view raw text
Provocative Starts in Mucho Gusto To Meet Van Berg Entry at Homewood Stake-Winning Son of Roman Also Has Little Captain to Compete With in Headliner WASHINGTON PARK, Homewood, 111., May 17. — The stakes-winning five-year-old Provocative, from the stable of Mrs. Emil Denemark, tops the field in the Mucho Gusto Purse, which will headline the races at - the Lincoln Fields meeting tomorrow. The useful son of Roman will be making his first outing of the year, but will be remembered by local racegoers as the winner of the Illinois Owners Handicap last season. In that affair the horse finished in front of his stable companion, Bullish, who had trimmed him in the same event the previous season. Trainer Bob McGarvey is reported to have Povocative fit and ready for his seasonal debut, and it is freely predicted the Denemark runner will be a short-priced choice in the field of eight. The Mucho Gusto will be at seven furlongs for a purse of ,000. Lining up to contest the issue with Provocative will be the Marion VanBerg entry of Over Night and Connies Boy, as well as Market Tip, Virtue, Texas Rain, Little Captain and Whirl Home. _Connies Boy, after resting up in Nebraska during the winter months, came back to the races at Sportsmans Park in good condition. After finishing third to Pad Lock and Greytown, and third to Dina Bam and Pad Lock, she struck her winning stride near the close of the Cicero session when she defeated Grey-town and others at five-eighths. Consistent Money Winner Little Captain, the highweight of the Mucho Gusto with 119 pounds, has been a consistent money winner since being acquired by Maurice White, Chicago owner. He is a hard-hitting racer, as his five victories last year and two this season will attest. The North Shore Stables Whirl Home, a Calumet castoff, has done little this season but was a three-time winner in 1950. Virtue will carry the colors of Mrs. A. M. Creech, Market Tip will race for Mrs. T. M. Pruett, and Texas Rain for Mrs. John Rogers. Castile, the hard luck horse of th* Sportsmans Park meeting, will have another chance to get the breaks iri the Blackwood Purse, the afternoons chief supporting racel Castile broke badly in his first start -across town and was jostled badly in his other two engagements, his jockey claiming foul in both instances. One of the claims was upheld. Pitted against the jinx racer will be such as Bill-cella, Yale, a four-time winner at Sportsmans; Worcester, a double victor there, and several others. Ten May Vie in Crete It is probable that a field of 10 of the 24 nominated for the meetings first stake, the Crete Handicap, will go to the post Saturday. Johns Joy, the highweight, seems almost a certainty to be in the lineup, while other likely ones are Yellman-town, a superior mudder, who recently arrived here; Roman Bath, from the powerful Hasty House Farm stable; Bullish, a useful handicap performer last year; Enforcer, best of the Ulinois-breds in training; Circus Clown, winner of over 5,000 already this season Hypostyle, one of the best of the homebred sprinters; Ballydam, the imported Irisher, who won his only start at Sportsmans Park; Sabaean, who was heavily favored in his first out here but bore to the outside fence on the stretch turn; Lextown, last years winner of the Crete, and Sam E. Wilsons Zoom, winner of his first start this year.
