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: Weighing In I By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 27. This column may well begin with a paragraph headed "Notes of a traveller on two programs," and we will intersperse these random snatches of Hollywood Park and Belmont ideas with the familiar three-dot dashes . . . So here gbes, and Spartan Valors absence from Fridays Suburban because of a bruised heel just about spoils that famous race from our point of view. Handicapper John B. ! j i 1 . r ; j J 1 1 I Campbell had not been too severe with the champion, either. . .Far and away the best race we saw on our recent trip to the West Coast was Ruth Lilys score in the Westchester Handicap, the title of which might give you erroneous ideas as to its location . . Hollywood Park can boast two keen juveniles in Fleet Diver and Last Request, and we can assure you that both the Devil Diver filly and the My Request colt would hold their own in stake competition on Long Island. They have class, and no mis-t take . .Titien H, has been a little slow getting "tight" for the skillful foreign trainer, Ramon Bueno, but his recent outing in the Corinthian was a good race, from accounts relayed to us, and the French horse should be hard to catch in his next start over the jumps. . .Eastern horsemen will be glad to kndw that George Strattons health is much improved. The owner of Circle S. Farm where Your Host is standing looked like his old self when we visited his box last week-end. . .The victory of Real Delight in the Oaks came as no surprise to western horsemen who had seen the bril-f liant Calumet filly in her winter races at Santa Anita... Two Lea is back in form now, but she will reaily know she has been to the races when she tanslss with Ruth Liiy in the Vanity Stakes next month... Mrs. John Payson Adams gray South American, Miche, would look good in the Suburban under the 114 that Campbell has assigned him, but the hard-hitting Santa Anita Handicap winner will remain on the coast, the Hollywood Gold Cup his chief summer objective. Alan du Breil, who was kind enough to give us an appraisal of this years candidates for classic honors sent us a tele-i gram today that reads: "Two Thousand I Guineas winner, Thunderhead, is now a definite starter in Wednesdays Epsom Derby, and is second favorite at last call-over, although stamina doubtful. He is by Merry Boy out of Herodiade. Merry Boy, a sire with limited opportunities, is by Astcrus. Herodiade by Tourbillon, out of Harbor Lights, a Pharos mare of Gon-dolette family, same female line as Hyperion." Altogether, it looks as if the .French held a strong hand for this renewal of the "Blue Ribbon of the Turf" and we gather that not eTen the most loyal Britisher will be surprised to see the invaders from across the channel visit the winners circle on the heath. The French" scored their first victory at Epsom with the great Gladiateur, a Triple Crown winner in 1865, and so great was Gallic delight that Count Lagranges giant colt was promptly dubbed "The Avenger of Waterloo." Little Wichita, dam of Little Request, who astounded western racegoers with an easy five furlongs in time that smashed the track record at Hollywood to smithereens, is by no means as obscure as we had at first supposed. The 18-year-old Royal Ford mare has already given us Littletown, now a successful sire and good enough in his racing days to have defeated Occupation, a speed horse if there ever was one. In addition to Littletown, Little Wichita has also produced a number of other respectable winners. She hereself was no slouch as a campaigner, doing well at Texas tracks back when the sport was legal in the Lone Star State. Ray Brinson, who has done a fine job. developing this speed demon, says that Little Request could out-foot any quarter horse he has ever seen, and this trainer has had a lot of experience with that peculiar breed. Little Request stepped his first two furlongs in :21 the other day, and with jockey Longden just sitting chilly. What the son of Requested could have shown us with the heat turned on is anybodys guess. With Spartan Valor and absentee and Intent and .Miche in California, the Suburban this Decoration Day will not be the "Handicap of the Year" A title that many of us are usually willing to accord the fine Belmont Park feature. Dangerous as we know it to be to tinker with the astute Mr. Campbells weights, we believe that he was something less than harsh in assigning Spartan Valor 133 pounds, but that rash opinion of ours must rest in the realm of pure theory. Battlefield, ranked eight pounds under the Helis champion, now looks like the starting highweight for the gruellinff 10 -furlong test, and you all know that Continued bn Page Thirty-Seven I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four George D. Wideners plucky little chestnut colt will give a good account of him-.self. Offhand, we would say that Battlefield looks like the favorite for the Suburban, and his record- shows that he can handle a mile and a quarter. That distance, however, is a little farther than we believe he likes to travel, and, with that impression in mind, our eye travels down the list of nominations, stopping with interest at such names as Greek Ship, Alerted and Auditing. As for Marae-. luke, surprise winner of the Metropolitan, all we can say is that a horse with his curious underpinning is always a risky proposition. Disqualifications are rarely popular with the crowd, particularly where odds-on favorites are concerned. We can well imagine the hullabaloo at Yonkers the other night when Pronto Don at. 1 to 4 and seeking his 16th straight victory was set back from first place to last for having interferred with Bangaway during the course of the race. The reverberations of this incident even reached California, where not much attention is paid the trotters and pacers, once the harness meets at Santa Anita or Hollywood are concluded. Pronto Don, victor in two successive renewals of the 0,000 Golden West Trot, is a great favorite out there, and many thoroughbred horsemen make an exception in his case, visiting the trots every time his name appears on the program. Without much-doubt, he is the best trotter now in training, and both western and eastern fans know what to expect when he turns it on for the word. ;iIt took courage on the part, of the Yonkers officials, we are certain, to penalize this favorite, but the rules of racing must be applied irrespective of either sentiment or the odds board.
