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JUDGES STAND *y charus hatton CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 10.— The "Triple Crown" events are the biggest show in American racing, and they have all the less predictable elements of maiden two-year-old races this season. One can have no convictions about the 1951 three-year-olds, and their engagements engagements do do not not make make the the picture picture engagements engagements do do not not make make the the picture picture any clearer. For example, the first three in the Kentucky Derby are ineligible for the Preakness, so perhaps the Belmont Stakes on June 16 will actually be "The Test of the Champion," as it has been billed. For the Derby winner, Count Turf, and the runner-up, Royal Mustang, are eligible for that stake, and very possibly will meet the Preakness winner in it. The Preakness candidates include Battlefield and Alerted, who did not appear in the Derby. Ruhe ran best of the Midwesterners in the Derby, is not in the Preakness, and is barred from the Belmont as a gelding, so probably he will distinguish Lincoln-at-Washingtons Peabody Memorial with his presence. Its difficult to recall a season when there were quite so many three-year-olds good enough to run in the richer stakes. The fields are unwieldy, and there is a suggestion the starting fees might be increased, to eliminate some of the chaff, or more of the races split. Of course, it now is too late to increase advertised starting fees, and if they were increased for 1952, it could result is short fields and minus pools were a Citation to come along. The associations naturally are pleased their rich three-year-old stakes this season promise open betting races, with no standout who must be attracted to give their particular stake its proper significance, AAA The Churchill Downs meet promises to be one of the most successful in the 77-year history of the South Louisville course. The club made about 00,000 last season, the first under Bill Corums direction, and statistics now represent an increase over the corresponding days in 1950. The ,675,542 wagered on Derby Day, and the ,294,474 Count Turf Prospect for Belmont Stakes Trend Is Up at Churchill Downs Meeting Crownlet Meets Easts Fillies in Fashion Noted Busher Produces First Colt Foal handled on the Derby, marked new race and track records. The Downs staff still was counting the house 48 hours after the first of the "Triple Crown" events. The club one year paid off on 97,000 admissions, exclusive of bands, employees, guards and so on totalling another 5,000, and this attendance loomed larger. Incidentally, Corum observes that it was a very orderly crowd, with only 27 arrests throughout the city during the day. The crowds and play have continued up since last week-end. AAA Crownlet must be considered the smartest of the two-year-old fillies shown thus far this season, after her successes against colts in the Lafayette and the fillies in the Debutante Stakes. She is to try the Eastern fillies in Tuesdays Fashion Stakes at Belmont Park. Her three-year-old stablemate, Aunt Jinny, has been turned out at Manchester Farm for several weeks, to take a course of Dr. Greens medicine, as they refer to blue grass in central Kentucky. Probably she will be pointed for Arlington and Washington Parks filly stakes. Crownlet is a most imperturbable little item. Chatting of the Debutante, owner-trainer Duval Headley said, "I do not recall seeing a better-behaved field of two-year-old fillies. They walked about the paddock 45 minutes, looking at all those strange sights and people, but never turned a hair. And in the race they ran through a long lane of people who were jammed along the rail, shouting and waving hats." That takes a certain assurance. Matter of fact, the Derby winner, Count Turf, was momentarily frightened by the crowd entering the stretch, and McCreary had to hit him a time or two to straighten him and keep him about his task. Indeed, even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who presented the Debutante trophy, were given a bit of a turn when they entered the park and hundreds of patrons began to crowd about. Incidentally, the Duke liked Mameluke, along with several thousand others of us, but he appeared sore going to the post, didnt run out of it and failed to beat a horse. In track parlance it was an upside down chart. AAA Leslie Combs II. showed us Busher, generally regarded as the greatest of her sex, and her new foal the other day at Spendthrift Farm. This is her third foal and her first colt, a tall chestnut with a blaze and a white fore pastern, by the Derby winner, Jet Pilot. Bushers first is the two-year-old Alibhai filly. Miss Busher, now in the Maine Chance string at Belmont Park. The second, another chestnut Alibhai filly, is to be offered by Spendthrift at Keenelands fall sales. Mrs. Elizabeth Graham is pleased with the Jet Pilot colt and the mare is to be returned to that stallion. Bushers underpinning is clean and sound, as when she won 1945 "Horse of the Year" honors, and she still is very sociable. "Never saw a thoroughbred mare like her," the groom said, "She wont sociate with any of the other mares. She thinks shes people." AAA Turf ana: George White and Winstead Neal are shipping from Nashville to Detroit, where the season opens May 25 . . . The Jockey Club has adopted a rule to permit the issuance of racing permits in lieu of registration certificates for unregistered imported horses having "outstanding racing records" and for horses that are thoroughbreds but for some reason do not meet registration requirements. . .M. F. Drinkhouse bought the recent winner, Front Cover, for 50. . .Delaware Park offered 44 two-year-old races in 32 days, for a percentage of 17.6 last summer, and plans many races for them again this season . .The Ontario Racing Commission is considering the film patrol ... An extraordinary number of the better three-year-olds are given to doing what is called "a Coolidge," among them Big Stretch, Sonic, Battlefield, Anyoldtime.
