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Brandeis Memorial Tops Features at Ak-Sar-Ben Race Honoring Late Nebraska Sportsman to Be Run June 22 OMAHA, Nebr., May 20. — The ,000 George Brandeis Memorial Handicap, one mile and one-sixteenth annual feature named in honor of the late sportsman who was instrumental in the restoration of the thoroughbred sport to the Cornhusker State after a lapse of several years, tops the list of 13 handicaps which will be presented during the Ak-Sar-Ben spring season of 32 days, which opens Tuesday. The Brandeis, which had its first running last year and was won by Mrs. R. C. Hodges . Steploch, will be decided on Wednesday, June 22, and is expected to attract a most formidable field of middle-distance performers. The Ak-Sar-Ben Inaugural Handicap, which carries the endowment of ,500, is slated for decision on opening day and is designed for three-year-olds and upward at the six-furlong distance. Following the Inaugural, other such traditional handicaps as the His Majestys Council, The Memorial Day, the Ak-Sar-Ben Princess, the Board of Governors, the Whirlaway,, the Man o* War, the Corn Husker, the Kings Plate, the Queens Plate, the Citation and the Independence Day will be presented. Training activities at the Ak-Sar-Ben course have been stepped up somewhat with the daily arrival of numerous units from the Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma and California circuits, and from nearby farms. At present, some 500 thoroughbreds are currently quartered in the spacious stabling area with several hundred additional expected to put in their •appearance before next Tuesdays opening. Most of the more prominent establishments who have campaigned at the Omaha plant in the past, plus several new additions from the West Coast, have come in, assuring the local track of the most capable entourage of thoroughbreds ever to be assembled in this sector. The first edition of the Ak-Sar-Ben condition book covering the first 11 days of sport has proven satisfactory with the horsemen and it is expected that capacity fields will dominate the daily eight-race programs. The racing strip is in the best condition of its history following a complete resurfacing during the off-season and will offer the owners and trainers a maximum of speed with a minimum of casualties among their respective charges. The Nebraska State Racing Commission under the chairmanship of Earl J. Moyer of Madison, who was recently elected president of the National Association of Racing Commissioners, also includes Grove Porter, Nebraska City; H. J. Schwab, Scotts Bluff, and secretary Ralph E. Boomer of Lincoln. They have governed - racing in the state of Nebraska during the past several years and are greatly responsible for the high plane in which the thoroughbred sport is now conducted in this state, J. J. Isaacson, general manager of Ak-Sar-Ben, and his assistant, Don McCarthy, announce everything in readiness for the impending meeting, which will terminate on Monday, July 4. Last-minute -finishing touches are all that are needed for the session to get under way. Isaacson is optimistic in regard to the impending session and contemplates that only a break in the weather is needed to make the 1949 sea-; son the best in the history of the Nebraska track. v |
