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JUDGES STAND 1 By Charles Hatton Blue Man Points Next for Belmont Stakes Jockey Sisto Proves Able Pinch Hitter Ginger New Chase Me of Eastern Turf Broodmare Wins at Hunts, Halfers, Milers HAWTHORNE, Cicero, 111., May 19. Whatever one thinks of the 1952 crop of three-year-olds, they certainly are not dull. The Preakness was, like the Derby, a real rouser, and another good show is in prospect in the Belmont Those who saw Sub Fleet beat Blue Man eight emphatic lengths at Louisville wondered if the Preakness "tote" wires had somehow got crossed with "People Are Funny," when Blue Man opened a strong favorite. But the Abbott colt more than justified this confidence in the race itself. Conversely, Sub Fleet did not reproduce the dash he showed in the Derby, losing all contact with the Blue Swords colt the final furlong. There is a theory that perhaps he dislikes those sandy eastern surfaces. The Midwests Gushing Oil also failed to show any zip, though he was reported to have recovered O" ""u A»tJUiii.u UU HO. V G 1CLUVC1CU O" ""u A»tJUiii.u UU HO. V G 1CLUVC1CU from his Derby ailment. Whether Sub Fleet will be a Belmont starter we are not prepared to say. He could start in the Peabody Memorial here at Lincoln-at-Hawthorne. Following the Preakness, trainer Woody Stephens of the Abbott colt said, "I think he will like the mile and a half of the Belmont on that mile and a half track. He came out of the Preakness in splendid shape, and I feel that if we can get past the Belmont we have got them." Though the emancipated plater is not in the Chicago summer stakes, he is "in everything" over East, including the Dwyer and Yankee. The Preakness, incidentally, did not discourage a notion held in some quarters that Real Delight is up to competing with the colts. She simply breezed on the lead nine furlongs in 1:51% in the Black-Eyed Susan, while the Preakness field was driving the first mile and an eighth in 1:51%. Word of this reached Stephens he opined, "Fillies just dont beat colts." Matter of fact, they do not usually. Blue Man does not appear to have drifted any in condition since the Derby, and was better behaved at the gate for the Preakness. Stephens theorizes he must have a kind of claustrophobia about vans and stall gates. It takes a fast horse to crowd him when he runs as he did in the Preakness, however. Rocco Sisto, the 33-year-old veteran rider from Providence, is gaining something of a reputation as a pinch hitter in his profession. It began in the Chesapeake Stakes. -Ken Church was to have the mount, but was injured in a j training accident at Miami and could not fly north to ride Handsome Teddy. Two other jockeys had a tentative P agreement to ride him in the event Church did not, but after several days had tired of waiting and accepted other mounts in the race. Sisto was tendered the mount at the last minute and won the race. Then came the Bowie Handicap. Ronnie. Nash was to ride Three Rings in this §20,000 stake, but his father suddenly was stricken ill and hospitalized in Canada and Nash departed to visit him, leaving the Blue Larkspur gelding riderless. Sisto was given the mount and Mrs. Hopkins horse won. Going to New York, Sisto rode him again in the Lucky Drawn Handicap, and won that, too. In the Bowie, Three Rings had beaten Alerted, and Sisto was given a choice of handling either Alerted or Auditing in the historic Dixie which followed at Pimlico. He chose Alerted, won the stake at Auditings direct expense, and eye witnesses included some close observers who still think he could have won it on Auditing. Following the Dixie, the Pimlico club offered the Primary Handicap. A. T. Clarkes clever Senator Joe was in this stake and Clarkes regular rider, Bobby Mitchell, was to ride him. But Mitchell was set down just previous to the race, and you guessed it, Sisto was substituted and Senator Joe won. There is something providential about all this, and press box punsters cannot resist the obvious connotations of Sistos birthplace. An occasional" plater proves to be good copy. Like T. E. "Ed" Oilmans eight-year-old mare Ginger. Humphrey Finney tells an - interesting story of this campaigner, and we are inclined to agree with him. "It illustrates the charm and essence of the thoroughbred sport, the things racing must preserve." The yarn begins with Equipet, a daughter of Equipoise, who won stakes for Breck-, inridge Long, produced several foals and was struck by lightning. "Long one year bred her to Economic, because he was the nearest e Domino iiorse, and the result is Ginger. She ran unsuccessfully a *» few times at two, was bred to Halberd at three, turned up barren and was offered at a Timonium auction. Gilman, who has an Ashland, Va.f farm and races and hunts a few horses, was looking for a broodmare prospect and bought Ginger for the princely sum of 00. She produced two or three foals for him, additionally was a splendid hunter. This spring, at eight, she "came back" at Charles Town, winning her only start, breaking her maiden and, it is said, several dockers. She also put the farms breeding operations in the black. Returned to Virginia, Gilman won the Richmond Plate at Deep Run on her by "a country mile." Thus encouraged, he shipped her to Laurel. She won again and in the winners circle everybody kissed everybody else. Most romantic performer seen in Maryland since Chase Me. Turf ana: Max Kahlbaum, Jampots developer, once was one of Ben Jones Calumet Farm staff, apparently was an apt pupil of a good tutor. . . . Happy Go Lucky and Oh Leo are prospective starters in Lincolns rich Pea-body Memorial. . . . The Maryland yearling show results attracted attention to Larry MacPhails Spa consignment. . . . Jouett Shouse will race a half-sister, by War Relic, to his lively Cinda next season. . . . Chicagoans will see Real Delight after the Coaching Club Oaks, and in her present form she is something to see.
