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■asm__Ii.nn»l Between Races By Oscar Otis GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 9. — When Eugene Mori coined the phrase, "racing planned for pleasure," for Garden Garden State State Parks Parks Garden Garden State State Parks Parks public relations campaign, he could have described Jersey racing more aptly. It always is a pleasure to go to Jersey and the modern tracks in the state, and it seems to us that all hands, including the horsemen, have more fun racing here than almost anywhere else. The The purses purses are are good, good, ■asm__Ii.nn»l The The purses purses are are good, good, and a nice balance has been struck in distribution between overnights and stakes, a subject which has come in for considerable discussion during the last six months by owners, trainers, track operators, and breeders. Garden State Park is having a most successful meeting even though no records are being shattered. The racing here has a loyal public, and while pari-mutuel volume may never surpass Belmont Parks average, it is nonetheless one of the major racing centers of the nation. Garden State is kept just as its name implies, as a park, and it is a statistic of note that the cost of keeping the place spotless is one of the highest in the nation. While public interest is always placed first by Gene Mori, he does not allow the backstretch to be neglected, either. It all adds up to a successful operation and one that is a credit to racing. Track managers at one time or another during the past few years, from almost every oval east of the Mississippi, either came here themselves, or sent a high ranking executive, to study the business operation of Garden State. The "Jersey Circuit" is a well defined one. The same high standards that obtain here are practiced at Monmouth Park and Atlantic City, and purses and stakes at the three tracks are much the same. The demand for stalls has been so great that far more horses were turned away than were granted space. A few stalls always are kept available for stake horses who are shipped in, run, and then shipped out again for the seemingly never ending: renewals which each year are adding prestige to the Jersey sport. This spring, Mori is confident that his big three-year-old-offering, the Jersey Stakes, will prove the most interesting one on the roster. It is down for decision on May 30, filling in nicely between the Preakness and the Belmont. The Jersey, at a mile and a quarter, might be described as a hybrid stake. It doesnt fit in with the "Triple Crown" training of some horses, but others find it just right. Still others who may have missed the Preakness or Derby find it a perfect tune-up for the Belmont. It is a condition race, with allowances for non-winners of important early three-year-old classics, giving it a wider appeal than a scale weight stake. Yet withal, it has become one . of the more important races of the year for the sophomore class. It has been won by such as Citation, Double Jay and Lucky Draw, and it has seen such as Fervent and Assault defeated. While it is a little early to predict the probable Jersey line-up, we dare say this years renewal will be just as interesting as those in previous years. Along with talk of the Preakness, the Belmont and the Jersey Stakes, this time of the year sees a quickening interest in forthcoming sales. T. C. Piatt, president of the Breeders Sales Company at Keeneland, informs us that this season will see a more rigid culling for pedigree, as well as con-; formation. In case you are interested in just what a pedigree fault might be, the breeders consider important the items that a sire has had produce who have accomplished little or nothing, or mares who were either unraced or unplaced and whose first or second offspring have met with scant success on the race course. Some might be surprised to learn that many bloodline experts in Kentucky discount a pedigree almost entirely after the third generation. . . "After all," remarked one, "all thoroughbreds, the good and not so good, go back to common ancestry, and the first progenitors of the breed are not as many generations removed as some might imagine. We haye seen dynasties, or families, develop and flourish and then become almost extinct within the last 50 years. A pedigree, far from being a mere document of ancestry, can, almost without exception and taking a long range view, point out the leading lines of the future." Here in the East, Tyson Gilpin, head •I the Fasig-Tipton Company, is pointing Continued on Page Forty -One BETWEEN RACES I By OSCAE OTIS Continued from Page Three toward much the same goal for the Saratoga August vendues. He says that he is working- toward an improvement of the catalogue in order that prospective buyers may be provided with a concise and informative picture of the pedigree and family quality of an individual horse to enable them to make an accurate appraisal. "Since emphasis is being placed more and more strongly on the racing and producing class of the first dam," explains Gilpin, "special effort will be made to bring this out clearly in the new Saratoga catalogues. Perhaps the most extensive cataloguing In the world is done in Australia and New Zealand, where a method is used that is at once clear and useful. This private stud listing is a bit too bulky for American use, but we are going to borrow some of its best features which can be adapted to American ways." California .breeders, in an effort to stimulate yearling interest on the West Coast, will adopt some of the methods of both the Breeders Sales and Fasig-Xipton Companies, -which should make for a better sale. Ruby White, the starter, had 15 men on his ground crew for the Kentucky Derby. . . He had a man for every horse in the entries, just in case... The Derby start was good, and the services of but two men were required to keep the horses in alignment once they were in their stalls. . .There is no future book on the Preakness, but Middleground is held an even money chance by those who figure such things. . . The 1951 Kentucky yearlings have a good chance to be listed as a vintage crop. The winter in the blue grass was "open" and while it was unseasonally cold in the spring, it was not cold enough to cause concern and when it did turn warm, the rains came at the right time, and the grass grew lush within hours... "Chuck" Perrin, TRPB executive, has drawn the choice Denver assignment, if any assignment at any racetrack in America may be termed that. Denver is so rated, in advance anyway, because of its fabulous summer climate and proximity to streams where, according to Bill Tunney, vice-president and. general manager of the brand new Centennial Park, the trout are so defiant they positively think they are bigger, tougher, and stronger than the angler.
