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Steger Brings Forth Field of Ten Citation Engages Quintet in Jersey Delegate Favorite For Lincoln Stake StakeVies Vies With Fighting Frankr Eternal Reward Air Rate At Six and Half Furlongs FurlongsWASHINGTON WASHINGTON PARK Homewood III May 28 The current 30day session of the Lincoln Fields Racing Association can be expected to make up for any lost ground it may have encountered during its 11 days of operation thus far with the presentation of a pair of highly interesting and colorful programs oVer the big holiday weekend Slated for decision are the seventeenth run ¬ ning of the 10000 Steger Handicap a six and onehalf furlongs dash that will be of ¬ fered tomorrow while Mondays headliner will attract the best threeyearolds in this sector the magnet being the 25000 added Peabody Memorial at a mile and one eighth eighthThe The Steger brings together a representa ¬ tive field of 10 sprinters and the role of favorite likely will be filled by the Woolford Farms fleet Delegate who was acclaimed the champion shortdistance horse of the winter in Florida A fouryearold gelded son of Maeda Brides Veil Delegate made his seasonal bow over the local strip on opening day in the Crete Handicap and in spite of the fact that 13 started he was backed into 3to2 favoritism However it seemed that he was clearly in need of further conditioning on that afternoon and tired badly after displaying his character ¬ istic flash of early speed Racing patrons are not quick to abandon a horse of estab ¬ lished class and it will not be surprising in the least if he again is heavily backed backedImpressive Impressive Winner of Crete CreteMain Main foes for Delegate in the Steger art Eternal Reward recent impressive winner of the Crete and Fighting Frank Eternal Reward is best remembered by Chicago land turfites for his smashing triumph in the American Derby of 1946 and who showed a return to his best form in the Crete The Augustus Nahm colorbearer can beat some of the best if he gets to the rail the boys along the shedrow say and thats precisely what happened in the openingday fixture Well back during the early running his favorite jockey Bobby Campbell found an opening at the top of the stretch and the fiveyearold unleashed furious drive to pass his foes as if they were anchored anchoredFighting Fighting Frank who trained in ex ceptiorial fashion at Churchill Downs before entraining for this point provided a blister ¬ ing pace in the Crete but he had not seen competition since last year at Hawthorne and when the long stretch loomed he began Continued on Page ThirtyEight Delegate Choice of Ten Seeking Steger Honors HonorsFighting Fighting Frank Eternal Reward And Air Rate in Classy LineUp LineUpContinued Continued from Page One Oneto to shorten stride His connections owner Mrs Louise H Donovan and trainer H H Pete Battle however were quite satisfied with that effort for it fitted him well for the fray coming up tomorow It proved to them that he retains all of his vaunted alertness put pf the gate and pnly a slight improvement is needed to carry his speed right down to the wire Local patrons also are cognizant of this and they probably will back the rather small fiveyearold ac ¬ cordingly cordinglyStill Still another who must be reckoned with is Fred Wyses shifty Air Rate who now is being conditioned by L J Keating The latter took over that assignment upon ar ¬ rival of Air Rate from Churchill Downs and saddled him for the Crete in which the chestnut fiveyearold finished third Air Rate came back a few days later with a grand effort to defeat Preoccupy Holiy man Navy Cross and others in authorita ¬ tive style One of the mpst intriguing features of the Steger is the sharp shift of the weights over that carried in the Crete Delegate and Fighting Frank both of whom are expected to improve drop three and two pounds re ¬ spectively while both Eternal Reward and Air Rate pick up five pounds which makes a tremendous difference Eternal Reward possibly would have been allotted a smaller impost had he competed in the Crete at the weight originally assigned For the open ¬ ingday dash he was to carry only 108 pounds but was forced to handle an addi ¬ tional four pounds when Campbell couldnt make the weight In some respect one could say Eternal Reward has improved to the extent of 12 pounds over Delegate ard Fighting Frank accprding to racing secre ¬ tary and handicapper Lawrence C Bogen schutz judgment judgmentAlthough Although he finished second ins the 1947 renewal of the Steger not too much is ex ¬ pected of Mighty Story tomorrow The hardcharging gray son of Mahmoud Lit ¬ tle Lie is making his first appearance under colors since last season when a series of ailments forced him to the sidelines He en ¬ joyed the winter roaming the pastures in Kentucky after being subjected to the fur ing irons However he is reported to have been training well and always has shown a distinct fondness for the Washington Park course Completing the Steger field will be Jacks Creek Tidy Sum Bullish Preoccupy who will run as part of the Marsch entry with Mighty Story and Southern Pride
