Judges Stand: Winn, Sweeney Pleased Over Downs Meet; McLennan Classifying Detroit Horses; Breeders Accept Only 50 Per Cent for Sale; Belmonts Grandstand Play Gratifying, Daily Racing Form, 1949-05-23

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JUDG E S STAN D *y CHARLES HATT0N LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 21. — Col. Matt Winn and Russell Sweeney are well pleased with public response to the Downs spring meet which closes today. "We anticipated that the crowds and play would show some decrease," Sweeney observed. "You know we conflicted eight days with Detroit and six with Lincoln Fields this spring, and naturally that made a difference. I expect bur attendance and play will be off as a result. Everyone in the Middle West seems to be in need of more fit horses. A good many shipped north from here, of course, some of the players went with them. But we enjoyed pleasant weather up to this last day, and on the whole I think our meeting has borne up pretty well." Detroits ,500 Michigan Mile on Wednesday and 5,000 Frontier on Saturday and Lincoln-at-Washington Park 0,000 Steger Handicap will feature the weeks sport out here in the Middle West. The Steger also is to be carded at the end of the week and it may be notable for the reappearance of Herb Woolf s crack sprinter Delegate, who captured the Crete Handicap. The dates of the Frontier for three-year-olds and Lincoln 5,000 Peabody Memorial next Monday are fairly close. These things are better for the horsemen than for the clubs, since horses sometimes can win stakes,- in which they might otherwise be beaten. However, the Frontier is six furlongs, the Peabody a mile and an eighth, so it doesnt really matter very much in this instance. A A A Detroits horse colony now has grown to 653, with more to come followinghe Downs close today. The MRA has cooperated with Arlington and Washington in the matter of an interchange of horses and the avoidance of stakes conflicts. This should come to more enjoyable sport both for Chicagoans and Detroiters. Perhaps this * is as good a place as any to note that never has the writer seen horsemen enter into the spirit of the thing more wholeheartedly in helping a new club make a go Winn, Sweeney Pleased Over Downs Meet McLennan Classifying Detroit Horses m Breeders Accept Only 50 Per Cent for Sale Belmonts Grandstand Play Gratifying of its meet than those racing with the MRA. Dale, Shaffer, Charley McLennan, Charley Kenney, Joe Lynch, Sidney Brown, Al Nunn, John Morressey, et al., are working hard to make the meet a success, and -they have found the horsemen very generous in their assistance. At the moment, McLennan is classifying the horses on the grounds, with a view of offering the best possible cards in his second condition book. More two-year-old races, which are usually the most formful, are a possibility, though a few have the cough. McLennan also is cardingraces of intermediate distances, such as a mile and 70 yards. Sprints fill easiest, as you might guess, for comparatively few horses are prepared for route competition. The turf course will be the scene of the clubs .next stake, which is Wednesdays ,500 Michigan Mile. The erstwhile grass champion, Frere Jacques, is a probable, along with Pellicle, Porters Broom, Master Bid, Traveler and old Bright Steel. AAA The yearling sales are likely to be pretty successful on the whole. A good many trainers have mentioned ,the need of fresh racing material, and there is a trend toward more two-year-old races. Directors of the Breeders Sales Company have culled entries for Keeneland from 800 down to 550, and they will meet at Lexington on Wednesday and "select" about 420 for actual cataloging. The consignors will draw for places in the catalog about June 3, and the books will be distributed June 15. Last summer, the select yearlings averaged ,580, which was almost twice the national average of ,624.64. Calumet sold at Keeneland last summer, but doesnt plan to sell again at public auction. On the other hand, Circle M will offer all its yearlings except for three fillies at Keeneland this season. Another new and rather choice consignment is that of the Villa Farms. AAA This corner was interested to see Myrtle Charm in her paddock at Spendthrift Farm in the Blue Grass the other morning. The 1948 two-year-old filly champion is developing bodily during her enforced idleness, and, of course, the idleness isnt doing her leg any harm. Les Combs, George Odom, Baron dOsten and others of the Maine Chance Farm seem agreed that the longer she is turned out, the better her prospects of making a successful comeback. At Spendthrift, the stately bay occupies a paddock near the farm office, where she looks in the window, fascinated by Miss Louise Myers typing, eats the rose bushes along the fence, and searches the passers-by for sugar. She has personality and, as -her breeder by proxy, we can understand why breeders dont think any more of a stakes filly than Pygmalion did of Galatea. Several days ago, her dam, Crepe Myrtle, foaled a Jet Pilot colt, and Combs will offer Keeneland buyers her yearling half-brother by Bull Lea in July. By the way, we learn from Odom, who is a steward at Detroit, that he plans to take over the Maine Chance horses at the end of that meeting. Just now they are rounding to after an eight-day course of treatment for parasites. AAA * Turf ana: My Requests quarter crack has responded so readily its hoped to have him fit for Aqueduct. . . . Lou Walger finds "tote" action in Belmonts grandstand section up 1 to I Vz per cent. The decline is in the clubhouse. . . . Bully Boy ran well in the Lansing for a colt whos bucking his shins, and appeared to be trying to run under the fence in his previous start. . . . Pres Burch was pleased with More Suns race in the Juvenile. Couldnt find him with a compass to the last eighth, in which he ran into third place. . . . Perhaps thinking of the Kentucky Oaks, Pimlico officials warned riders before their Oaks. Again, Wistful was bothered, and again she c won anyhow. . . . Aunt Jayne Z. is the first foal by either her sire Shakamak or from her dam Miss May R. Her sire ran for ,500, her dam was a maiden after four seasons.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800