view raw text
Count Turf to Pass Up His Shevlin Engagement Rutchick to Decide Shortly If He Will Start Prior to Dwyer AQUEDUCT, L." I., N. Y., June 22.— Trainer Sol Rutchick said today that there was no chance at all of Jack Amiels Kentucky Derby winner, Count Turf, starting in next Saturdays Shevlin Stakes, in which he would have to meet George D. Wideners Battlefield, Brookmeade Stables Steadfast, Lazy F Ranchs Yankee Handicap winner, Out Point, and Phantom Farms Nullify, among others. Whether or not the colt will get a race of some sort before appearing in the Dwyer at a mile and a quarter on July 7 will be decided in the next couple of days, Rutchick said. Rutchick is inclined to doubt that Count Turf was "short" in the Belmont Stakes, in which he finished far back after taking the lead at the end of a mile, though admitting that possibility, which is also jockey Conn McCrearys opinion. "He was eight lengths off the lead at the end of a mile in 1:36 | and something in the Derby," Rutchick j said, "I dont know why he had to go to the front at the end of a mile in about 1:39 in the Belmont, which is a quarter of a mile longer, especially as he pulls himself up when he gets to the front. Count Turf missed some work when he began coughing on his return from the scene of his Derby triumph, then had his shoes off for a few days after winning at a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont. Whether tactics, or these interruptions in his training were responsible for Count Turfs disappointing performance in the Belmont, Rutchick is convinced that the race should be thrown out when it comes to estimating the colts class.