view raw text
JUDGES STAND —By Charles Hatton Preakness May Add to Count Fleets Fame Good Cards Not Entirely Matter of Purses Exorbitant Minimums Injurious to Racing Bad Horse Problem Acute on Md. Circuit PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 16. The seventy-sixth "Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" is something of a family affair. The 1943 winner, Count Fleet, is represented, rather remarkably, by three entrants in a blue ribbon field of 10. Perhaps the odds against such an occurrence are something Einstein only dimly foresees, but Sub Fleet, Count Flame and One Count give him a chance of gaining the distinction of siring the first three to finish in a "Triple Crown" event. Sub Fleet strikes this tourist as the most plausible favorite, and the likely winner if all the entrants race to recent form. We incline to agree also with the majority that Blue Man, whose sire Blue Swords gave futile chase to Count Fleet in 43, may prove his most formidable rival. But these are not the only entrants whose pedigrees give them a license to be Preakness horses. There is also Harry Guggenheims little Armageddon. His sire, Alsab, won the 42 Preakness in 1:57, which was the. record at the time. Armageddon is out of Fighting Lady arid is just as scrappy as he sounds. We suppose that everybody knows by now he has only one eye. He lost the sight of the other when he was knocked back to tenth piace as a stone struck it in the Champagne, then came on courageously to win the race. This started a sequence of stakes successes that has some of -those on the scene of the Preakness wondering if the coincidence will continue through this 5,000 classic. For liis sire, Alsab, won the Champagne and then the Withers, which Armageddon, captured last week-end. However closely Armageddons-career may parallel that -of his sire, the Preakness places him versus Sub Fleet, and this should afford at least a vague notion of how the Easts three-year-olds compare with the Wests. There is a great deal of intersectional rivalry in this Preakness, just as there was in the recent Black-Eyed Susan for the fillies. The Wests Real Delight simply outclassed the Easterners in that event. One would think, from reading the papers, that all a track has to do in order to assure itself attractive cards is to distribute about 50 per cent of its "tote" commission in purses. That is not entirely the case, though it helps. A number of associations have for years distributed more than 50 per cent of their take in purses. There are other . factors of importance. For one thing, there now is a labor problem about the stable areas. It is not a shortage of v help, but of competent help. The able grooms and exercise boys prefer working for establishments which race at tracks that offer a high standard of living on shedrow. Keeping them happy is becoming a consideration to trainers. A horseman said today that, "New York has the cream of the stablemen and boys. They are paid well, do not have to travel about a great deal, and like their living conditions and the facilities in the stable area." Still another factor is the relationship between owners and trainers and the management. Just as a random example there is Delawara Park. The management strives to make racing ones horses there as pleasant as possible. The Stanton club has increased its distribution for 52, operates on a non-profit basis under an idealistic racing law, and always has plowed the profits back into its racing. But it has horsemens approval to the extent that we feel sure they will continue to support it when and if ever it becomes necessary to retrench. Still another consideration is the missionary work track representatives do before a meeting. Obviously the quality of the programs cannot be any better than the horses assigned stalls. This is more or less predetermined, according to the success of the missionaries and the attractiveness of the stakes before the meeting opens. There is also this to consider in relation to the purses, horsemen are persuaded a little by the purses they feel they can win, and not altogether by their values. On the whole, this corner thinks too much is being made of purse minimums, and that some horsemen are prone to overlook the boomerang J. F. "Jack" MacKenzie detected two years ago, when he said, "If the association is forced to offer such high minimums that it can offer very little more to induce the better class horses to run, the wagering is lessened, the revenue to the state falls off and the high minimum becomes less than the low minimum had previously been." The notion here is that Maryland tracks might better compete with those in neighboring states for the better allowance horses if is were possible to graduate the purses more sharply. Between the halfers, milers and homebreds, no state has a wider variety of good, bad and indifferent horses: They present atedious problem to tracks and horsemen alike. As we understand it, the Maryland-West Virginia-Delaware division of the HBPA is considering some plan of purchasing and eliminating some of the cheaper fillies and mares, to remove them from racing and production. Turf ana: The necessity for evaluating horses as such, rather than by the handle at whatever track they chance to be racing, is clearly described in the 1950 Racing Manual. It shows that 22,554 horses went to the post during the year and of this number, 5,066, or about a fourth of them, were unplaced in all their races. . . . George D. Widener says that, "TV brings racings personality before the public." . . . Pimlico executives are pleased with the uptrend of patronage at this meeting. A further improvement in the general tone and quality of the over-nighters is indicated for the fall meeting. . . . Woody Stephens gives Steve Judge credit for much of his own and Blue Mans development. . .. . One Maryland breeder is quoted as wondering if the plan to buy inferior fillies would not actually encourage the production of foals from inferior stallions and mares, assuring they would not be entirely worthless. . . . Real Delight was dropped from the Preakness eligibility list in January. . . . Mrs. Heighe, F. A. Bonsai and Yancey Christmas are among those planning to race at Bel Air. . . . General manager Eddie Farrell, of Marlboro, notes that his formula of graduated purses brings horses closer together, makes for more formful sport, and for a larger total "breakage," since more favorites win.
