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BETWEEN RACES 1 By Oscar Otis 1 1Interest Interest in Will Rogers Argonaut Sophomore Division Well Balanced Longden Setting Dizzy Pace Here Brent Abandons Yacht for Horses HorsesHOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD PARK Inglewood Calif May 27 The Memorial weekend is one of the most important of all on the American turf and here in Cali ¬ fornia fans will enjoy two stakes the 25000 Will Rogers on Satur ¬ day the first of four three year old stakes during t he summer here and the 50000 mile and a sixteenth Argonaut on Monday a race which will bring out many of the top eligibles for the 100 1 000 Gold Cup later on in the season The richest race for threeyearolds and the most important on the Hollywood roster is the 50000 Westerner a new race in that it replaces the conventional Hollywood Derby The Hollywood management was quite right in changing the name of its major threeyearold classic to one carry ¬ ing some color and traditional of this par ¬ ticular area The threeyearold division is strictly of mediumquality this year with horses beating one another and with none of them possessing the apparent quality of a half dozen that could be tabbed at the moment east of the Rockies Which has led to unusual conditioning of the Westerner It is a handicap but the spread in weights is limited to 12 pounds and with a top maximum of 122 pounds Fil ¬ lies are to be assessed with their regular fivepound allowance making a permissi ¬ ble range in their particular case of 17 imaginable Weights will not be posted un ¬ til three days before the race scheduled to July 3 at a mile and onequarter These conditions frankly were written to deal fairly with the horses on the grounds this year While it may be that some older horses will fly west to compete in the Gold Cup a mile and five furlongs 50000 Sun ¬ set Handicap of closing day no three yearolds are expected to invade for the Westerner WesternerA A A A APrice Price seems to mean nothing to the threeyearold division The 65000 year ¬ ling purchase of Norman W Church Spec ¬ ulation cant seem to hit his stride and only last Saturday was beaten off four and onehalf lengths in a sixfurlong sprint by Lady Bruce a speedy California filly owned by Californias new racing team of ac ¬ tresses Evelyn Keys and Virginia Bruce This is a threeyearold by Sierra Nevada an English importation whose worth as a sire has perhaps been overlooked So far Lady Bruce has shown herself possessed of intensive speed and if she can carry this speed anywhere at all she easily could wind up the filly of the year in the west Lady Bruce is a probable for the Will Rogers and this race will give a fair line on her true merit Another of the dark horses which may blossom into a cam ¬ paigner of stakes quality is Frank Tran kels Frankly Indeed this fellow has not as yet run to his impressive training and the dockers already are rating him as prime Westerner timber Jockey Johnny Longden has had many brilliant meetings in the west and this could well be another During the first several days of racing here he has been riding at the audacious percentage of just under 40 Longden incidentally is cur ¬ rently pacing the nations pilots and to date he has 125 wins as against 108 for Eddie Arcaro his nearest rival Steve Brooks who gave Longden a run for it early in the fall last year is third with 104 Other leaders are Ted Atkinson 98 and W M Cook 81 Eastern fans will be glad to learn that Longdens agent Basil Smith has recovered from a lengthy ill ¬ ness and again is making the Longden en ¬ gagements gagementsA A A 4 4A A couple of years ago George Brent the actor tired of it all sold his horses in training purchased a yacht and started in the annual race to Honolulu He con ¬ tinued on to the South Pacific for a period of eight months and having ample time to think decided that he missed his horses more than he enjoyed lazing under Tropi ¬ cal skies He returned to Honolulu dis ¬ posed of the yacht and continued on back to California Since his return he has spent more and more of his time at his bloodstock farm named Royal Oaks and located in the Hidden Valley sector of North Bill Bush formerly with Harry Isenberg was hired as the ranch manager training Brent reports himself as well satisfied with the foals to date at Royal Oaks six fillies and six colts He has some 19 broodmares in all His own stallion Pony Express will be sent to the farm fol ¬ lowing the close of the current breeding season Pony Express stood this spring at North Ridge in the San Fernando Valley From here on Brent will endeavor to im ¬ prove the quality of his stock and keep the quantity limited He will enter the Keeneland sales this summer seeking fil ¬ lies suitable for racing and for their event ¬ ual broodmare prospects He has made only only filly purchase here this being Mild Stimulant a good racer whom he obtained from Frank A Carreaud His only other important acquisition was Le Roitelet flown here from France
