view raw text
BETWEEN RACES * okai ore PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 7. — When Christmastide came home a winner last Monday in the Pimlico Breeders Stakes, Maryland racing embarked upon a program of improvement of the homebred and thereby strengthened the trend noticeably nationally, with a few im portant exceptions, toward offering a limited number of stakes exclusively for horses bred within the confines of a particular state. We can find nothing particularly wrong with such races as long as they are not overdone, and, in some instances, much good. The Pimlico Breeders Stakes will be followed by others at Havre de Grace and Bowie, while Laurel will wait another year before joining the other tracks to make a quartet of homebred races with a total added money value of 0,000. The four tracks will each pitch in ,500 to endow the four races, although the first running of the Pimlico stake was for but ,000. It was thought best to give the shorter races in the spring that sum, add the other ,500 to the two respective races in the fall because of the longer distance, making their added value 0,000 each. AAA It might be mentioned in passing that Walter Donovan, general manager of Garden State Park, is giving much consideration to a Jersey stallion stakes to be offered in addition to the already rich regular stakes program at the popular Camden oval, and an announcement of this may be forthcoming before the end of the week. Discussions among the forward-thinking Garden State operators also included the possibility of one race a week for Jersey-breds. The Garden State people are intensely Maryland Embarks on Homebred Program Garden State Considers Stallion Stake Preakness Lists Host of Loyal Fans Yearling Show Attracts Keen Interest interested in breeding in general, and Jersey breeding in particular, and it is a matter of record that through their good offices that William Helis located his farm within the state, taking over the famed Rancocas site, which produced in days gone by some top -flight runners. AAA While not run continuously, the Preakness outdates the Kentucky Derby by one year, and lists among its fans thousands of loyal spectators who wouldnt think of missing a running. One of the oldest of these Preakness fans, who is here for the fifty-seventh running, is Shaker Reynolds, now 79. Reynolds believes he placed the largest wager ever recorded when, in the old days, he served as an aide to "Betcha Million" Gates. Reynolds was told to get down all the money he could on a horse called Sysonby and, before they were off, says he managed to place 80,000 at various odds ranging down to 3 to 10. While here, he renewed an old acquaintanceship with patrol judge Willie Doyle, who rode Effendi to victory in the Preakness of 1909, its third renewal after a 20-year lapse. AAA In interesting affair held annually at Pimlico is the yearling show, sponsored by the Maryland Breeders As sociation and scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a. m. on the clubhouse lawn. Pimlico has always offered its facilities to the breeders group, this being the thirteenth of these affairs to be held here, none having taken place during the war years. The show is divided into four classes, two for colts, two for fillies. Max Hirsch, developer of Assault and many other top-class horses and a well-tried connoisseur of racing stock in the rough, will act as judge. Hirsch will be furnished with no other information other than the foaling dates of the entries, and will pick the youngsters on the basis of their apparent suitability to become race horses. It is Hirschs first show in Maryland, Preston Burch having officiated last year, and the veteran Jim Fitzsimmons in the days before the war. In all, 65 yearlings in 35 ownerships will parade before judge Hirsch, all the leading Maryland farms with the exception of the W. L. Brann-owned Glade Valley having entries in the affair. Some 30 sires are represented, including Challenger II., Discovery, Mr. Bones, Swing and Sway, Zayin, Alaking, Swashbuckler and others. Mrs. R. H. Heighe, who always has a good representation, will be trying to emulate the performances of the good stakes mare, Adroit, who won in the filly class as a yearling and went on to beat good colts for the show championship. Alfred Vanderbilt, Sylvester Labrot, J. W. Y. Martin and G. Ray Bryson are others who have shown yearlings here that went on to become good race horses. The public will have an opportunity to try their judging skill, inasmuch as class III., for fillies, sired and foaled in Maryland will be the medium of an amateur judging contest. In this affair the man and woman whose selections come closest to Max Hirschs top five will receive a silver trophy from the breeders organization.
