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i FRANK FRANKEL— Is taking in the sport at Belmont Park, having recently arrived from his Texas home. VXi.3tc5 ,911 9KH 291.O"lr 0.A.l. ft ni V T r j i T -h.ir.J7 a-, r i/rf-T Weighing In By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y„ May 14. — Acoustics at Belmont are not too good, but before the start of the feature race yesterday we in the highly elevated press box heard a lone voice float up: "Ovie, are you really going with him today, is today the day, or will it be next time?" The tone of this query may be set down as cynical, and Ovie Scurlock, who was parading the Addison Stables Arise to the post, may have snick- fc"-™"™ ered in his sleeve, but he made no reply to his interlocutor. Arise, we might mention, was returning to the races after a long absence, and this fine horse has important stake engagements in front of him. What was he going to do in this overnighter? Backed confidently on the strength of recent works, Arise soon showed us all what he was going to do. Running f orwardly for three-quarters of a mile, he assumed the lead in the stretch, looking all over a winner at the furlong pole, and then was worn down in the drive. Scurlock shook the whip at his mount a couple of times, but never hit him, and War Poppy, who does not belong in the same league with the Canadian, got up to snatch the decision. Arise is "being pointed for the Roseben at Belmont, the Carter at Aqueduct and the Wilson Mile at Saratoga. When he is" saddled for those engagements, you can take his chances seriously. They say that Arise will be retired to the stud following this brief campaign. It is our belief that he will make a good sire. His penchant has always been for the shorter distances, but he has shown plenty of intestinal fortitude at seven furlongs, a mile and a mile and an eighth, and that is the kind of trip that most of our horses are asked to travel. Trainer Bentley, who knows a good thing when ° he sees it, and who has taken great pains with this six-year-old son of He Did — Coralie, by Apprehension, has tried, on occasion to race Arise at a mile and a quarter. He missed in the Widener Handicap at Hialeah, despite a wonderful ride on the part of Ted Atkinson, who tried to steal the stake, but he did get there first in the Travers, helped no doubt by the allowance conditions of the mid-summer derby. Weight does not trouble Arise when he is asked to cover a distance over which he is really at home. He scored in the 1950 renewal of the-Fall Highweight Handicap under the steadying burden of 133 pounds, and he was conceding weight to both Delegate and Royal Governor, a pair of keen competitors. Arises name on our racing programs gives a faintly international aspect to the current sport. In the old days, many prominent Canadian stables campaigned on this side of the border, and we all remember Commander Ross and the Seagram familys horses with respect. At that time, too, the relation was quite reciprocal, our best horses, including the Canadian tracks in their itinerary. Exterminator was as popular at Montreal and Toronto as he was on Long Island or Kentucky, while Uncle Billy Garths chasers made an annual festival of the Woodbine meetings. We have the impression that the best Canadian thoroughbreds came from the eastern provinces, but when it came to trotters and pacers, the West was predominant. Merry Direct, sire of Kinney Direct and Winnipeg, stood all his years in Manitoba, and we are pretty sure that Grattan Royal, greatest sire of pacers in recent harness horse history, was always west of the Great Lakes. As for trainers and jockeys, we owe an enormous debt to Canada, and the list of those hailing from the neighboring country would be endless. Among all, none stands out to quite the same extent as Nat Ray, leading steeplechase rider in this country shortly after the turn of the century, then a peerless driver of trotters and pacers on the grand circuit, then a trainer and owner of thoroughbreds at our major tracks, and now, finally, a trainer and driver of trotters and pacers again. Nat rode the winner of the Belmont Grand National the year this columnist was born, and he was holding the reins behind the winner of the Ham-bletonian Inaugural in 26. Truly ageless, this horseman is now active with a stable of colts at Yonkers, but we would not be a bit surprised if we found him saddling an entry for the Kentucky Derby next May. If the stewards at Belmont had shown a trace of over-indulgence in several recent rough races, they certainly leaned over backwards when the president of the Westchester Racing Associations two-year-old, Platan, was. accused of raking up the field in a dash down the chute yesterday. George D. Wideners Platan won clearly enough, but he had drifted from the outside to the Continued on Page Forty-One I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four rail, and there was little doubt that those behind him had been seriously bothered in the early part of the race. The disqualification moved Star Request into first place, and this colt attracted some attention as a full brother to My Request, one of the best handicap horses of recent years. This pair were bred by their owner, the New Orleans horseman, B. F. Whitaker, and are by Requested out "of Sugapud, by Sickle. A couple of others with the same lineage have come to the races without showing a trace of run. That is hardly surprising however,, Whitaker once remarking to our own Bob Horwood that Sugapud could not travel fast enough to get out of her own way. Be that as it may, she sent a tough horse to the races in My Request.
