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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan Have Imported Horses Improved Ours? Talk of Flying Horses Over Atlantic Busher Training Well for Gold Cup Many Rich Races for Older Horses NEW YORK, N. Y., June 8. Recently a committee of breeders met with a group from The Jockey Club to discuss retaliation against Englands Jersey Act. When we endeavored to find out the result of this conference we were given the terse: "There is nothing for publication." A few days back we read — much to our surprise — that the British Breeders Society had agreed not to sell anything worthwhile to this country, and after we read it we could not help but wonder why the Aga Khan displayed such individual spirit when he sold our breeders Blenheim II., Bahram and Mah-noud. It is futile for anyone to say that the three horses mentioned, plus Sir Gallahad IJJ., Bull Dog, Heliopolis and still others, are not a boon to the breeding industry in this country. No American likes the Jersey Act, but, are we going about this thing in the right way? The best way to prove to the English that our horses are as good as theirs is to challenge them to races. It is this writers belief that American horses are as good as — if not better than — any produced elsewhere. Let us prove that to them by asking for international races and not asking for something which would cause us to lose rather than gain. Some of the horses they sent over here have been duds, we know. But, on the other hand, some have gone far in improving our own breed. A week ago two horses were shipped from Roosevelt Field to Hollywood Park by plane, and, according to reports, they arrived in perfect condition. They were Uleta and Chakoora, and were purchased by King Brothers. Hollywood motion picture producers. A specially fitted plane was sent here from California to return the horses to Hollywood Park. Of late months there has been considerable talk of flying a horse from Europe to this country* As a matter of fact, such a project is being planned at this moment, and later in the week you are certain to hear more details concerning it. While some horsemen were a bit dubious over such a flight, there is every reason to believe that if it can be successful from New York to Hollywood, it should be just as successful in a flight from London to New York. Aviation companies have been working on planes suitable for this purpose for quite some time, and, while the Fairchild Packet is said to be the nearest to completion, other companies plan to make announcements within the next few months. There might be an international race in this country this year, but it is almost a certainty that from 1947 on, plans for international races will include one between the Kentucky and Epsom Derby winners. Hollywood Parks meeting has been a great success to date, and it is safe to assume that it will be more so during the month of July. Last Wednesday Louis B. Mayers Honeymoon was a convincing winner of the Hollywood Oaks Handicap. At the moment, the movie chieftains Busher is in training and undoubtedly will be pointed for the 00,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, scheduled for Saturday, July 27. Out in California they boast — and rightly so — of the races they put on for colts and fillies foaled in the Golden State. On Wednesday of next week they will stage the 5,000 Debutante Stakes, for two-year-old fillies foaled in California, and then on Saturday next the feature race of the day will be the 5,000 Golden State Breeders Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses foaled in California. On Saturday, June 29, the 5,000 Haggin Stakes, also for two-year-olds foaled in California, will be the days feature, and on July 31, as the meeting draws to a close, three-year-olds foaled in California will battle it out at a mile and a sixteenth in the 0,000 El Dorado Handicap. Older horses will certainly come into their own within the next month, as a number of 0,000 events will be staged for them at various race meetings throughout the country. New York will start it off when Aqueduct stages the 0,000 Brooklyn Handicap, at one and one-quarter miles, on June 22. July 4 has always been one of the biggest days of American racing, and this year will be no exception. On that day Suffolk Downs will feature the 0,000 Massachusetts Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses, at a mile and a sixteenth; Hollywood Parks outstanding race of the day will be the 0,000 American Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses, at a mile and a sixteenth, and, as usual, the feature race at Arlington Park will be the 0,000 Stars and Stripes, at one and one-eighth miles, for three -year-olds and older horses. Two weeks later Arlington will stage the Arlington Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses, at a mile and a quarter. This is indeed a year when handicap performers could create some new records on the money-winning list. One of the most remarkable items in todays press was that Bernborough, the Australian champion, carried 151 pounds successfully in the Doomben Cup in Australia. While both the Australians and the English assign their horses terrific weights, we have often wondered if that really proves anything. There is always "the straw that broke the camels back," but if a horse is a real champion, why break him down with such a package as 151 pounds? Back in 1913 Whisk Broom II. carried 139 pounds to win the Suburban in the record time of 2:00 for one and one-quarter miles. While it has always been disputed, that record has never been beaten. Grey Lag carried 135 to win the Suburban, and Equipoise carried 132, and that would seem to us to be enough to assign any horse in a handicap event. Roseben, Discovery and still others were noted weight carriers, but eventually Roseben could take no more of it, even though he carried high weight in race after race. It would seem to us that 132 pounds is just about the top weight that any handicap performer should be asked to carry while giving gobs of poundage to his opponents. Asking a horse to carry 151 at a mile and three-eighths is just too much, as we see it. x
