view raw text
j Weighing In By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 5. — King Ranchs mare, Renew, given her breeding — she is a full sister to the brilliant But Why Not and our champion chaser, Oedipus — has a right to be a good one, and she is pretty sharp on rare occasions, but she certainly spaces them. Renew took the Top Flight Handicap yesterday from a fine field of fillies and mares, and she had won a race in the interval, j but her last top performance was in the spring of 1951 at Jamaica, when she captured the Firenze from Thelma Berger and Next Move. Both of the latter were in the Top Flight field here at Belmont, but Thelma Berger showed nothing at all, and we yarned you in this space that Next Move may be unsound, an off hind pastern having a very peculiar appearance as she walks in the ring. Some observers thought that Next Move sulked in the Top Flight, as she retired after running with the pace for a little more than a half mile. Our own guess is that the Vanderbilt mare did not sulk, and that something, maybe the pastern, was hurting her. Sulking was, perhaps, a better explanation for Busandas effort in the Belmont feature, last years Suburban winner doing notoriously what she pleases. As for Renew, we repeat that it was one of her good days, and she came on to outgame the favored Valadium with a fervor that speaks well for her class and capacity, if not for her consistency. Steeplechasing at Belmont winds up at next weeks United Hunts meet with the twenty-sixth renewal of the Temple Gwathmey Handicaps, while the hurdle contingent will dispute for the 0,000 added Turf Writers Cup at the same meeting. After that, the hedge hoppers will be active at Delaware Park, where such important stakes as the Georgetown and the Indian River await them over a course that is really stiff. Weights have not yet been published for the Temple Gwathmey, but we can expect much the same field, and much the same assignments as in such recent races as the Meadow Brook, the Corinthian and the International. Highweight for the Turf Writers, a mile and three-quarters test over the smaller obstacles, is Titien II, third in the Meadow Brook and the Corinthian for his starts this season but always a specialist at the hurdle game, and generally recognized as the best in that division seen in this country in recent years. This five-year-old French horse goes up at auction tomorrow to dissolve a partnership, but his engagements, of course, go with him, and somebodys colors are due to be carried by a nice horse. When we remarked in this space last week that Roosevelt Raceway was off to a somewhat slow start, as far as crowds and mutuel handle were concerned, we could not foresee the tremendous Memorial Day throng that " taxed the capacity of the Long Island harness track. Over 29,000 patrons spent that holiday evening at "the trots," and the wagering mounted to nearly a million and a quarter on the eight races, close to the all-time record, set back in the flush season of 47. The next evening, if you remember, it rained "cats and dogs," or let us put it this way: the "program got off to the accompaniment of a mild drizzle, but the rain increased, little by little, to a steady downpour long before the horses were called to the post for the final eventv Roosevelt raced off the card. Last night, when the program had to be canceled after two events, was another matter. This time, the "rains came" in a torrent, and the trotters and pacers would have had to swim if they were to circle the track. Twelve years ago, when Roosevelt first opened its gates, it would have been absolutely impossible to race a card under last Saturdays conditions. At that time, a "Scotch mist" was enough to cause a postponement. Horsemen, one and all, would have refused to bring their charges onto the track, and they would have been right. Twelve years, however, have seen a lot of changes accomplished, not the least being the "wet weather" strip that both Roosevelt and Yonkers can now boast. River sand replaces slippery clay as top-soil, and, today, these tracks are safe in any ordinary rain, as was proved by several miles better than 2:10 on Saturday. Nor can harness horsemen complain that speed has been sacrificed to expediency; pacers raced in 2:02 this spring at Yonkers, and Thomas B. Scott has already been in 2:01-% at Roosevelt, a mile that presages another 2:00 or better before the end of the season. Arise, the Addison Stables capable He Did six -year-old, is picking up a feature here and there before being retired to the stud in Canada, where he should have a good influence on breeding. This American-bred but Canadian-owned thoroughbred has adorned our tracks for the last Continued on Page Thirty-Seven I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four four seasons, and he is just about anybodys ideal of a "miler," the distance of last Tuesdays Eight Thirty Handicap at Belmont, his latest victory. Arise, conceding weight to all his competitors, dogged the footsteps of the flashy but rather faint-hearted Northern Star in this test until the stretch, then put the Greentree Stables imported Irishman away without trouble, winning pretty much as he pleased in the smart time of 1:35%. It was just one more in a long series of good efforts for the Addison Stables honest, attractive campaigner, and we might add that Arises innate class has, at times, enabled him to get distances far beyond his preference, a case in point being his victory in the 49 Travers at 10 furlongs. Two years ago, Arise was Daily Racing Forms choice as "Sprinter of the Year," but Arise, like Mrs. P. A. B. Wideners Polynesian, has never confined his fine performances to strictly sprinting distances. Jack Skirvin uncovered a real stake prospect this week in J. M. Roeblings homebred filly, Course North. This daughter of Case Ace — Navy Cruiser, by Man o War scampered down the Widener chute to defeat a good field of maidens, her runner-up being His Duchess, a half-sister to the stake winners, Busanda and Auditing. Skirvin, we understand, will ship Course North to Delaware this week-end for the Polly Drummond, a stake where this filly will meet such competitors as Countess Jane, winner of one division of the Rosedale and the Fashion, and Alfred G. Vanderbilts Home-Made, winner of the filly division of the National Stallion and second to Countess Jane in the Fashion. Clockers were high on Course North before her debut, although His Duchess was preferred to her in the wagering, and they appear to think that neither Countess Jane nor Home-Made can catch the Roebling miss at the five-furlong distance. There will be considerable difference of opinion about that, and Beaugays track record of :58 may tumble before these young ladies deliver the decision.
