view raw text
i - . . mim REFLECTIONS I By Nelson Dunstan Yankee Handicap Tops Card at Suffolk Phalanx Gets Another Chance in Peter Pan Hollywood Park Opens 50-Day Meeting Chaining7 Horses Should Bring Life Term SUFFOLK DOWNS, East Boston, Mass., May 23. Billy Thompson will ask for a hearing before the Illinois Racing Board, and will get it. . . . That fine sportsman, William Ziegler, Jr., is slowly recuperating from a very serious opera-r - . . i tion. lion. . . . . . . The Ane Dale uaie Shaffers onaiiers 01 of Coldstream uomscream tion. lion. . . . . . . The Ane Dale uaie Shaffers onaiiers 01 of Coldstream uomscream Stud, and Glen Tomlinsons of Elmendorf Farm are on a deep-sea fishing trip at Bi-mini. . . . Alibhai, who may be sold by L. B. Mayer for a possible 00,000, originally cost the M-G-M executive ,000. ... In the first 15 days at Belmont Park, the mutuel handle has dropped about ,000,000 under the same period in 1946, but the sport has not been lowered in quality. . . . The Jockey Club rule says no horse can carry the name of one that has had the same name during the the past past 15 15 years, years, but, but, we we wonder wonder why why they they mim the the past past 15 15 years, years, but, but, we we wonder wonder why why they they allow the confusion that results from Risolater and Riskolater, or My Request and By Request, all of whom are racing this year. . . . Doug Dodson will ride Talon in the Suburban next Friday, as Armed will be in the barn that day. . . The Tom Robey Steeplechase poses a problem, for as many as 30 may start and there is only about 60 steeplechase riders, amateur and professional, now accepting mounts. Here at Suffolk Downs tomorrow, they will stage the twelfth running of the 5,000 Yankee Handicap, exclusively for three-year-olds, at one and three-sixteenth miles. Atomic Power, winner of the Constitution Handicap, is asked to pick up four pounds more than the 119 carried last week, but tomorrows race may prove a much sterner task in that Loyal Legion, Donor and others have shipped in to oppose him. Since 1935, many good three-year-olds have been Yankee winners and especially Chal-ledon, Our Boots and Shut Out. In 1941, Out Boots defeated Market Wise, and in the following year, Shut Out took the measure of Valdina Orphan and Rounders. In the 1946 renewal, 31,360 fans were.on hand to see the Yankee and. at the finish, the winner was Cable, a brown colt by War Admiral Miss Brief, by Sickle, and who cost Mrs. A. Wichfield an even 0,000. In the Yankee alone, he earned 3,475, approximately the same sum that will be won by tomorrows winner. The three-year-old picture has changed many times since Cosmic Bomb was the original winter book favorite. In the events prior to the running of the Derby, most of the attention centered on Phalanx, the son of Pilate, who is jointly owned by C. V. Whitney and A. S. Hewitt. In the Derby running, Jet Pilot defeated Phalanx by a head, and the latter was a head in front of Faultless. After the last-named star won the Preakness anr1 the Withers, the experts were pretty much agreed that he was entitled to the honors to date. The one question that has not been definitely settled, however, is whether Faultless can defeat Phalanx at one mile and a half. The Belmont Stakes will provide the answer. Phalanx carries top weight in tomorrows Peter Pan renewal and, while the distance is only one mile and a furlong, the race will give fans an opportunity to size up this colt and reach their own conclusions regarding his coming meeting with Faultless in the Belmont, the sternest, of the "Triple Crown" tests. Hollywood Park, one of the most beautiful race tracks in the world, opens a 50-day meeting tomorrow that is studded witih an array of 16 stake races having an added value of 00,000. Heading this summer stakes program will be the 00,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, which will be run on July 26. Five other stakes, namely the Golden State Breeders Handicap, the Argonaut, American and Sunset Handicaps and the Hollywood Derby will all be events of 0,000 in added money. The ten remaining stakes will each carry endowments of 5,000 and in this group is the Premier Handicap, which is the feature event of the opening card. While the "Performance Analysis," which is an innovation at the Inglewood track, has been widely discussed during the past year, this will be the first time in history that colored movies will be taken of the entire running of the race. The movingpicture camera will be atop a 60-foot tower in the centerfield, almost on a line with the finish. The usual black and white pictures also will be "shot" from four towers, stategically placed around s the track. The stewards at Havre de Grace have suspended Millard E. Gilbert, Jr., and Walter Fuller, trainer and groom, respectively, of the horse Duke-O-Balu, for allegedly "chaining" him, and have referred the case to the Maryland Racing Commission for further action. Gilbert was arrested pn a cruelty to animals charge shortly after the last race at Havre on Wednesday, and was later released after posting a 00 bond. County Sheriff R. A.Falker, who apprehended Gilbert, is seeking Puller, and intends to arrest him on a similar charge. "Chaining" a horse is one of the most heinous crimes a man can commit against a thoroughbred. It is unfortunate that those found guilty of this offense can not be given life terms in jail, but there is nothing to prevent their being ruled off the turf forever. It seems to us that the "polite" reporter for a news agency who wrote that the term "chaining" means "to shake and rattle chains to excite the animal," should be given a copy of "Alice in Wonderland."
