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JUDGES STAND 1 By Charles Hatton Calumet May Hear From Bourbon County Black Tarquin Wins Praise in England Wideners Watermill Story Book Filly Canadian Filly Encourages Tennesseans TennesseansLEXINdTON LEXINdTON Ky June 1 1Black Black Tarquin continues to grow in favor for the Epsom Derby on Saturday and his American stablemate Whirling Fox is training satisfactorily for the Peter Pan at Belmont on the same date Up to now the activities of the threeyearolds have been monotonously fol ¬ lowing a pattern designed by Citation The betting is that they will continue so in the foreseeable future However the recent form of the Belair colts leads to some rather ex ¬ citing possibilities An Epsom Derby triumph for Black Tarquin who is a native of Bour ¬ bon County naturally would bring up a question if Citation a native of Fayette County really is the leading American bred threeyearold of 1948 We should think it might easily be a 100000 question at any turnstile Empire offers such a purse in its International Gold Cup on October 16 at Belmont Park Warren Wright ad ¬ i vises us that he proposes to point Citation for it but whether the Jockey Club chairman W9uld be disposed to race Black Tar ¬ quin over here we are not prepared to say One finds it difficult to imagine that Whirling Fox who has yet to win a race is a rival for Citation And yet he was second to the Calumet colt in the Futurity at two when it was conjectured he would improve at three He seems to have benefited from a second training this season In any case if Whirling Fox runs well in the Peter Pan then Belair will bid for a double in the Belmont Stakes and the Epsom Derby Yankee racegoers recall Black Tarquins dam Vagrancy fondly as a race mare of the first order She won the Delaware Coaching Club and Pimlico Oaks and Gazelle among other events in 42 when she carried level weight with the older Barrancosa and gamely deadheated for the Beldame Either her son Black Tarquin has some of her pluck or English scribes are given to colorful adjec ¬ tives Of his race in last seasons Richmond Stakes they say he fiercely attacked the leader and of the Gim crack that he opened a bitter fight down the stretch Vagrancy has flouted a couple of breeding theories in that she is far larger than most worthwhile producers and has bred a good horse as her first foal Bull Hancock considers her chestnut filly foal by Some Chance who is inbred to Fair Play among the nicest of the 157 foaled at Claiborne in 48 48George George D Widener has bred one of the better threeyearold fillies in Watermill a product of his Old Kenney Farm on the historic Iron Works Pike here The Acorn was Watermills first stake but she defeated the King Ranchs mudrunning Scat ¬ tered winner of the Pimlico Oaks and she is probable favorite in tomorrows Coaching Club Watermill might have been claimed for 15000 on one occasion last fall but that was before she ran Grey Flight to a head in a fast cluite race Watermill is by the bronze Eight Thirty out of Waterwitch by John P Grier and she may turn out to be somewhat of a story book filly Waterwitch was consigned to the Keeneland Fall Sales in 47 but died before they were conducted As the story goes she was always more or less infirm and gimped about the fields barren much of the time Some years ago the aging mares death warrant was signed so to speak but then the master of Erdenheim granted her a reprieve in the providential nick of time Waterwitch rewarded him by producing the filly who won the Acorn Waterwitch was a half sister of George Wideners illfated Sation one of the most capable sprint specialists of many decades Thus Watermill has potentialities at Old Kenney when Widener has finished racing her herCanadians Canadians saw a filly called Avona capture their 43 yearold Victoria Stakes at Woodbine recently and this result occasioned a fandango in the streets as far south as Nashville The Victoria has only 2000 added but it is one of the Dominions time honored events for twoyear olds Avona is by the young sire Four Freedoms who stands at Del Holemans Pilot Knob Indeed she is the first of his first crop to be first in a stakes event Three others were beaten in overnighters in as many photo fin ishes Avona races for the Addison Stable began unob ¬ trusively at Hialeah in the winter ran unsuccessfully for 10000 at Jamaica but got the hang of winning at Wood ¬ bine Her pedigree is travelogue since her sire is out of the Anzac Nea Lap and her dam is by the English St GermansTurf Germans Turf ana Charlton Clay and Duvie Headley plan to race Lea Lark at Arlington Her spring form suggests she is a non mudder A B Hancock Sr is recovering from a recent illness at Claiborne Dan Midkiff tells us that 10 of Goya Hs first U S mates are in foal which is a good score thus early in the season So much for the gossip he is not a sure horse Claiborne retains a Count Fleet filly to offer one by Blen ¬ heim n this summer The Army Veterinary Research Lab ¬ oratory may in due course be prepared to release to civilian horsemen injections of a strain of the equine influenza virus which seems to have given a very high degree of immunity Crispin Oglebay this season will race a twoyearold Blenheim n colt out of Level Best He is called Sailing On
