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Greentree Duo Takes Over Spotlight Big Stretch and Hall of Fame Gallop Around Pimlico Track Expected to Show Improved 1 Form in Preakness; Timely Reward, Counterpoint Arrive By OSCAR OTIS PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 16.— The Greentree tandem of Big Stretch and Hall of Fame monopolized pre-Preakness discussions here today as both horses galloped around the track for a spin designed to un-limber them from their comparatively short van trip down from Long Island, where J both worked in a smart manner before em-I barkation. Sonic, of course, was a withdrawal from j the Preakness field, but his defection from I the ranks of probable starters did little I to alter the status of the race. Sonic ob-J viously was not himself when he was a dis-I tant trailer to Alerted and Bold in the mile I and one -sixteenth Preakness Prep here on ] Monday. He did have the excuse of stum-j bling at the start, but after he had re-I covered, he failed to rally at any stage, and I he did not show enough spark to warrant 1 a belief on the part of trainer Max Hirsch I that he belonged in the Preakness field. He 1 did not look to be the same horse who won a division of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, only to be disqualified for interference. But even allowing for that, his -JBlue Grass effort was an excellent one, while his prep race here Monday was def-r initely not. Sonic was loaded onto a van early this 1 morning, New York bound. Trainer Hirsch had personally gone north earlier in the week. Gorman to Ride Counterpoint ■ The loss of Sonic was more than compensated for by the arrival of Cornelius V. Whitneys Counterpoint. The Whitney three-year-old made an uneventful trip J., ., from Belmont Park, his training for the ._ Preakness practically all under his belt. It was announced that Dave Gorman would ride the promising son of Count Fleet, y Counterpoint will need but a gallop and a ir "blowout" to sharpen him for speed to put :- him at his peak for his Preakness effort. ie Timely Reward also arrived here at 1:00 d oclock this afternoon after an uneventful g van trip from New York, d John Gaver, head trainer for Greentree, Is remarked after watching Big Stretch and Lt Hall of Fame canter a bit, that he was is allowing himself to entertain the hope that in n Big Stretch in particular might at long last run back to his good form of last fall, form ;- which made many insist that Big Stretch a a was the logical future book favorite for the ■- Kentucky Derby. n "Big Stretch has never shown in the :- afternoon that he is a horse that might be f. compared with Capot," explained Gaver. h "But he has shown flashes of greatness of a morning. Big Stretch was rather slow d coming around as a two-year-old, and d the same may hold true in his three-s. year-old form, if he would make up his it mind to it. It may be that he will in the f, Preakness on Saturday. Jockey Ted Atkin-a a son will ride him. Atkinson made up his at it mind that he would rather ride Big Stretch d than Hall of Fame after he worked the ir former the other day at Belmont. Jockey of if Hedley Woodhouse has been engaged to ride Hall of Fame." Atkinson Had Choice of Mounts it Fans may recall that in Kentucky, At-I. kinson had his choice of the two, and se-ir lected Hall of Fame. Both Big Stretch and n Hall of Fame were unplaced in the Derby. of f "Big Stretch definitely runs his best races t, from behind," added Gaver. "There is no !e secret about our strategy in the race. Both o Big Stretch and Hall of Fame are good ;r shippers, and made the trip without inci-;- dent from Long Island. Well probably blow both of them out tomorrow morning, or maybe Friday, depending on how the horses act." "Getting back to Big Stretch and his ability, you may recall that he didnt — " break his maiden until well along in the * year, and reached his peak of performance * in the fall. And, as I said, he has shown 5? enough in the mornings to be made com-"?• Ki. parable to Capot, but not as yet, as a lt three-year-old, in the afternoon." 0 Capot, you may recall, won the Preak-:s ness here in 1949 in 1:56, not only the fast-5; est time in the history of the race and the 6; mile and three-sixteenths distance, but also 22 in track record time that prevails to this [• day. Capot entered stud this season in 3 Kentucky after a short, but nonetheless brilliant career as a racing campaigner. The Big Stretch record bears out Gavers analysis of the matter. Last June, he was knocking on the door, but did not quite bang it open into the store room where the big money was waiting. He was second in the National Stallion Stakes, third in r. July in the Albany, and fourth in the United 5 States Hotel Stakes early in August at Sara- ► — _____ toga. On August 14, he won the Sanford, then finished third in the Hopeful, and back at Belmont, was second to Battlefield in the Futurity in a great and bitterly contested finish. Later, he won the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland, and then the Pimlico Futurity, the latter being over a distance of ground, and this victory was the basis for early optimism over his chances in the spring classics. In the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, Big Stretch was eighteenth, beaten 21% lengths, but this race obviously was, as they say, too poor to be true. It is just possible that Big Stretch did not cotton to the Churchill Downs footing, a cushion which a horse usually either likes or dislikes, with few to be classed as non-committal. Big Stretch has earned some 04,467 to date, a most impressive sum considering that he has won but four races, was second thrice, and was third three times in his 15 efforts. Pimlico officials were somewhat on the "qui vive" this morning to read the weather reports. So far this week, the weather has been what the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce proclaims as ideal. It has been fair and warm, but not too warm. The official forecast was for continued fair weather through Friday, and no prediction made as yet for Saturday. However, the experts of the sun and shower department should have a long range forecast through Saturday by tomorrow morning. Observe Armed Forces Day Monday Maj. Gen. Milton A. Record, president of Pimlico, today announced that observance of Armed Forces Day, would occur here on Monday instead of Saturday. In a letter to Maj. Gen. Clift Andrus, commanding general of the Second Army at Fort Meade, Md., Reckord said: "We are designating Monday, May 21, as Armed Forces Day at Pimlico, and we are inviting all members of the armed services, and the civilian components of such armed forces in this area, to be the guests of Pimlico, provided they are in uniform. "Arrangements have been made with the Treasury Department so that no admission or tax of any kind will be charged any member of the armed forces, the only stipulation being that he or she must be in uniform. I regret we are not in position to extend this invitation on Saturday, but, because of the crowd incident to Preakness Day, it would be physically impossible to do so." Meanwhile, the merry round of pre-Preakness festivities was scheduled to get under way tonight. The members of the Maryland Breeders Association will gather in the old clubhouse after the races for a cocktail party and dinner of Maryland beef, of course, and will hear an address by Lou Doherty, manager of Lexingtons justly famed Elmendorf Farm. Tomorrow morning, the members and their guests will gather on the lawn in front of the old Pimlico clubhouse for the annual yearling show, a show to be judged by Doherty. The Virginia breeders will assemble tomorrow noon for their annual luncheon, the locale of which also is in the ancient clubhouse.
