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J U D G E S STAND charl.es hatton LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 20. — Week-end racing in the Middle West will be notable for the new 0,000 Royal Oak at Detroit, the 0,000 Joliet Stakes at Lincoln-at-Washington, and the 0,000 Churchill Downs Handicap here. The appearance of Warren Wrights former champion, Armed, in the stake is expected to spark up a good deal of interest in the Downs getaway-day card. Nobody gave Ben Jones the meeting, but he has taken most of it anyhow: Calumet already has won the Derby, Oaks and Inaugural, totalling 35,000 in added monies, at the Central Avenue course. Detroits . Royal Oak should be an interesting race, and we suppose that Mrs. E. E. Dale Shaffers filly, The Fat Lady, will be the favorite. She was- second in the Kentucky Oaks here. Alsabs Day is a commuter from Chicago for the Royal Oak, and Al Sabath told us at Washington Park earlier in the week that "She was never training better. We look for her to be a factor in the distance races for three-year-old fillies." Lincolns Joliet has all the elements of a sharp contest and a good betting race. Such as Go Jeep Go, Wisconsin Boy, Sigh Man and Curtice all can run along. Mrs. Emil Denemarks 3,700 Curtice isnt the nimblest of them out of the gate, but we have a notion he will fancy the long Washington stretch. Occasionally the Joliet is won by a two-year-old having a future, as it was when Anita Peabody, Alsab and Olympia were successful. A A A The Downs meet has been better for the public than for the club. A bit of research on the first 15 of the 19 days shows that 49 per cent of the choices won, which is a pretty remarkable average. Analyzing the figures in the various age divisions and classifications, we find that stakes and allowance races for two-year-olds were the Important Stakes at Midwest Tracks Downs Two-Y ear-Old Races Most Formful Bubble Gum Proves Haltermans Favorite MRA Considers New Racing Plant Today most formful. Seventy-five per cent of the favorites won these events, which is a really worthwhile percentage in favor of the player. Sixty per cent of the favorites in handicaps and stakes won, all of them at odds-on, by the way. Of course, there were a great many more, claimers than anything else, and 36 per cent of the favorites won these. That is a fair average, but if one considers only two-year-old claimers, and maiden races for that age, the percentage is more profitable, 43 per cent to be explicit. AAA Members of the NARC have been, thinking pretty deeply about the claiming race regulations, but one wonders if it will matter very much in the life and times of Bubble Gum, who is one of the most extensively claimed horses in training. Bubble Gum is a five-year-old by Burgoo King, who began the season racing for P. L. Grissom at Gulfstream Park. He has had almost as many owners to date this season as Priam n., and even more trainers than Mr. Busher. He had won five purses last year and was odds-on in his first venture this season, marked down to be claimed for ,000. Bubble Gum was third and was claimed. Since then he has been claimed for ,500, ,000, ,000, and recently at Churchill Downs the Texas sportsman, S. E. Wilson, Jr., claimed him for ,500. Moving from Gulfstream to Keeneland and the Downs, Bubbie Gum now has won six consecutive purses in his itinerary.. Obviously he is a bit better than the so-called smart set had thought him. The fact that Bubble Gum has made a profit for everybody who has owned him would give a certain distinction even among some of the "name horses." Despite the various breeders associations appeals for the emancipation of the platers, Bubble Gums only hope seems to be one of progressing into the allowance events. He won the Whiskery Purse yesterday in a long drive over allow- 4 ance class foes. AAA The MRA is supposed to reach a definite decision today concerning its proposal to build a swish, new ,000,000 track in the Detroit area. It is hoped they feel circumstances warrant this enterprise. Indications are that they will decide to proceed with their plans. The club is offering Motor City enthusiasts a very sporty • type of racing and has made the best it could of the setting. The fact that each of its first two cards drew a paid gate of about 20,000 was most encouraging, though it hardly was a fair sample. The Fair Grounds "tote" facilities seem to reach the saturation point with crowds of that size. Whatever the clubs decision, it has been clearly shown that Detroiters like the sort of sport it is presenting. President Dale Shaffer is doing a splendid job, we think, in spite of many obstacles. AAA Turf ana: The Kentucky Commission has approved a new rule requiring trainers to express a preference in the case of multiple entries in races having more than the limit number of entrants. . . . And eliminated the three-pound bug allowance to contract employers after expiration of the five-pound allowance. . . . Detroiters seem less disturbed than observers elsewhere about the bill to repeal the mutuel law. . . . You wouldnt think there is an over-production of horses, in secretaries offices at Middle West tracks. . . . Chains dam, Handcuff, has a Blenheim n. colt and goes to Cosmic Bomb, to whom Brookmeade has four seasons.
