view raw text
REFLECTIONS ■ By Nelson Dunstan Polynesian Not Eligible for Belmont Many Rich Races for Three-Year-Olds Rounders Ran His Best Race in Dixie Whitney Holds Strong Hand in C. C. A. 0. NEW YORK, N. Y., June 18. Turf Night," the show which Jack Smith is putting on for Hollywood Park, is making a hit with wounded men in the hospitals of southern California. . . . Bardia will cause spirited bidding when the Fasig-Tipton Company auctions 22 horses from The Barrington Stable of the late Tommy Howell at Belmont on Friday morning. ... A Jockey Club "certificate of registration" reports that the colt John Andrew, by Jockey Ted Atkinson, out of Martha Shank Atkinson, was foaled on June 7, 1945, weighing five pounds and having dark hair and big blue eyes. ... At Roosevelt Raceway a minimum of ,000 a night in purses for eight races is above anything i before attempted in the trotting industry, i . . . Looks like Peter A. B. Widener has areal I , i r promising stallion in Roman, sire of Lady Gunner, winner of the Pimlico Nursery, and another very fine sire in Unbreakable, the daddy of Polynesian. . . Forty thousand fans attended the weekend sport at Santa Anita. . . . Roy Fiocchi, the jockey who died Saturday as the result of a spill at Delaware, was a resident of Vineland, N. J., where Gene Mori and numerous other Garden State Park stockholders make their homes. On the week-end many important races will be staged at tracks throughout the country, yet interest will mostly center on the Belmont Stakes, which will be co-featured with the National Stallion at Belmont. At this writing it appears very much as if the "Triple Crown" will be divided among three different horses. Back in 1938 Lawrin won the Derby, Dauber the Preakness and Pasteurized the Belmont. This year Hoop Jr. won the Derby and, after running second to Polynesian in the Preakness, he pulled up so lame that he will not start in the Belmont and perhaps may never race again. Polynesian followed his Wither* . victory with a brilliant win in the Preakness. He is not an eligible, so we will have to look beyond him for the Belmont winner. Darby Dieppe was closing ground in the Preakness, but, like Polynesian, he is not named for the mile and a half race on Saturday. Pavot is a Belmont eligible, but on his Preakness showing we cannot enthuse over his chances at the longer distance. This would seem a fine spot for Pot o Luck, and it would not be a bit surprising to hear that Ben Jones had planned to ship East for this 0,000 race. Having won the Withers and Preakness, Polynesian must be regarded as the "main man" among three-year-old colts until they beat him. While the Belmont will be one more step in classifying the division, there are still other three-year-olds and other three-year-old races which may develop new angles in the months to come. Burg-el-Arab, winner of his only two starts last year, has yet to make his first appearance, and decision must be reserved on such colts as Esteem, Ricks Raft and Post Graduate, who were placed on the sidelines as a result of the coughing epidemic. Polynesian probably will be seen in the 5,000 Yankee Handicap at Suffolk Downs on July 4, and it is a question just what will develop in the Dwyer Stakes and the Classic, both of which will be run July 14. There also will be some good three-year-olds In the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, including Checkerhall, who defeated Best Effort in the Derby Trial last Friday. The filly Busher won her seasonal debut in convincing fashion and, while Gallorette is a husky contender for three-year-old filly honors in the East, Busher may have a great deal to say before the season runs its course. Not since he defeated Whirlaway in the Arlington Handicap of 1942 has Rounders shown the speed which he displayed in winning the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico Saturday. This six-year-old son of Colorado Kid is a "double duty" horse. After winning the Brandywine at Delaware two weeks ago William Helis shipped him back to the farm to be bred to two mares. Then he was sent to Pimlico to win the Dixie in 1:5645. just two-fifths of a second off a track record that he could have broken had he been pressed harder in the stretch. On Wednesday morning of this week Rounders will be bred to another mare at the Helis farm in Jobstown, N. J., then will be shipped to Delaware for the 5,000 Sussex Handicap, at a mile and a quarter, on the week-end. Helis also has nominated Olympic Zenith, who ran third to Devil Diver in the Suburban, and Salto. winner of the Roseben, for this same race. So he holds a powerful hand, regardless of the fact that Bon Jour, Stymie, Megogo. Gay Bit and He Rolls are among the others named for the race. On Wednesday the 0,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, at a mile and three furlongs, will be the feature event at Belmont. Exclusively for three-year-old fillies, it will precede the 5,000 New Castle Handicap, which will be run on Thursday at Delaware and is at a mile and a sixteenth, for fillies and mares three years old and older. Col. C. V. Whitney has nominated four for the Belmont race, and it is likely that he will start Monsoon and Silver Smoke, both of whom have been winners in the past week. Noted fillies in the Coaching Club are Calumet Farms Good Blood, Mrs. W. M. Jeffords Ace Card, Crispin Oglebays Price Level, William Helis Elpis, and many others. Gallorette, winner of the Pimlico Oaks on Saturday, is an eligible for the New Castle Handicap, and both of these events are forerunners to what appears to be a very fine race — the 0,000 Delaware Oaks, to be run at Delaware on Thursday, June 28. In this race Gallorette will face her sternest task of the year, for among those named are Good Blood, Elpis, Ace Card, Leslie Grey, Price Level and the Whitney quartet of Monsoon, Recce, Silver Smoke and Flyweight. This race has all the aspects of pointing out the eastern three-5 year-old filly champion.
