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BsSMHt ■*•■■ ■-.■««df5fefc. REFLECTIONS *y NELS0N °unstan J NEW YORK, N. Y., May 2.— Another major racing center swings into action tomorrow when popular Garden State Park opens its 24-day meeting at Camden, New Jersey. It is this writers belief that the pioneer track in the Skeeter State will experience far greater success than was the case last year, when it opened early in April and, like other tracks operating in that month, experienced day after day of cold and rainy weather. There will be six stake events contested at this meeting, which will continue through May 30, and the first of these is the Colonial Handicap, which is for fillies and mares, three years old and older, and which will be run at six furlongs on Saturday. This is the only stake race for fillies and mares scheduled at any track in this country during the month of May. The most important event of the meeting will be the 0,000 Jersey Stakes, for three-year-olds, at one mile and a quarter, on May 28 and, on the same day, the co-feature will be the 0,000 Rancocas Stakes for two-year-old fillies at five furlongs. The Daily Double has been revived at this track, as well as at the New York tracks, and this may prove to be a factor in larger attendance, for many experienced veterans believe it has aided in the fine showing of Jamaica to date. There are more than sufficient horses on hand to provide well-filled fields. AAA Tomorrows Derby Trial at Churchill Downs holds much of the answer as to the number who will answer the bugle for the Derby on Saturday. As we see it now, there could be as many as 14 in the line-up, but, in all probability, tomorrows race will cut the field to 10. At Jamaica on the week-end. Jimmy Jones made the statement that Calumet would probably not have a Kentucky Derby starter, although there is a possibility that either De Luxe or Ponder may be a last-minute choice of Ben Jones. Petey Cotter, Jacks Town and Lextown are still likely to start, and so, too, might Ocean Drive. Without them, there would hardly be a field of more than 10. Olympia will go to the Derby post as favorite at around 2 to 1, and there is a question whether the throng Garden State Park Opens 24-Day Meeting Derby Trial May Reduce Jubilee Field Up Go Weight Assignments for Coaltown Given 140 for Toboggan, 136 for Dixie will make Palestinian the second choice in their reckonings. Halt or Old Rockport may be third and fourth choices. Many seem to feel that Old Rockport had none the best of it in the Blue Grass Stakes as he was in the deepest going during most of the one and one-eighth mile event. Just how the Greentree pair of Capot and Wine List will be regarded by those at the mutuel windows will be best determined after tomorrows one-mile Trial . AAA Steve Brooks carried a whip while riding Coaltown in the Gallant Fox Handicap, but it was just a part of standard equipment, for not once during the race did he use it. A sharp pencil is part of the standard equipment of racing secretaries, and both John B. Campbell and Charlie McLennan, after noting the Gallant Fox result, used it in assigning their weights for the Toboggan Handicap on Friday and the Dixie Handicap on Saturday, respectively. Campbell placed Coaltown at the top of the list with 140 pounds, while, for the longer Dixie Handicap, McLennan exercised his rightful judgment in asking Coaltown to carry 136. It was a foregone conclusion that the Calumet speedster would not start in the Toboggan and, as this is written, it is doubtful whether he will go to the post in the Dixie on the week-end. Judging by the Gallant Fox result, and with My Request and Citation on the sidelines, there is a question if there is any handicap performer in this country capable of giving Coaltown a tussle without a liberal allowance in any race from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter. No winner has ever carried more than 134 in the Toboggan, or more than 130 in the Dixie, but we believe that Coaltown could do so successfully in either event. AAA With Coaltown a Jamaica Starter Saturday, there was not as much talk of the Kentucky Derby as there was of "Which is the better horse — Citation or Coaltown?" When Jimmy Jones was in the winners circle to receive the very beautiful trophy designed by Cartier, Sammy Renick was interviewing celebrities at that point. Coloring Jimmy Jones, Renick asked, "Jimmy, there is one question the racing world would like to know and that is — which is the better horse, Citation or Coaltown. You are probably in a better position to answer that question than any other man — what do you say about it?" Jones never hesitated and summed his answer up in just a few words by saying, "I am a Citation man." Up on the roof, Clem McCarthy was interviewing John Partridge, and Clem has been in so many arguments regarding Citation and Man o War that he varied the pattern somewhat by saying to Partridge, "How do you think Coaltown would do in a race against Man o War?" Obviously, Partridges answer left no doubt that he thought Man o War would be an easy winner over Coaltown. Clem forgot to follow up by asking him what he thought the outcome would be in a race between Citation and Coaltown. AAA It is understandable that Warren Wright sees no necessity for a contest between Citation and Coaltown. His ambition ever since he came into breeding is to produce champion horses, and in this year he has accomplished a feat that no breeder has ever done before, and that is, to send from his farm, in the same year, two horses who stand out like a beacon light over their competitors. From his viewpoint, there is absolutely no reason for the question of superiority to be settled. Yet, on the other hand, it is natural for racing fans to wonder what the outcome would be if this pair ever came together. No two people have a better knowledge of these two horses than Ben and Jimmy Jones, but racing is the _ kind of a game where every man has a right to his own opinion and, from what we can judge, the majority of fans believe Coaltown would give Citation the race of his life at any distance and at even weights. What greater compliment could John B. Campbell pay a horse than in saying that he was an 11 -pound better racer than Rippey in a six-furlong race and, in the same breath, Charlie McLennan saying that the same horse is 16 pounds better than Pilaster at a mile and three-sixteenths?
