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REFLECTIONS 1 By Nelson Dunstan Citation Great Lure to Racing Fans Warren Mehrtens Draws Praise of Trainers Wins Three 50000 Races in Eight Days United Hunts TwoDay Meet on June 1516 1516NEW NEW YORK N Y June 8 8ThreeDot ThreeDot Shorts Johnny Clark of Lexington Ky stood next to the Aga Khan during the running of the Epsom Derby caught a plane immediately after the race and was back in this country by noontime on Sunday Despite reports to the contrary the severing of re ¬ lations between Doug Dodson and the Maine Chance farms were not unfriendly Dont be surprised if within the next week you read that a famous jockey has cancelled his contract with one of the bestknown stables in the East Horatio Luro who trains many top South American horses insists that banking the turns of our race tracks would prevent many of the foot injuries to horses Arnold Hanger fears that the one and onesixteenth miles of to ¬ morrow s Top Flight Handicap may be too short a distance for Harmonica the Suburban winner to show her best Rico Monte will probably not be seen in action until the Saratoga meeting at Saratoga Hedley Woodhouse will take his tack to Chicago for the Arlington Park meeting An offer of many many dollars has been cabled to the Aga Khan for the purchase of My Love Epsom Derby winner Jimmy Smith would prefer to skip the National Stallion on Saturday but if he should decide to start Mr Busher he believes the full brother to Busher will have a royal chance of entering the winners circle When and if the Lansdowne Park meeting opens at Vancouver on June 30 they will bar maidens seven years old or older and will refuse the entries of horses over 13 years of age ageMost Most of the talk around Belmont on a cloudy Monday afternoon had to do with Citation and Saturdays run ¬ ning of the Belmont Stakes The majority of the fans we talked with are of the opinion that the Calumet three yearold already has the Triple Crown tucked in the saddle bag There is a school of thought however which stubbornly insists that there could be a surprise due to the one and onehalf miles and that Escadru will give him a stern test at the distance Regardless of how it turns out there will be a large throng at the Elmont course even it the majority of them go there only to see this son of Bull Lea run the last race of the three that now comprise the greatest honor that can be won by a threeyearold in this country As a horse race the Na ¬ tional Stallion which is the cofeature should be a mag ¬ net also for while the twoyearold division has been slow to develop there are sufficient twoyearolds in ¬ cluding Wine List Mr Busher Noble Impulse Eternal World Emulate and a few others to make it a sterling contest down the Widener chute chuteWe We were talking with George Strate and he asked Didhot Warren Mehrtens create something of a record when he won three 50000 races within the limit of eight days We have not had a chance to check but Mehrtens accomplished a won ¬ derful feat in piloting the winners of the Suburban Handicap May 31 Coaching Club American Oaks June 2 and Yankee tens came along and we asked the famous trainer What has caused your boy to take such a new lease on life For a mo ¬ ment Hirsch paused and said He is no better rider today than he has been for quite some time The only difference in him to ¬ day is that he is much stronger than he was a year ago Check his career and I am sure you will find that for the number of mounts he has had he has created something of a record in the number of stake winners he has ridden Far be it from us to argue with Hirsch who has watched this boy develop ever since the day that he had his first mount but we do believe that Mehrtens is now displaying a confidence in himself that he did not have in previous years and as a result he has become a rider who ranks with the best of them He is as nice a boy as you would want to meet and every one we have talked with is happy that he Is now doing so well wellOn On Tuesday and Wednesday of next week the United Hunts will stage their twoday meeting before the sport moves to Aqueduct for its summer session of 27 days Obviously the United Hunts are putting out a program which has all the appeal of the high class sport seen at Belmont Park On Tuesday June 15 the feature event will be the 10000 Jfew York Turf Writers Cup which at two miles is a hurdle handicap The Wednesday card will be featured by the 15000 Temple Gwathmey Stee ¬ plechase Handicap which is at about two and a half miles and has drawn the entries of most of the well known jumpers now in the East There is no organiza ¬ tion in racing more deserving of solid support than the United Hunts for they reflect as much as any other out ¬ fit we know the sporting angle of the turf turfRacing Racing is definitely headed toward an international era and along those lines we were privileged to read a letter which was sent to the Belmont Park officials from the manager of the leading landscaping concern in Japan The letter reads Hav ¬ ing been informed that your horserace course is a model one in your country because of its scale and perfect equipment we made up our mind to write you this impudent request We are ne of the leading nursery companies in Japan and our land scapinggardening department is contributing to the rehabilita ¬ tion of this completely wartorn country by maintaining parks golf courses and constructing stadiums recreation grounds and facilities for the tourist industry Recently it was decided that an international horserace ground be constructed here and the promoters asked our humble selves for assisting to map out plans and requested to submit detailed blue prints According to their honored Instruction the new race course should be the largest one in this country perfect enough to give complete satisfaction even to the occupation personnel who are familiar with the de luxe European and American race courses We would like to go far and wide to study and to get good advices of the for ¬ eign horserace experts but we deplore to state that circum ¬ stances prevent us from doing so We therefore beg to trou ¬ ble you with our impudent request Kindly assist by giving your many valuable suggestions on our new race course and if you can send us reference materials such as birdseye view of your race course itemized blue prints and various many advices
