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Select and Long Branch Monmouths Next Stakes Former, for Three-Year-Olds, Is Preview for 5,000 Choice MONMOUTH PARK, Oceanport, N. J., June 26. Plagued by rain and unseasonably cool weather for practically all of its inaugural week, the Monmouth Park Jockey Club is prepared to accelerate its pace as it moves into its second week with important stake events listed for Wednesday and Saturday. Despite weather conditions, attendance for the first week of the 42-day meeting was actually above that of a year ago, with the mutuel play slumping slightly due to the poor condition of the racing strip. All in all, it proved a promising week, serving as a basis for optimism in all quarters. Scheduled during the coming week are the 0,000 Select Handicap for three-year-olds on Wednesday, and the 0,000 Long Branch Handicap on Saturday. Each serves a real purpose, in that they are major preps for richer stakes later in the meeting. Revived this year after laying dormant since 1893, the Select is a preview of eligibles for the 5,000 Choice Stakes on August 7, while the Long Branch will bring forth candidates for the 5,000 Monmouth Handicap, for three-year-olds and upward, to be run July 24. The six-furlong Select closed with 55 nominations with King Ranchs Better Self and Helen L. Sagners Saggy, two sophomores who have already distinguished themselves, having been assigned top weight of 126 pounds by racing secretary John P. Turner, Jr. There is a strong possibility these two bright lights of the three-year-old division will accept their Select imposts along with such ranking contemporaries as J. C. Bradys Basis, E. K.Brysons Equibit, Glen Riddle Farms Marine Band, William Helis Bucephalus, High Ground Stables Hefty, C. A. ONeil, Jr.s Galedo, J. M. Roeblings Macbeth, Mrs. James V. Stewarts Dr. Almac, Alfred Vanderbilts Newsweekly, C. V. Whitneys Black Majesty, Woodland Farms Picture Card and Woodvale Farms Page Boots. The Long Branch Handicap, won last year by Elmendorf Farms redoubtable Polynesian, is at one mile and sixteenth and closed with 50 nominations. Weights for the various eligibles will be announced by racing secretary Turner on Monday. Leading the bumper crop of candidates is George D. Wideners erstwhile stakes star, Lucky Draw, who returned to the racing wars today after being on the shelf since November of 1946. Lucky Draw captured the 1946 Monmouth Park Handicap running in record time, leading Stymie and other front rank members of the handicap division of that season. Others likely to parade in next Saturdays headliner are Joe W. Browns Brown Mogul, Christiana Stables Alexis, Margie Fishers Shivaree, Glen Riddle Farms Faraway, Hugh A. Grants Eb, Greentree Stables Coincidence, Walter Homes Red Devil, King Ranchs Flash Burn, Harry LaMontagnes Caifero, Myron Newmeyers Turbine and C. V. Whitneys Bright Sword.
