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K .v*r s£t BETWEEN RACES * osc« ore HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 26. — Credit the film patrol pictures and their analysis on the part of trainer Lane Bridgeford for Sturdy Ones driving victory in the Inglewood Handicap here Saturday, a race in which Sturdy One defeated two of the top horses in training training here, here, Be Be Fleet Fleet and and Moon- training training here, here, Be Be Fleet Fleet and and Moon- Moon-rush. Sturdy One had been knocking at the door in recent races, but couldnt quite score. Bridgeford asked that the pictures of his last three races be run for him, a request that was cheerfully granted. Bridgeford noted that his manner of getting the horse away from the gate, allowing him to settle into stride and then make a run for it from the far turn, seemed wrong. The horse seemed to have no sense that he was in the race until too late. Bridgeford believed that if his regular rider, Ralph Neves, would reach down and hit him leaving the gate, it would convince the horse he was in the race right from the start. The tactics were tried in the Inglewood, and they worked, to the tune of net 7,950. Citation, of course, was scratched from the Inglewood because of a last minute ailment, which led the unusual phenomenon of track good-will man, Al Wesson, spending some ,500 in spot radio announcements telling the people of Southern California that Citation would not race. In addition, big placards were- put up at all the gates, and all ticket sellers informed patrons that Citation was scratched. The only people that seemed to mind were a few who flew the 400 miles from San Francisco to see the Inglewood, and they were good sports about it. Even when everyone was told that Citation would not start before they entered the gates, no one turned away, and the crowd surpassed that of the previous Saturday Picture Clue Gives Sturdy One Inglewood Grace Simpson Numbers American Tap Roots New Book Defends Integrity of Our Blood Oats Now Rated as Westerner Dark Horse by some 5,000 fans. It is to be hoped that Citation will come around okay in time to keep his next engagements, the Argonaut on July 4, and the 00,000 guaranteed Gold Cup on July 14. Anita King, a co-owner of Moon-rush, summed it up when she said, "I am sorry about it, and we all sincerely hope he races again and earns his goal. A great horse is entitled to it." AAA Grace Simpson, of Vancouver, B. C, after several years of research, has published her book, "Stakes and Major Handicap Winners and Their Dams." It is a volume of considerable excellence. Mrs. Simpson explains that the book is new in the sense that it concentrates into one ready reference volume what would take the independent researcher through 40 or more books to obtain detailed and exact information on pertinent breeding points. One feature of the book is certain to attract attention, and that is a classification of American "tap root" mare families by number. "The Bruce Lowe figure system was based mainly upon identifying and tracing the original of the female lines of the winners of the English classics — the Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger. Bruce Lowe believed that certain combination of family numbers led to certain success in the stud, and on the turf, and was fully convinced of its great value as a test, or key, to pedigree. I am not qualified to state whether Mr. Lowe was right, but I do believe his system was valuable in that it was a good means of identifica tion, far better than our American method of tracing a winner to Am. family, *Janus mare No. 1 or Am. family, mare by *Diomed, as used correctly by the blood-horse and most sales catalogues. Such references are vague, and do not define the importance of that particular tap root mare. Therefore, I have taken the privilege of numbering the American tap root mares solely for the purpose of easier identification. The system used by Bruce Lowe was not practical in classifying American tap root mares, as many of the winners of our classics belong in Bruce Lowe families." Mrs. Simpson has designated 45 American families as established through her pedigree tracings into that point where records replaced memory and memory often had become myth. AAA _ Mrs. Simpson takes an inferential dig at the Jersey Act in adding that, "It is unfortunate that no regular turf register was established in the United States until the early days of the last century, and it is to be regretted that so many of our genealogies cannot be traced a bit further and more definitely. But it must be conceded for a fact, fully established both by their performance and the unfailing transmission of their hereditary qualities, that our American horses are as thoroughbred as are any of those English champions whose blood no one ever dreams of disputing, and which go back to an unknown sire or dam." She concludes that it has been verified that a well authenticated stock of thoroughbreds tracing to leading English sires were in this country, principally owned by men of birth, attached to the Cavalier Party, were in this country prior to the war between England and France. She ascribes the long hostilities, which interrupted the peaceful progress of America and the avocations of her landed gentry at so early a period in Continued on Page Thirty-Five I r I : r i i t . s . x i t i g a I 5 t ! e !f e i ! i . s • _ _ s Q y _ t n " e of * BETWEEN RACES I; By OSCAR OTIS I I Continued from Page Forty-Four the history of the American thoroughbred for much of the confusion that has pervaded early American pedigrees. AAA Walter H. Hoffman, Jr., president of the California Breeders Association, passes the idea along for whatever it might be worth, namely, that many culls could be elimi- nated, and perhaps rather quickly, if there was an opening bid in all California sales of 00. If the animal did not bring at least this minimum, the owner would be forced to take the horse back to the farm. "It might convince a breeder that the best . way to improve his stock would be to breed one that would at least bring that amount," explains Hoffman. "No more dramatic method could be adopted to convince him of the futility of his efforts. If the man wanted to take his loss and sell privately to non-racing markets, or to develop the colt or filly and race it himself, that would • be his privilege. But no yearling can be sold for under 00 and see the breeder even begin to break even although the mare be a gift and the stud fee free." Horses and People: Announcement that Greek Ship would not ship to California to keep his engagement in the Gold Cup will remove a bit of intersectional interest from the big race, but it nevertheless remains a stake of real excellence. . .Oats, purchased by Oregon lumberman Jimmy Lyons from Brookmeade, has become acclimated, and is now considered the "dark hourse" in Saturdays 0,000 Westerner, the big soph-g omore summer classic of the Far West. His last outing, in the Yankee Valor Purse, was most promising. . .Dewey Burden, Los An-_ geles trucker and oil man, returned from New York empty handed in his quest to buy a "made" horse, so will try his luck at the Keeneland Sales and will endeavor to develop his own . . . Catalogues for the Cali-r fornia Breeders Sales, first major Ameri-it can vendue of the year, have been distrib-e uted to potential buyers, and the betting, of the cigar and hat variety, is that the coming sale will be up anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent over last year. The sale embraces two nights in the Santa Anita ring, July 16 and 17. . .The estate of C. S. Howard was forced to withdraw its consignment from the sale because the bankers thought a reserve price should be placed on each horse, so while this item was being straightened out, it was deemed best to wait until fall to dispose of the 18 Howard yearlings.
