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Conniver Faces Nine Firenze Rivals Miss Request But Why Not, Scattered in Jamaica Stake LaMontagne Will Not Let t Topweight Go Postward If She Is Nervous in Paddock JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 4.— The Metropolitan Jockey Club brings its highly successful 30-day spring meeting to a close tomorrow with the second running of the 5,000 added Firenze Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile and a sixteenth. Attendance is slightly below last year, but wagering is running 5 per cent ahead, the increase being ascribed to the return of the Daily Double and the addition of an eighth race. Though business has been somewhat less than anticipated by president John A. Morris, it has been highly satisfactory and is taken as an augury of success for the impending Belmont Park meeting that opens on Friday and runs through June 11. Ten have been named for the Firenze, headed by Harry LaMontagne s 1948 champion of the weaker sex. Conniver. The huge, long-striding daughter of Discovery has been assigned the same 126-pound burden under which she failed lamentably in last Wednesdays Correction Handicap at six furlongs. Usually frigidly tranquil, Conniver broke out in a lather of sweat before the Correction and was excessively nervous, which probably accounted more than the unsuitable distance for her dismal race as she had won an overnight sprint for her 1949 debut. Conniver was paddocked yesterday and again became very nervous, causing LaMontagne to declare that if she behaves in the same fashion tomorrow he will not let her start. Miss Disco Has 111-Pound Impost The nine opposing Conniver tomorrow are Mrs. Ben F. Whitakers Miss Request, 118; King Ranchs But Why Not, 116, and Scattered, 114; Sidney S. Schuppers Miss Disco and S. D. Sidells Allies Pal, 111 each: Greentree Stables Paddleduck, 110; C. V. Whitneys Mother, 106; Mrs. Tilyou Christophers Spats, 104. and Belair Studs My Emma, 100. Miss Request was voted the three-year-old filly champion of 1948, with victories in the Delaware Oaks, Busher, Ladies and Empire City Handicaps to her credit. The latter stake was at Jamaica and Miss Request gave actual weight and a beating to Quarter Pole, Noble Hero and others. She also finished a good second to Conniver in the Comely Handicap here, receiving only three pounds, which meant that she was conceding weight on the scale. Miss Request has failed to win, or even race creditably this year, but is in clever hands and is pointing for this race, which Mrs. Whitaker won last year with Carolyn A. But Why Not was the three-year-old filly leader in 1947, but a bitter disappointment last year, and a failure in her two starts at this meeting, the last of which was in the Gallant Fox Handicap. But Why Not has been training well, but is believed to dislike the track. Trained Cleverly for Seasonal Bow Scattered won the PimlicO and Coaching Club American Oaks last year, but also turned in some very bad races, notably in the Busher Handicap won by Miss Request. Though she will be making her seasonal debut, she has been training cleverly and is in the hands of a man who specializes in having his charges ready at the first asking. Paddleduck, a half-sister to Devil Diver, has never quite justified her pedigree and has yet to win her first stake, but has been finishing her races with a belated rush. She was beaten less than a length by Ocean Brief and Alfoxie in the Correction, with Miss Disco, But Why Not, Allies Pal, Conniver and Spats following in that order. There was considerable daylight between the Greentree miss and those she meets tomorrow. Allies Pal. Mother and My Emma finished far back of Conniver in that I mares winning six-furlong race, but the , first-named appears to be better suited by the Firenze distance. The balance of the final Jamaica pro-; gram is made up of claiming or maiden events, several of which have attracted small fields. The Firenze. however, prom- ises to be one of the highlights of the , entire season , | I ! , 1 ■ ■ i
