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REFLECTIONS — —— — By Nelson Dunstan — — — — -Saratoga Gets Budget Quota— and 00,000 Will Max Hirsch Pass Up That 50 Grand? Shevlin Drew but Four Due to Purse Kingarvie Is True Idol of Canadian Fans NEW YORK, N. Y., June 7. It appears as if Mr. Spencer Cassidy, chairman of a three -man supervisors committee which is studying racing taxation, says "that the extra 5 per cent levy exacted from Lone Island tracks has reduced mutuel play, and that it might be wiser to cut it at Saratoga." That is one of the most honest statements we have ever read in a newspaper, and we just hope that Governor Dewey, Mayor ODwyer and the New York racing officials take the trouble to read it also. Actually it was merely a local item pertaining to Saratoga Springs, where the annual county budget is about 00,000. It is calculated that a 5 per cent tax at Saratoga would net about ,000,000. In other words, the entire Saratoga budget will be taken care of. with 00,000 to boot. Could we poor racing people ask these ardent political fathers and the Saratoga trades people to think of a new hotel where racing people could live and continue to pay all their taxes for them and give them 00,000 over and above to improve the beauty spots in and around their lovely city? As it stands today, racing is going to do a beautiful job for Saratoga, but in return it is going to be catch as catch can in the matter of living quarters. Since Assault won the Belmont, thus completing the "Triple Crown," Max Hirsch has been noncommittal regarding the future activities of the Texas-bred racer. As ft result, fans are wondering whether the Kleberg three -year-old will start in the 0,000 Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct, on June 15. We are guessing, mind you, but our guess is that Hirsch will start his horse and this, regardless of the fact that with 126 pounds he wiU have to give Lord Boswell a five-pound concession. After the Preakness running, racing fans questioned whether Assault could give Lord Boswell any advantage and still beat him, but, after the Belmont running, the same fans were of the opinion that Assault could give Lord BosweU five pounds, fall down and roll over three times, and still be in front when they got to the finish line. While it is true that Assault has had a busy campaign, 0,000 races do not grown on cherry trees, so dont be a bit surprised if the veteran Max is out ther saddling Assault a week from tomorrow in the Aqueduct paddock. Aqueduct will return to its home grounds next Monday afternoon. With only 0,000 in added money, four second-class two-year-olds turned out for the running of the Shevlin Stakes on Wednesday. In a year such as this, when all of the "Triple Crown" events called for 00,000 in added money, it seemed a distinct letdown for the Aqueduct management to offer but 0,000 for the Shevlin. Tomorrow, Suffolk Downs, in Boston, will stage the 5,000 Yankee Handicap and, at Delaware Park, the feature race of the day will be the 5,000 Ken Stakes, both of these races being for three-year-olds. It is only natural that owners and trainers of three-year-olds would prefer to give their horses a short respite and point them for the richer events on the week-end. It is a short-sighted policy on the part of the Aqueduct officials, of the nine stake events, six are at 0,000, one at 0,000 and two at 0,000. It would seem to us that they could give higher values for horses with andach races as the Shevlin and also tomorrows Carter Handicap, which, with 0,000 in added money, will be co-featured with the 0,000 Astoria Stakes, a race for two-year-old fillies at five and a half furlongs. The filly event should draw a good field, but only six have been named to answer the bugle for the Carter Handicap, a race at seven furlongs, for three-year-olds and older horses. We were somewhat surprised to read that Windfields, a Canadian-bred, was the favorite of the Canadian people after he had won the fifth race at the Aqueduct meeting on Wednesday. This brown colt, by Bunty Lawless, was highly regarded when he was shipped from Canada to Florida during the winter months. He was nominated for the Kentucky Derby but, somewhere along the line, it was discovered that he was little more than a sprinter. The real hero of Canadian racing today is Kingarvie, a horse who has demonstrated that he is capable of holding his own with any horse in his division, regardless of the country. By Teddy Wrack — Forsworn, by Bachelors Double, he was bred and is owned by the Woodlands Investments Ltd., of Ontario. When he won the Kings Plate recently, he scored his tenth consecutive victory. As a two-year-old, he won the Coronation Stakes. Mrs. Orpens Cup and Saucer and the Clarendon Plate. Early this year, he won one division of the Trial Plate and then went on to score over the other division winner of the Trial Plate in the Kings Plate, a race he won with the greatest of ease. Taking a long range view, the Monmouth management showed good judgment in its decision to postpone the opening of the track from June 10 to June 19. It is true that the late Walter OHara built Narragansett Park in 70-odd days. Well do we recall the deadline which the government set for construction during the war and how men worked feverishly to complete the Garden State track at Camden before the opening day. We remember that, because we were sitting in the center-field when the workmen were using flares. It was exciting to watch this fight for construction against a government deadline. Monmouth Park has had beastly luck, plus beastly weather. It is all well and good to say that they should have started earlier, but the men behind this track did their utmost to have it ready, if not completed, for Mondays opening.lt will be better for the public that the postponement was instituted. It has not stopped horsemen from shipping to the track and, when they finally get under way, every one will be more satisfied than they would have been with an opening in which the track was far from completed.
