenever possible, of course, but "it is an ill wind." -
