view raw text
jBhUl * JUDGES STAND by charles hatton LEXINGTON, Ky., May 13.— If we read the signs correctly, there is going to be some entertaining sport in the handicap class this season. Of course you know that Assault was voted "The Horse" of last year, after he had ventured out of his age division and beat Lucky Draw and Stymie in the fall. It would seem that he is at least as good again this spring. He has won the Grey Lag and the Dixie and has shown a dash that suggests he is "the one to beat" for the Suburban. Of course the race that so many are so eager to see is one between Assault and Armed, who never quite got around to meeting one another last season. Each has a large and devoted following, but we shall really have to see for ourselves who is the better horse, if they can be brought together. Among other things, this depends a great deal on how they train, and it would be idle to attempt to guess when and where such a meeting might occur. Originally, Bob Kleberg wanted Assault to be at the top of his form about the time the International Cup was oo be run in the fall. The date for that event recently was changed to July. At that time, we think Armed will be busy at the Arlington-Washington meetings. AAA Breeders in other states have reported some nice foals this spring, and it is interesting that there is a brother to Assault at the King Ranch in Texas. We suppose you know that their dam, Igual, had an ailment which kept her from racing at all. Indeed, it almost caused her to be destroyed as a foal, but it has not kept her from being a steady sort of producer. For that matter Assault isnt quite the luckiest horse around. Chatting with Maj. Louie Beard here today he conjectured that "Assault might have won more races as a King Ranch Foal Is Brother to Assault Greentree Shows Confidence in Shut Out Beard Outlines Plans for Blue Border Market in Broodmares Continues Strong two-year-old, except that he really has only three feet and a kind of stub as a result of stepping on some sharp object when he was a yearling." It is not a simple thing to secure a shoe to what is left of this hoof. Beard has a keen interest in Assault. It seems that when Kleberg bought a season to Equipoise he asked Beard to pick the mare. Beard suggested that he buy Incandescent to breed to the horse, and Igual is the result. AAA Kleberg attributes much of Assaults class to his Equipoise blood and he does have somewhat the same head and bouyant action, rather like a horse that is only breezing. You may have noticed that his dam Is bred from the same pattern as Shut Out, who is also by Equipoise out of a Chicle mare. Beard tells us that he is pleased with the Shut Outs, who will come to the races next season. One that he likes particularly Is Drowsys chestnut filly, who has her grandsires straight hind legs, and then there is a smooth colt out of a course mare. We dont wonder that the aging La Troienne has been bred to him this season. Of Swing and Sway, who is Saggys sue, Beard says chat "he was tested here at Greentree and we have a two-year-old by him that might do, but the colt out of Hasty Wedding who died was a better prospect, I think." It is felt that Swing and Sway will be offered a good chance at Janon Fisher, Jr.s, place in the Old Line State. Mention of the horses in training reminds us that it is hoped to run Blue Border in the Withers mile, and then the Belmont Stakes. He is not unlike Faultless in that he prefers dry going. We should think that he will be a bit fresher than some of those colts who ran in the Derby and the Preakness. AAA A good many people were quite surprised to read that Busher has breezed six furlongs several times on the West Coast. It will be considered a kind of minor miracle if she is a starter in the Hollywood Cup. One finds that most turfmen have come to think of her as a broodmare prospect, and that most of them think her potentialities are very great. She might easily earn 35,000 if she could send three foals to the market with the standard number of feet and legs. Only a few days ago a Virginia breeder was asked 0,000 for an English mare, on the insufficient evidence she is by Hyperion. In any case the form of Busher, and of the Challenger n. filly, Bridal Flower, from the same family, is rather gratifying to Dale Shaffer, who paid 6,000 for the filly Rocking Horse. She is Bushers half-sister by the Brann sire. AAA Turfiana: Doug Dodson fancies the Bull Leas quite as much as do the Joneses, for several perfectly obvious reasons, and said on the air after the Preakness that when he called on Faultless, the colt showed his true blue blood. ... It is a nice sentiment in which we find ourselves in agreement, but were afraid this sort of thing will make a pedigree expert of Dodson, if he isnt very careful. . . . Conn McCreary once observed that almost all Blue Larkspur fillies will lug in, whether this would ever convince a steward is something else. . . . Cosmic Missile is not expected to be a Coaching Club American Oaks starter, but King Ranch has Bee Ann Mac and But Why Not. . . . Faultless is an eligible for the Classic and the American Derby.
