view raw text
I Weighing In • By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 13. — Nothing could have pleased this columnist more than the praise accorded our nephew, Evan ■ Jackson, when he won the Belmont National Maiden Hurdle yesterday aboard Coup-de-Vite, a name that can be roughly translated "burst of speed." Young Evans mount had a burst of speed all right, and he needed it, because the field was jammed at the final fence and the boy had to find room at the rail, where it was f ight-ingly apparent that there was no room, and just how he finally managed to get through remains a minor miracle to this thoroughly perturbed relative. Family sentiment apart, it was a cool race. Coup-de-Vite was reserved off the pace until midway of the backstretch, but when he did make a powerful move, his path was several times blocked. The field in this hurdle stakes was well matched, and everybody was tenacious. There was crowding at the final obstacle, crowding that resulted in the disqualification of the favored Mantle, but they were all thoroughly tired by then, and it was nobodys fault. The French Byng, a horse who is said to have outworked Titien n. in the morning, was the punters "Good Thing/ but, after racing forwardly, the foreigner retired as if a little short. He will do for another day. In the meanwhile the laurels sit very nicely on Evan Jacksons head. Titien IT. will make his debut in the steeplechase tomorrow, and his work tab shows that the French horse is sharp. He was to have returned to action last week in a hurdle event, but the race did hot fill. Trainer Raymond Bueno has brought his charge along: carefully, and we understand he is sounder at present than ever before, a knee having: given him a certain amount of trouble in the past. The acknowledged champion of the hurdle division, this horse may prove just as good over the tougher fences. Last year, he started once over brush, and was a game winner of the Meadow Brook. That race gave his connections high hopes for such events as the Brook, Grand National and Manly Memorial, but Titien H7s training had to be interrupted. Again we will urge your special indulgence where tomorrows engagement is concerned, because Evan Jackson, who has been riding him in all his trials, will have the mount on Titien II. His chief rival is almost sure to be Brookmeades His Boots, another who spent a long time on the sidelines, but who has real class and who showed recently that he is fast returning to top form. After winning the Derby with a difficult colt, we can hardly say that Calumet or the Jones family are having a bad run of luck, but it is tough for Hill Gail to be forced to pass up the Preakness and Belmont. We know a few horsemen who thought the son of Bull Lea would get a trimming in both stakes, but we would have had to see it done. One comment on Hill Gails Derby that we have heard repeatedly, and we believe it is worth mentioning, is that Eddie Arcaro did not make his decisive move on the barckstretch by choice, but was forced to go then. The story as we hear it is that Hill Gail was trying to bear out with Arcaro, and the jockey started a drive very much as one would attempt to bring an automobile out of a skid. He used the colts run -in the right direction. We also heard that Hill Gail showed signs of wanting to bear out in the homestretch, this accounting for Sub Fleets cutting the margin to the extent that he did. It has never been a secret that Hill Gail was a horse and a half to ride, and it takes a jockey with the strength and finesse of an Arcaro or an Atkinson to set him straight. Under such a jockey, he was a fine colt, but how he compares with the "greats" -from the same barn must remain a matter for conjecture. Roscoe Goose, rider of the winning Donerail in the Kentucky Derby of 1913 and one of the first citizens of Louisville, writes us from the Blue Grass: "In your column today, you spoke of Isaac Murphy and Jimmie Winkfield being the last of the good colored jockeys. I did not know Isaac Murphy — he was before my time-but I did know Jimmie Winkfield, who was a fine fellow. Now as fairness to good jockeys who followed them of the same color, I will first mention Dale Austin, active from 1904 through 10. Then Jimmie Lee from about 06 through 09. This boy Lee won all six races on the days card at Churchill Downs in the spring of 1907. Then came Albert Pease and Pie Dishman. All these boys I mentioned were colored, and I rode with them. They were all good riders, and" fine boys to ride with. I will admit in late Continued on Page Forty-One I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four years no one has tried to make a colored jockey." Spartan Valors assignment of 134 pounds in the mile Metropolitan was hot calculated to stop the "Big Train" from Jersey, but, just the same, trainer Frank Catrone will reserve the son of Attention for the Suburban. All accounts of the doings at Garden State last Saturday turn dithyrambic when it comes to Spartan Valor, and it seems agreed on universally, from handicapper John B. Campbell on down, that this is a great horse. That veteran horseman, Frank Hackett, was loud in his praise of both Spartan Valor and Catrone the other day. Hackett who was managing the late Sam Hildreths affairs when Frankie was breaking into the game as an" exercise boy, told us that Spartan Valor has been brought along according to the far ous Hildreth regime. Catrone, who was an apt pupil of the old master, has Tifs charge racing fat, and he keeps him fat throughout a long, stiff campaign. Perhaps the word "fat" is a trifle misleading, but the champ is certainly high in flesh, and hell stay that way, Dont forget to get a look at him when he comes out for the Suburban.
