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Weighing In I By EVAN SHIPMAN HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 22.— Until the day when California breeding can rival the production of thor oughbreds in Kentucky , racing at Hollywood Park will not meet the standards set by Santa Anita. It is a matter of dates. Hollywood Park offers the same large stakes and purses as the Arcadia course on the other side of town, but the sad truth is that the competition here hardly bears comparison with the horses who race at the winter meeting. Santa Anita has only Hialeah to compete - with, while Hollywood must "share the wealth" with other •important tracks in about every section of the country. Many big stables cross the continent for such engagements as the rich Santa Anita Handicap. They have returned home when it comes time to dispute the equally rich Hollywood Gold Cup. Eventually, breeding will remedy this situation, and you will find large stables — the equal of anything in the East or Midwest—that campaign out here the year long. That time will come, and the return of such sportsmen as Louis D. Mayer to racing will bring it nearer. As it is, the juvenile races on the Hollywood program — most of them filled with colts and fillies bred here in California — form the most interesting part of any afternoons proceedings. Watching such events, a horseman feels that he is looking at the future, and the future but here is always golden. Jimmy Jones says that Hill Gails ankle, that has now relegated him to the sidelines temporarily, causing the Calumet colt to miss such engagements as the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, never gave the stable any particular worry in California last winter. "There was just one time that might have given me a hint of trouble," Jimmy said yesterday. "The groom had used a leg paint, following my instructions, on Hill Gails ankles, and I thought that, with an excess of zeal, he had laid on the paint a little too strong. The next day the ankle was warm and very slightly filled. We suspended Hill Gails training for four days. At the end of that time, the ankle was cold to the touch again, and all sign of swelling had vanished. He was placed back in j training, and we never gave the matter another thought. The ankle was perfectly all right after his California races, but, still, in the light of what happened in Kentucky, those four days may have been a premonition of trouble." When we asked the younger Jones if his father may have suggested that the hard Churchill Downs strip may have had something to do with that ankle, he replied, "No. Father told me all about the race, of course; but he never indicated that Hill Gail did not like the surface on Derby Day.,? Countess Janes performance in the Rancocas Stakes at Garden State Park was eagerly awaited by California horsemen, and it was a real disappointment to many here when we got the flash over the wire that the daughter of Count Speed was only fourth in the New Jersey stake. There was some consolation in the fact that Countess Jane, bred at Dr. Frank Porter Millers neighboring farm and by Amarillos promising young, sire, Count Speed, was only beaten less than a length for it all in the feature won by Mrs. J. R. Collins Psychic Bid filly, Biddy Jane, and the chart hinted that she was gaining on her opponents at the end. Winner of both the Rosedale and the Fashion, Countess Jane is a young lady of quality. California is proud of her, and the two Long Island stakes are not likely to be her last trips to the winners circle. Dr. Miller recalls his homebred as undersized, but she has grown since he sold her at Saratoga last summer, while she is so finely turned that a spectator will hardly quarrel with her lack of inches. Not many stake winners on the Metropolitan circuit claim California as their birthplace, but this "watch charm" miss with the winning ways shows what- can be done by careful mating of good individuals. Western fans can be as temperamental as their eastern counterparts. They have their favorite jockeys, and their memory is at least a week long for rides they consider, well, let us say not quite strenuous enough. Longden was booed here on Tuesday, and the reason was that he had lost a close one aboard Princess Lygia last week-end. Yesterday, cheers greeted Willie Shoemaker on each of his three returns to the winners circle, Willie sharing the honors of the afternoon with the Moreno Brothers. Longden,. who is a smart horseman as well as an able jockey, knew — we think — that Louis B. Mayers high-priced filly had a long arduous campaign in front of her, and ihat she had been unsound. His decision not to punish her through the final furlong meets with our complete approval. The Continued on Page Bight WEIGHING IN I By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four real round of applause that greeted Willie when he got Greek Runner up to defeat Wisconsin Boy in the featured Vince Purse was deserved. Shoemaker is a natural horseman, and we share that flattering opinion with men who have a bet- ter right to speak. Fickle as the crowd is, he, too, will know days on which he weighs out to a Bronx cheer. An attractive feature of racing at both Hollywood Park and Santa Anita is the employment of horses for most of the "chores" around the track. Draft horses pull the starting gate from one station to another, and they look to us like well matched Clydesdales, the kind that win blue ribbons for gentlemen farmers at county fairs. The officials make their trips around the oval in handsomely appointed vehicles, paint and varnish glistening in the sun and drawn by hackneys or long-tailed trotters. All this adds to the picture, nor can we see why other tracks — particularly such non-commercial tracks as Belmont and Delaware — do not follow this entertaining example. The sight of these breeds, unfamiliar to the city-bred turf fan, enlivens the interval between races, and is even educational in the sense that it impresses our public with the fact that the horse was, only a short time ago, a great economic factor in the development of this country. Now if we had our* way, tractors and station wagons would be banished from the race course, the horses last preserve. Let "mans noblest conquest" rule supreme there.
