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JUDGES STAND *y CHARLES HATT0N DETROIT. Mich.. May 12.— Racing returns to the Motor City on Friday, the 13th. All black cats to. the contrary, it is expected to be a successful opening, and Dale Shaffer hopes for a record first Saturdays play for the running of the Border City on the second of the 80 days. The Classic winner, Papa Redbird; the Sheridan winner, Star Reward: the Princess Doreen winner, Miss Mommy, and the Thanksgiving Handicap winner, Traveler, are among the entrants for the Curtain Up. So it isnt any place for a mediocre sprinter. One hears that Papa Redbird came out of the gate three furlongs in :34?5 in a recent speed sharpener for his first appearance as a four-year-old. There is, incidentally, a prospect that this colt and Ky. Colonel will be active in the East in a few weeks. Indications today were that Saturdays Border City and next Wedneesdays Lansing also will take an interesting amount of winning. Charley Fishers four-year-old, Shy Guy, is the one-to-beat in the Border City, and is fresh from victories in Keenelands Ben Ali and the Downs Clark Handicap. The fast colt, Old Tom, who won the Bashford Manor on Derby Day, is a probable for Wednesdays Lansing, which also is for two-year-old colts and geldings. All of which suggests that the MRAs generous stakes program is going to attract the sort of talent the new club hoped it would. AAA The Fair Grounds will introduce the "tote" to De-troiters with the first race sponsored by the new club on Friday. The odds board is stippled in maize and blue paint, which are Michigan States colors. This motif also has been carried out in painting other parts of the plant. The ambitious MRA cards will be offered at popular prices, with a general admission fee. There is, incidentally, an unexpected and very gratifying demand New Regime Opens Detroit Meet Today Classic Winner in Curtain Up Handicap MRA Introduces Tote at Motor City The Fat Lady Is Royal Oak Candidate for box reservations. The fields at this meeting are to be started from the United Gate, which was thought up by George "Flash" Cassidy and has proved quite satisfactory in New York. Since it hopes to construct a new park for its 1950 meet, the MRA has not made a great many changes in the Fair Grounds. One of the most conspicuous is the removal of the stewards stand to the roof. AAA As youd think, the Michigan Racing Association, which includes a number of breeders, will offer ample opporunities for fillies and mares. The first of its three -year-old filly stakes is called the Royal Oak, a run of a mile and a sixteenth, with 0,000 added, on May 21. The Fat Lady, second in the Kentucky Oaks, is a leading prospect for this event, along with Louie Lee Haggins Stole, and Simla, and the Devereaux Wirra. The Shaffers have bought a good many of the more expensive yearling fillies offered at auction in recent years, and The Fat Lady ran in the Kentucky Oaks as if she may be a bargain at 5,000. Perhaps you know that she is a sister of the Arlington Matron winner, Harriet Sue. By the way, the horsemen here are well pleased with the condition of the turf course this spring, and it will be tested for resiliency on May 25, when the ,500 Michigan Mile is to be carded. This is the first of a series of grass races which range in distance up to a mile and a half. That is the route/ of the 0,000 Belle Isle Handicap for three-year-olds and up on July 30. Racing secretary Charles J. McLennan notes that the average play on turf races at Hialeah, where he also writes the script, is a bit better than that on races of the same class run on the sandy loam. AAA Detroits best three-year-old stake is the Cavalcade, which is at a mile and a furlong on July 2, and has 5,000 added. It may attract some of the colts that are to appear in Saturdays rich Preakness over at Pimlico. Theres nothing remotely like a conflict between the Cavalcade and Arlingtons Classic on July 27, and it is a week after the Dwyer. As everyone, of course, knows, the Cavalcade is named for the winner of the 1934 Detroit Derby. None of the 1949 three-year-olds seems likely to run out of rivals at the rate Citation did a year ago, which is most encouraging to clubs offering rich stakes for them in the summer. Perhaps this is one of the seasons when the championship will not be decided until after the running of the Classic, Dwyer, American Derby, Travers and other events following the American "Triple Crown." AAA Turf ana: Pharamond II. has been retired from stud duty, owing to a partial paralysis of a hind leg. and is enjoying his ease as a pensioner. ... "I dont think anyone who bred to him lost money on him," Harold Fallon estimates. . . . Ben Jones is quoted to the effect he considers that "Wistful can whip any of the colts." . . . The Villa Farms bloodstock is said to have a price tag of a quarter-million dollars. . . . Part-owner Abe Hewitt of Phalanx fame is interested in flying him west for the Hollywood Gold Cup. . . . Ferd passed through the sales ring last summer at the Spa for ,200, but wasnt sold for long. . . . Mt. Marcy is reported to have bled recently. Oddly enough, Coaltown and Billings werent really good until after they bled. . . . Go Jeep Go may be a starter in the Lansing here.
