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JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatron Klees Notes Slump in Quantity of Foals Col. C. V. Whitney String Races at Chi. Detroit Track Adopts Preferred List Belmont Stakes Becomes an Open Race NEW YORK. N. Y., June 20. Turfiana: Fred Klees. The Jockey Club registrar, tells us the number of foals was about 1.000 below 1944. . . . Grant Dorland, master of the Blue Grass Roseland Farm, is in Gotham on business and will witness the Belmont. . . . Unbreakable, the sire of Mrs. P. A. B. Wide-ners Polynesian, was bred and foaled at Elmendorf. went to England as a yearling on November 23, 1936. returning to Kentucky in 1939 after winning the Victoria Cup. . . . Hoop Jr. will probable take up stud duty at A. B. Hancocks Claiborne stud next spring if it seems unlikely he will train at the and of the year. . . . One Hour, the Derby winners dam. has no two-year-old this season but does have a yearling , . . Miss Marg Lindheimer, Twilight Tears most enthusias tic rooter, is visiting here for a brief time, after which she will assist her with Arlington-Washington affairs at the Home-wood track. . . . Sarge Dave Woods came up from Pimlico to see the week-ends Belmont renewal. . . Nick Burger was thinking of shipping Traffic Court to Garden State Park as a fugitive from The Tear, until the Calumet mare bled. He now is pointing her for Chicago stakes. . . . With luck. Warren Wrights 1944 "horse of the year" could be ready in the autumn. . . . Fred Hoopers Triumphal, one of the choicer yearlings at Keeneland last summer, has bucked and trainer Ivan Parke has yet to. determine if he is a runner. . . . Mr. Fitz has placed his stamp of approval on the Aqueduct racing surface. . . . Post Graduate is working smartly again at Belmont, after outgaming a siege of "the cough." . . Sir Gallahad III. world champion sire, is aging and there will be fewer of his get in future yearling sales but A. B. Hancock thinks "some of his colts foaled this season are among the best he ever sired." . . . Harry Sanderson, erstwhile aide de camp for Uncle Henry McDaniel. will have some more horses to train soon. . . . "Yes, In Earnest is a good prospect." Ben Jones agrees, "but Maud Lea can beat him." The latter, a brisk worker, will debut at Washington Park. Col. C. V. Whitneys famed Eton Blue will fly at Washington Park again this summer. Trainer Lydell Ruff plans to be at the Homewood course and his charges may, incidentally, include the clever flyweight, a stakes winner at two last year. The Firethorn filly is not considered quite so capable as Recce or Monsoon, but her connections fancy she will develop into a shifty sprinter. Burg-el-Arab is at present galloping over the private training track at Whitney Farm, near Lexington, and is to be turned over to Ruff later in the season. It is hoped that he will withstand the rigors of training, as Jack Campbell rated him inferior only to Pavot and Free for All in his Experimental Free Handicap last winter. "I wish that he were good now," Ruff says,, "for I believe he would be hard to beat in some of these three-year-old stakes." If it becomes apparent that Burg-el-Arab will not train successfully, he will be added to the Whitney stallion roster for the 1946 stud season. His sire, Boojum, is in service there but is a shy foal getter. The Arlington-Washington span begins with a renewal of the Equipoise Mile, which honors the best horse Col. C. V. Whitney ever owned or we ever saw. Ekky was nowhere more idolized than in Chicago and this mile event has been enhanced in value and prestige until it is now one of the clubs most coveted features. Plans for the Whitney string indicate that jockey Arnold Kirkland will be active at the Toddling Town. There does not seem to be so many capable riders in the Midwest and, in fact, there are few elsewhere. The condition book for the current Detroit Fair Grounds meet is prefaced with some chatty remarks on the rules and regulations governing its sport. Among other items is a "notice to horsemen" which goes as follows: "The also-eligible list will be abolished during the Detroit meeting but the preferred list will remain in full force and effect. All fields will be drawn to 12 horses except in features. . . . The management believes that this will work to the advantage of both the public and the horsemen. » From the horsemens viewpoint, it will enable the owner and trainer to know definitely 24 hours in advance of the race whether he is in the race or not. It will give him opportunity to breeze his horse in the afternoon, to secure a competent rider, •tc. When a horse is on the also-eligible list an owner must wait until scratch time in the morning before he knows definitely whether his horse has an opportunity to start or not. It will also stop the practice of putting unfit horses in the races merely to get a star, to the exclusion of horses that are ready to run. ..." The Belmont Stakes on Saturday became "an open race" with the result land the vicissitudes of the Preak-ness. A few Long Island observers believe that the La Favorita barn may house the winner in Post Graduate. The names of Jeep and Burning Dream also are frequently mentioned in connection with this mile and a half counterpart of the Epsom Derby. Pot o Luck will not be a starter as Ben Jones thinks him one good work short of readiness. Usually it takes a good stayer to win a Belmont and it is generally a well-run race because the field is small. The possibility of a jam is minimized and the distance gives horses that are long-winded but not particularly clever, a chance to recover if they are impeded. It is becoming somewhat of a turf rarity for a different horse to win each of the "Triple Crown" events, but that will be true of 1945. Whether or not one thinks the present crop of three-year-old colts mediocre, they are not monotonous. That Is something.
