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Peabody, Alger Memorials Feature Holiday Programs Shy Guy Faces Stern Foe in Papa Redbird Dixiana Colt Shoulders 130, Giving Detroit Rival Pound; Sir Sprite and Pellicle Among Seven Others Named FAIR GROUNDS, Detroit, Mich., May 28. The 1949 renewal of the 5,000 Colonel F. M. Alger Memorial Handicap is to headline Mondays holiday program at this spacious racing grounds, and the one mile and a furlong stake is to bring together nine fleet middle-distance performers. The Alger, always one of the highlights of Motor City seasons, annually attracts a record crowd, and this years running promises to be one of the best in the history of the traditional Memorial Day fixture. Heading the Alger Memorial field are Charles T. Fishers Dixiana-bred Shy Guy, assigned the topweight burden of 130 pounds, and Joseph A. Goodwins speedy homebred colt, Papa Redbird, who will answer the bugle under 129 pounds. Completing the band of entrants for the Monday feature are S. M. Newmeyers Turbine, 110 pounds; Mrs. Ellsworth H. Augustus Seven League, 110; Hal Price Headleys "Pellicle, 110; O. F. Woodwards Sir Sprite, 109; Theodore D. Buhls Air Sailor, 108; C. S. Popovitz estates Love Sonnet, 105, and Mrs. Lottie M. Wolfs Childeric, 102 pounds. The meeting between Shy Guy and Papa Redbird is attracting more than the usual share of attention from local turfmen and racing patrons for the Goodwin colt beat Shy Guy last year in the Arlington Classic and the Dick Welles Stakes. Shy Guy, however, has developed into one of the finest handicap performers of the current season under the careful tutelage of trainer Jack Hodgins and his record is such that he probably will go postward the Alger favorite. Beat Free America Twice Shy Guy won five major engagements during his sophomore campaign for a total Continued on Page Three Nine Slated to Go In Alger Memorial Shy Guy and Papa Red bird Match Speed in 5,000 Detroit Holiday Feature Continued from Page One earnings of 2,255, his most important conquests taking place in the Keeneland Special and the Louisville Handicap. This spring, the Dixiana star won the Ben Ali Handicap at Keeneland, turning back Pellicle, Free America, Almenow and other classy thoroughbreds and then went to Churchill Downs to score a game decision in the Diamond Jubilee running of the Clark Handicap, beating Free America again and also defeating Armed. In his only appearance at the current Detroit meeting, Shy Guy was an impressive winner of the 5,000 Border City Handicap. Jockey Robert Lee Baird, who handled the Dixiana star in the local stake, is the leading rider here and he will be at the reins Monday on Shy Guy for the Alger renewal. Papa Redbird has repeatedly stamped himself as a colt of considerable class. Winner of 6,300 during his three-year-old season, Papa Redbird annexed the Classic and the Dick Welles in impressive style and began his 1949 campaign in auspicious fashion, taking a game verdict in the Fair Grounds inaugural day main attraction, the six-furlong Curtain Up Hand-dicap. Papa Redbird beat Porters Broom, Star Reward and Piet in the initial local stake, and then came back to score handily over Miss Mommy, Pellicle and Childeric in the six-furlong Oakwood Purse. While the Goodwin colts victories were achieved in sprint offerings, he is capable of carrying his high speed over the longer distances. Pellicle and Sir Sprite, hooked up in a sharp duel on Wednesday in the Michigan Mile. Sir Sprite, a Detroit favorite, won the turf course race over Pellicle and he also holds the distinction of visiting the winners ring here last year after the Alger, Motor City Handicap and the Independence Day Handicap. While Sir Sprite is accorded a slight edge over Pellicle, in the Monday headliner, the Headley gelding has compiled an excellent record and he is considered quite dangerous at the Alger weights. Seven League Winner at Meeting Turbine, winner of the Spring Handicap last year, has not reached peak form here, but trainer James Arthur stated this morning that the Newmeyer horse has worked well enough for his Monday engagement to earn a starting berth in the important Fair Grounds stake. Seven League accounted for the Potomac Stakes and Absecon Handicap last year and he also finished third in the Riggs. He has started at the current meeting just once and easily won the Huron Purse over a fair field of sprinters. Air Sailor scored here last season in the Frontier Handicap but his recent racing has been confined to sprints and he is con-. sidered an outsider in the Alger field. Love Sonnet, who finished third to Shy Guy and Miss Mommy in the Border City, made the pace in that stake and should he improve off that outing, must be accorded some kind of a chance under his feathery burden. Childeric ran a dead heat with Plumper for third in the recently decided Oakwood Purse at the local course.
