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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunsta Ago Khans Yearlings to Rest on Long Island Real Delight Bubbley Start Breeding Debate Madden Man of Maxims Had His Pet Theories Twilight Tear and Her 607000 Full Sister SisterLEXINGTON LEXINGTON Ky May 6 6ThreeDot ThreeDot Shorts With over 50 horses in training Clifford Mooers has decided to sell his entire crop of yearlings at the Keeneland sales Herman B Delmans filly How has had a six weeks vacation at Barry Ryans Nor ¬ mandy Farm but will soon be returned to Belmont Park for training Mr and Mrs John D Hertz will sell their Count Speed yearlings at Santa Anita in July Ray Bell will keep the Aga Khans yearlings at Shipwreck Kellys farm on Long Island from June 20 to sale time at Saratoga A western racing secretary does not agree that Spartan Valor is a great horse saying he is the best of the mediocre group of handicap performers Joe Keith a loyal son of Kentucky has succeeded Alex Gordon as grand master of Lafayette Horsemens Amen Corner The much discussed Spartan ValorIntent meeting will probably take place at Arlington Park in Chicago E P Taylor Canadian sportsman is a Blue Grass visitor One of the best judges of a horse is scouting Keeneland yearlings But mention of his name would get us a broken nose The death of Ben OShea ended the turf career of a human kindly man who was loved by everyone who knew him Jack Amiel says I won one Kentucky Derby and while I would like to have another how many men have been so lucky From a total of 650 applications 420 yearlings will be selected for sale at Keeneland in July f fFrank Frank Conklin Canadian breeder flew from Toronto to see the Derby then flew right back home Wonder if Whirlaway will return here or stay in France when the present contract expires at the end of 1953 Ray Bell thinks the Irish Government is making a mistake in sell ¬ ing Royal Charger to an American syndicate Doc Bond prominent auctioneer tells us he will be in the stand when California yearlings are sold at Del Mar in September Of the 537 originally nominated for the 1953 Santa Anita Maturity 120 current threeyearolds are still eligible and 24 of them are named for the Preak ¬ ness and Belmont Webb Everett racing secretary at Santa Anita predicts Hollywood Park will average 2000 000 daily in the mutuels Oscar Otis not only agrees with Everett but has bet a new fedora on it Its hard to believe that five Kentucky Derby winners were foaled in the same barn Old Rosebud 1914 Sir Barton 1919 Paul Jones 1920 Zev 1923 and Flying Ebony 1925 but its true Starters will pay an additional fee of S50 in the Preakness One way to start an argument is to say that Joe Blow or any other is the best looking stallion in Kentucky After watching Real Delight and Bubbley win the Kentucky Oaks aod Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs we noticed they were both out of Blue Delight a daughter of Blue Larkspur LarkspurOn On arriving in Lexington we secured a copy of the Thorough ¬ bred Record and to our surprise read on page 9 that John E Madden one of our greatest breeders believed that a mare was not likely to produce more than one really great racer When one of his mares had an unusually good racer he was likely to say Sell her shes had hers As much as we admired John E Madden there is no breeding law that says a mare cannot produce more than one good or great racer True it is rare when a mare produces one great horse and doubly so when she produces two But some have produced two unusually good ones that is two who won stakes The great horses of the world were few and far between Chance Play and Chance Shot were unusually good and in the breeding world American turf history would have tobe rewritten if Plucky Liege did not pro ¬ duce Bull Dog some years after she dropped Sir Gallahad m In our opinion that of a very humble student any breeder who sold a mare simply because she had foaled one good or great horse should see his doctor doctorHere Here on the breeding farms are numerous yearling brothers sisters or halfbrothers and halfsisters to horses who have made good in racing Some will go into the salesring at Keeneland and the others will be raced by the breeder Fortunately for the breeders few yearling buyers take any stock in John E Maddens theory that a brood ¬ mare will throw only one unusually good or great horse In fact buyers take the opposite view and we need not go beyond last year for an example In 1951 the Mereworth Farm of Walter J Salmon New York realtor announced they would sell a full sister to Twilight Tear at the Keen land sales in July Prospective buyers from all over the country came to inspect her and generally agreed that regardless of her illustrious older sister she was a beautiful individual in her own right Once she entered the sales ring the bidding was fast and keen Prominent breeders matched dollar for dollar in bids and she was knocked down to C S Jones of California for 60000 That was a new record price for a filly in this country and even if she does not earn a quarter on the race course she is a pearl beyond price as a prospective broodmare Then again Aunt Jinny was a champion in one year and Tom Fool in another and both were out of the broodmare Gaga by Bull Dog DogThis This morning we inspected the 50 yearlings Mereworth Farm will sell at Keeneland in July and the first youngster they brought out was a grand looking bay colt by Stymie out of Al ¬ penstock HE by Apelle Alpenstock HE was selected as Mare of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeders Associa ¬ tion for 1951 If John E Madden would have sold this mare after she produced her first stake winner Sturdy One Inglewood and Tanforan Handicaps then he was not as smart as we have always given him credit for being for then came Ruhe Haw ¬ thorne Juvenile Handicap Arkansas Derby Blue Grass Stakes and third in the Kentucky Derby and Alladier winner of the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland a year ago Long ago we dis ¬ carded the belief about four white feet and first foals and the Madden theory goes out the window with them
