view raw text
J Weighing In I By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 31. — When One Hitter defeated Noor in an overnight race at Belmont two years ago this fall, we were all surprised. Ready enough to concede that this was a nice little horse, we still were in a mood to consider that result strictly a fluke. But they met again in the Manhattan Handicap a little while later, and this time, Noor could not plead the excuse of being short.The result, you will remem- member, was the same, or rather not quite the same, because now One Hitter frankly joutgamed the Irish horse in a long stretch duel, came again after Noor reached him at the sixteenth pole. It was said at the time that Noor did not like the Belmont strip, and our own opinion leans toward that view, but, after all, there is nothing so very peculiar about the Belmont strip; "by and large, it is the best combination of speed and safety for horses that we possess in this country, and horses who do not like it, such as Coaltown or Noor, are pretty pernickety. One Hitter, who has never been quite prominent enough to make his special tastes concerning race tracks news, does like Belmont, and, yesterday, Greentrees diminutive chestnut emphasized his preference for a course that requires a stout heart. His victory in the sixty-fifth renewal of the Suburban Handicap was in the great tradition of that venerable stake. His race was fast; it was game; victory came to One Hitter in the final strides. Con Errico, aboard Crafty Admiral, set a sizzling pace in this Suburban, opening np a long lead on his field with a second quarter in :22%, after they had all loafed out of the chute, with a mild initial quarter in :24, flat. Erricos intention, of course, was to establish a commanding lead, and then live on it to the wire. For a time, it locked as if the boys tactics would be successful, because when the chase loomed a little close between the turns, he opened un again, and, entering the stretch, Carfty Admiral was still running smoothly and a considerable distance in advance of the others, all of whom were driving. Ted Atkinson, who knows exactly what use to make of One Hitters talents, had begun to press his mount at the three-eighths pole. At that point, he had a lot of ground to make up, as they swung to home, but Atkinson was relentless, and the little horse was game enough, and seasoned enough, to give the jockey full response. Their pursuit of the fleeing leader was relentless, but it was not until the sixteenth pole that the long effort appeared anything but a lost cause." Crafty Ad- miral, from the furlong pole in, had been gradually shortening stride. He did not stop, mind you, as he had stopped in the Metropolitan, but he was coming back to them, and Atkinsons nice calculation of distance enabled One Hitter to nail the pacesetter one jump before the wire. Praising Teds calculations, one should not lose sight of Erricos well-planned attempt; Crafty Adm rnl all but did it, and he owed his position at the finish to a very clever ride. How about the favored Battlefield while all this was going on? Well, Battlefield, who had never been out of the money before, wound up a well-beaten seventh in the Suburban, and he had no excuse, except that he was conceding 12 pounds to the winner and a lot of weight to all the others. He appeared in perfect condition in the walking ring before the race, and his manners on the way to the post were much milder than they had been before the running of the recent Metropolitan. Arcaro, who had the mount again on George D. Wideners Little Champion, could not conceal his affection for the ordinarily resolute chestnut. After getting up in the tree-shaded ring, and as the field paraded on the tan-bark, the jockey repeatedly leaned over to pat Battlefields neck, and it was obvious the colt and rider were in accord for the moment. During the running of the Suburban, Arcaro may have tried to insist on his own views, while-Battlefield entertained quite other ideas. At any rate, Battlefield, who was in just as good a position as One Hitter a little above the furlong pole, and who could conceivably have taken it all from there, sulked badly when Arcaro Called on him. If we had not known Battlefield so well, we would have said that he just did not have it, but we do know him, and what he has, beside a great capacity for running, is a temper. No excuses are valid as far as this renewal of our greatest handicap is con- cerned. .Mameluke, who finished a good | enough third, may have been bothered a bit by Honor between the turns, and the C. V. Whitney four-year-old did finish, with a rather belated rush, but, in »vr Continued on Page Forty-One I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SEUPMAN Continued from Page Four opinion, and difficulty he may have encountered was not sufficient to have affected, the result, or to have altered the win; and place. Kiss Me Kate, with Busanda, the Suburban winner last year, the only representative of the filly and mare division, ran a good, consistent race to wind up fourth, some - three lengths off One Hitter. Walter M. Jeffords four-year-old daughter of Count Fleet, queen of her division last season, is in fine form now, and she made up a lot of ground through the last quarter mile. As for Busanda, who has never looked better and who is now a grand, big mare, she started off as if she might again have a lot to say concerning the result, but once the field hit the far corner, she was done, thoroughly cooked by the sharp early clip. Immediately preceding the Suburban on yesterdays Belmont program was an overnight six-furlong handicap, won by Sun Rene in a very tight finish from The Diver and War King. Our reason for mentioning this rather inconspicuous- dash is that it marked the return to form of The Diver, the best horse that the late Russell Firestone owned and one for whom that sportsman entertained high hopes. The Diver, now a five-year-old, was cut out to be a first class thoroughbred, but he has never been sound, and getting him up to a race has puresented trainer Sherrill Ward with serious problems. Yesterday, The Diver, closing fast in the stretch, just failed to get up, and the three-quarters in 1 : 11 show that he is sharp. If his legs hold out for Ward, he should go well in one of the big handicaps, and it is a pitty that Mrs. Firestone could not have seen her late husbands favorite in the Suburban, a race in which this son of Devil Divers inherent class would have entitled him to start.
