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Weighing In InBy By EVAN SHIPMAN SHIPMANBELMONT BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 7 Until fall and even after his re ¬ tirement for the year Battlefield looked like the top colt of the generation in 51 and then Counterpoint not only returned to form in the Lawrence Reali ¬ zation but handled older horses in the cup races with such au ¬ thority that his cre ¬ dentials could not be denied Battlefield none the less had earned the respect of all horsemen by two brilliant campaigns during which George G Wideners little chestnut displayed rare courage and great consistency At times one had the feeling that Battlefield was being asked to accomplish feats a little beyond his means He hardly appeared an ideal type for the classic distances but he was always in there digging and if they did beat him his opponents always knew they had been to the races that day Bat tlefields Fair Play temperament he is in ¬ bred to that progenitor has been blamed forv several of his defeats We have heard it said that he sulks on occasion and we suppose his connections know best about that For our part we do not think that the word sulk fits Battlefield He may be obstinate may have a will of his own may not relish the whip but a sulker No Not in our book He tries too hard for that If Battlefield were a sulker he would never have shown us such long game tussles from the head of the stretch to the wire Granted he wants to race his own way With that reservation here is one onewho who will fight from the drop of the flag For his reentry yesterday Battlefield just failed to give a horse named First Glance 19 pounds on the scale and 17 pounds in actual weight A G Vander bilts First Glance heldN a halflength margin over the chestnut at the furlong pole in this Belmont Park overnight handicap and he maintained that ad vantage to the wire Battlefield hanging a trifle under his steadying burden The defeat was perfectly honorable The six furlongs were run over the main track and First Glances time of 110 was within a tick of Mighty Quests track record and then too it must be re ¬ membered that Battlefield was making his first start of the season and that he could not have been quite as sharp as he is now with such a race under his belt When Arcaro moved with him at the head of the stretch putting the fleet Northern Star away without trouble it looked to be all over but weight brings them all together and handicapper John B Campbell is not noted for giving pres ¬ ents to name horses Battlefield is being pointed for the Met ropolitan Handicap on May 17 this mile race being one of the traditional features of the spring meeting at Belmont Weights for the Metropolitan have not yet been published but Battlefield is certain to be treated with respect Equipoise King Saxon Third Degree Attention Devil Diver and Gallorette are some of the fine four yearolds who have captured this stake during the last two decades Equipoise carrying 127 when he whipped Sun Meadow and Mate and Attention the sire of Spartan Valor haying 124 in the saddle on the occasion of his victory over Pictor and Market Wise Equipoise and Devil Diver both finished first in the Metropolitan three years in succession but Equipoises record was spoiled by a disqualification in the famous renewal of 34 That was the race in which noble old Chase Me crossed his legs and fell at the top of the stretch and when Equipoise his bad foot paining him bore in on Mr Khayyam in the drive the interference causing his number to come down There was a great crowd at the track that afternoon at Belmont but hundreds of thousands who were never there have since thrilled to the story of that Metropolitan since it formed the plot of the popular play and moving picture Three Men on a Horse HorseThe The stake record for the Metropolitan is Jack Highs 135 set back in 30 At the time it was the American race rec ¬ ord and it was heralded throughout the country as an astonishing performance Jack High a fouryearold carrying 110 defeated the fiveyearold Balko 120 and the three year old Questionnaire 103 in that renewal and we have always understood that the late Walter S Vos burgh then official handicapper for The Jockey Club committed an error that paved the way for that sensational rec ¬ ord According to the story Vosburgh confused Jack High always a high class thoroughbred with HiJack a rather or ¬ dinary animal and it was for that reason that Jack High sneaked into the Met ¬ ropolitan field with the feather of 110 pounds on his back It was hard luck for Balko one of the top sprinters of that or any other time but the victory certainly Continued on Page Thirty Three i ij v i WEIGHING IN INBy By EVAN SHEPMAN Continued from Page Four Fourwent went to a good horse His mark stood in America until Equipoise lowered it two years later at Arlington Park and it remained the Belmont mark for a mile until lowered by the twoyearold Count Fleet in 42 Alerted one of Battlefields most per ¬ sistent rivals last year is pretty sure to tangle with the Widener colorbearer again in this coming renewal of the Metropoli ton Fresh from a victory over Auditing in the Dixie at Pimlico Alerted was never in better form and this is somewhat sur ¬ prising considering the long arduous cam ¬ paign to which heTias been subjected We last saw Alerted in the paddock before the start of the Gallant Fox at Jamaica a race in which he finished second to Spar ¬ tan Valor and was also directly ahead of Auditing From his condition you would never have guessed that Alerted had raced hard all last summer giving Battlefield his toughest engagements and then continued on through the winter months with riary a letup Trainer DeStefano has done a fine job with this colt and the Dixie was a fitting reward for his pains The resump ¬ tion of Alerteds rivalry with Battlefield should add interest to this Coming renewal of the Metropolitan
