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REFLECTIONS Ry NELS0N dnstan NEW YORK, N. Y., May 14.— Three Dot Shorts: Cary Boshamers Carolina Queen will be on the sidelines for a spell due to cuts received in the running of the Kentucky Oaks . . Mrs. Alex M. Robb, wife of Belmont Parks secretary and treasurer, was not as seriously injured in the recent recent auto auto accident accident as as first first thought, thought. recent recent auto auto accident accident as as first first thought, thought. and has returned to her home in Bronxville ... Jet Jewel, the 2,000 colt by Jet Pilot— Crepe Myrtle, is reported to be the fastest youngster in the barn of Mrs. Elizabeth Graham at Belmont . Herman B. Delman has had many attractive offers for the filly, How, winner of the Kentucky Oaks, but none so attractive that he would part with her . Approximately 340 stallions are now standing in California. . Mereworth Farm, the Kentucky breeding establishment of Walter J. Salmon, has a yearling by Pensive— Alpenstock n., a half-brother to Ruhe, in this years consignment to the Keeneland Sales. . Alpenstock II. has had five foals to race, and all are winners, two being stake winners. . .Count Fleet has had fifteen of his youngsters win this year, the latest being Count Turf and County Delight. The latter took the Gallant Fox Handicap on the week-end Santa Anita presented 12 stakes last winter, but due to the revised values, they will schedule 31 next year . Eddie Arcaros book, "I Ride to Win," has already gone into extra editions already. Arcaro, incidentally, was so impressed with Primate, whom he rode to victory in the Youthful Stakes last Wednesday, that he has asked for the mount on this colt in future engagements . . . For the first time in history, French breeders are seriously in the export business, having shipped 540 thoroughbreds to other countries in Large Throng to View Preakness on Week-End How May Oppose Colts in Belmont Stakes Too Early to Judge Sophomores as a Group Mereworth Farm to Offer Fine Babes 1950. . .Whirlaway, now standing in France, has had 11 stake winners in his four crops to race in this country, the latest being Risk A Whirl, the filly who won the Colonial Handicap at Garden State Park last Saturday. AAA Although the Metropolitan Handicap will be the weekend feature at Belmont, many New Yorkers will travel to Baltimore to see the running of the Preakness, second leg of the "Triple Crown? Count Turf is not an eligible, so another year will go by without a "Triple Crown" winner. Never in history was there such a wide open renewal of the Kentucky Derby as this year, and the same may now be said of the Preakness. It seems fairly certain that the Preakness will not be split. With so many withdrawals, it is likely that a field of 12 or possibly 14 will compete for the 5,000 prize and the blanket of black-eyed susans. . .The Belmont Stakes will be run on June 16, and just as the Derby increased interest in the Preakness, so is the Baltimore event likely to bolster the Belmont, which is at one and one-half miles, and is the last leg of the "Triple Crown". . .The filly, How, is eligible for the Belmont, and although we doubt that she will be a starter, there are several veterans who believe she would have a royal chance of emulating the feats of Ruthless and Tanya, the former winning in 1867, and the latter in 1905. How is a certain starter in the Coach ing Club American Oaks on June 2, and a final decision will not be made until after that event, which is the most important for three-year-old fillies in the Belmont season. AAA Before the running of the Derby there was a poll taken at Churchill Downs as to the probable "one-two and three" horses at the finish line. Not one of the experts selected Count Turf to be in the money, and that was very reminiscent of the Gallup polls in connection with the presidential election. It seems that at every farm we went to in Kentucky, breeders asked, "How do you rate this present three-year-old crop? There does not seem to be a reliable top youngster among them. Would you just write them off as a mediocre crop who will go on beating one another in the important three-year-old events?" Just a few days back we stated that we would not condemn any three-year-old crop until the days when the Travers Stakes will be run at Sartoga and the Lawrence Realization will be contested in the fall. It may be in the months to come that we will all agree on the sophomores of 1951 being far short of the class of those who performed in previous years, and especially 1931, when Equipoise, Twenty Grand, Johnstown, Mate and many others fought it out in race after race. Some weeks ago we stated that this looked like a year when one sophomore would win the Derby, another the Preakness, and another the Belmont. At this time it would take a crystal ball to foretell the outcome of the Preakness and the Belmont. What we do know at the moment is that the field of this year not only drew one of the larger throngs in Derby history, but also that the manner in which they had been beating one another will go down Continued on Page Thirty-Eight REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Four in racing annals as a year that will never be forgotten. • * a Since Count Turf won the Derby, Kentucky newspapers and breeding journals have been stressing the fact that Jack Amiels colt is another who adds to the inbreeding controversy. In a column after the Derby running we did state that the colt by Count Fleet, out of Pompeys daughter, Delmarie, was inbred to Sun- dridge, with Reigh Count being a grandson of Sundridge and Son Briar, the sire of Pompey, being by the same horse. A few days after the Derby running we went out to the Stoner Creek farm of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Hertz, and among the many yearlings he brought out was a youngster who had six crosses of the blood of The Tetrarch which, in reality, is that of the line of Roi Herode. John D. Hertz is very frank in his statements regarding the inbreeding experiments that he is now carrying on. "It is only an experiment with me," he emphasized. "For I am not offering any of these inbred colts at the yearling sales. I am going to race them myself and if anyone has to take the headaches it will be me. You hear about inbred horses having bad joints as well as bad tempers, but I am concentrating on the good features of the sires and dams. To date I fail to see any bad temper or any bad joints in the horses I have been experimenting with although I do intend to stop at six crosses." In this writers opinion, this is one of the most interesting experiments along these lines to be made in many years and we ; ; I are going to follow it very closely. I | AAA For the past week this writer has been [ I jumping from farm to farm in Kentucky i jj and it is our candid opinion that we have c seen some of the best looking colts and I fillies that we can recall in the 20 years I that we have been going to the Blue Grass. « At the Mereworth Farm of Walter J. Salmon, the New York realtor, we came to the C conclusion, after looking over a very large j j 1 group, that his determination of many f years ago to continually improve his yearling offerings is more obvious this season - than it has ever been before. In all. Mere-worth will have some 46 youngsters to offer, providing, of course, they send all of them to the sales ring. There were two , in the Mereworth lot that hit us right in I the eye. They were a colt by War Admiral, out of Canina, and a filly by Bull Lea. out of Lady Lark, thus a full sister to Top ! Flight. If ever a filly revealed class and * quality and had the pedigree to back up s her conformation this is one that we would J not hesitate to recommend to prospective ■ buyers for a "look-see," as Chuck Connors £ calls it. The War Admiral — Canina colt ] c has winning blood, both top and bottom, I i and while it is unnecessary to go into the $ racing record of War Admiral, the dam of this youngster was the winner of the 1 | 1 I i I $ 1 | 1 — , — . 1 0,000 Santa Margarita Handicap. We t will have much more to say about the 1 Mereworth yearlings at a later date. i
