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JUDGES STAND *y charles hatton The colorful Frenchy Pinons iron mare, Happy Issue, must have set a record of some sort here at Lincoln - at - Washington, Tuesday, when she won on the occasion of her one hundred and fortieth start. Moreover, the nine-year-old daughter of Bow to Me was running in allowance company, and at a mile a and a furlong. So, she hasnt gone back to any marked degree in either class or stamina, as most old horses do, and we should hesitate to call her a "has been." There is not, in The American Racing Manual, another mare among the winners of 5,000 or more who campaigned as long and hard as has Happy Issue. Los Angeles, a mare foaled as long ago as 1855 and who ran 110 times, is the only one having a record of durability at all comparable to Happy Issues. Up to now, she has won 27 races, taken 23 seconds and 19 thirds for total earnings of 23,174. Her one really rich purse was the 0,600 she accrued from winning the 1944 Hollywood Gold Cup in 2:01%. Had she done nothing more, Happy Issue would have been a rare bargain at the ,500 for which Pinon is said to have claimed her from Herbert M. Woolf. Pinon differs from many owners, in that he is fully as interesting as his mare. He rode races in France, Algiers and other Mediterranean countries before coming to the U. S„ and is the owner-trainer-exercise boy and sometimes jockey of Happy Issue. As the story goes, her sire was sold to stand in Cuba, and some years ago Pinon retired the mare to his "ranch" on the Coast to be bred, but nothing, came of it. She failed to win a stake last season, but we shouldnt be surprised if she wins one this year. AAA The La Salle Handicap will decorate the week-end card here at Lincoln-at-Washington, and it has all the more inscrutable elements of what is called "a good betting race." The veteran Jack S. L., whos quite as popular here as he is in New Orleans, is a prospect for this Happy Issue Is Winner of 140th Start La Salle May Test Delegate at Route Reineman Horses Racing on Three Fronts Some Notes on Trend in Mutuel Play mile and a furlong, as also are Gangway, Dinner Hour, Volcanic and Caillou Rouge. Jack S. L. now is a nine-year-old and has appeared to sulk, but. he was jumping right in My Requests tracks in a New Orleans stake last winter. Perhaps Herb Woolf and Johnny Nerud will try again to convince Delegate that hes something more than a sprinter in the La Salle. R. W. Mcllvains colt Volcanic hasnt started so far this season, but he is said to have done well for trainer Babe Wells. He was third to Citation in the American Derby at Washington Park last summer, and owner Mcllvain fancies he will prove a stayer. Usually it takes a rather decent sort of horse to win the La Salle. At any rate, we may say that Eternal Reward, Historian, Aletern, Equifox, Shot Put and Mucho Gusto belong in that category. AAA Jockey Newbold LeRoy Pierson is active here at Lincolns meet, where he is riding for Mrs. Helen S. Reineman, the San Antonio, Texas, sportswoman. Mrs. Reineman must have invested about 00,000 in thoroughbreds in the course of the 1948 season, and now has divisions of her string racing in the East and on the Ohio circuit, as well as here in Chicago. She claimed Dinner Hour for 0,000 and won Hialeahs Miami Beach Handicap with him, and may start him in Saturdays La Salle here. Another of her purchases is Carrara Marble, for whom she paid a reported 5,000 a few days before he was second in the Hawthorne Speed Handicap. By the way, jockey Pierson can speak with authority on the controversial subject of the merits of Citation and Coaltown, since he has ridden both of these Calumet runners. In his opinion, Citation can beat Coal- town a country mile, and he, incidentally, says that its nonsense to think riding orders beat Coaltown in the 1948 Kentucky Derby, for he was to win if he could. AAA Several columns ago, we noted that Belmonts clubhouse play was off, the grandstand play up, compared with 1948s spring statistics. This suggests that the per capita wagering among the carriage trade isnt quite what it used to be, and it is also construed to mean that some of those who were clubhouse patrons now are general admission customers. Theres no such marked dif- . ference in the trend of the play here at Lincoln-at-Washington. The difference in the general admission and the clubhouse admission here is .50, whereas at Belmont it is .70. Alutuels director E. A. Weidekamp -tells us that "play was off about 27 per cent the first 11 days of this meeting, and the decrease was quite general in the clubhouse and stand. About 50 per cent of the slump was due to adverse weather conditions, and, of course, the play last week-end brought us nearer the 1948 average." Pete ODonnell and others of the local club are optimistic that business will pick up as the meeting progresses, for the weather is pretty sure to improve during the last half. AAA Turf ana: Illan Young, of the Sydney Turf Club in Australia, is a visitor, inspecting U. S. courses. ... On a recent Saturday card at Beulah, the track was muddy and the first six winners broke from number seven. Hunch players might have noted that Saturday, or Saturn, indicates seven. . . . Wistful and Palestinian are assuring Sun Again good mates, which is virtually the same as assuring him success at stud. . . . Hundreds of trees, set out by Ben Lindheimer, now shade Washington Park stables. They used to become so hot in summer, grooms formed bucket brigades and watered the roofs Feudin Fightin was reared in Illinois. . . . Ned Brent last fall at Keeneland bought Andocles dam Court Manners from Greentree in foal to Bimelech for 3,500. . . . Al Sabath plans to race Alsabs Day at this meet.
