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JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton ■ Valors Sister Top Almahurst Youngster Arlington Park in Helis Stars Orbit Flouts Superstition Against First Foals Belmont Today of Importance to Breeders NICHOLASVTT.T.E, Ky.f June 6. Thiscorner was a visitor at Almahurst near this uplands Kentucky village today, to inspect some of the bloodstock accumulated to Henry Knight, who buys and sells horses by the gross. __ So active has he been in this fashidnable oc cupation during the past year that the entire night of August 15 at the Saratoga sales will be devoted to obtaining the high dollar for his consignment of 48 colts and fillies. They are the most desirable of the crops reared at Almahurst, and purchased from Coldstream and Rancocas, along with several bred at Elmendorf . Some may wonder that Knight is willing to part with fillies like Spartan Valors sister, whom he acquired from the Helis estate, and the sister to Ocean Brief, produced at Elmendorf. But Knight is a commercial breeder and must merchandise stock having the bloodlines that the private breeders want. Spartan Valors sister turns out to look attractively like one of the get of her grandsire, mighty Equipoise, so we naturally thought her outstanding. She is a rather dark chestnut of fine size with the definition of underpinning, the lean, hawky head and neatly pricked ears, that are a hallmark of the "Chocolate Soldiers" tribe. The years handicap leader has the same- qualities, though he is brown with a good deal of white about him. Equipoise sired fewer than 80 foals, but from him descend Shut Out, Attention, Stymie and * Assault, in addition to this seasons Spartan Valor, and the Matters chief rival for handicap honors, the Suburban winner One Hitter. Except for his untimely end Equipoise would doubtless have exerted an influence on American bloodstock comparable to that of his ancestor, Domino. "Valors" dam, Arisbi, also is at Almahurst and is rearing still another sister to the Helis horse. Knight this year bred her to Priam II. Of course, there are other yearlings in the sale on Knight Night that are well recommended, but "Valors" sister will be the very first led into the ring, and we have a notion the bidders will keep her there quite a while. Bloodstock breeding pundits may be interested that Spartan Valor is a first foal. Also that he made his first appearance under colors in a wintertime dash of a quarter mile, for two-year-olds, at New Orleans Fair Grounds. We suppose many would consider he thus had two strikes against him. But J. B. Campbell, for whose critical taste we have the utmost respect, tells us that, in his opinion, Bill Helis horse is the only contemporary performer to compare with runners of "the good old days." If Spartan r Valor rounds to satisfactorily for Frankie Catrone, Chi-cagpans will see a good deal of him during the Arlington meet, which gets on its stakes-strewn way June 16. Where the prejudice against first foals originated we are not pre-pared to say. An occasional first foal is inclined to be undersized, especially if the mare was bred soon after being thrown out of training. And some stallion owners hesitate to book maiden mares, just as some mare owners are reluctant to invest in a season to an expensive stallion for them. But on the whole, we think, that we should prefer a first foal to a tenth foal, for instance, or even a sixth foal. Available statistics in the matter show that after x the third of fourth foal, the odds against obtaining a good one lengthen. The Breeders- Sales Company, incidentally, catalogues first foals cheerfully, so it would seem that ringsiders at the Keeneland auctions do not share the superstition against them. The Belmont Stakes always has been of especial significance to the stud in America, and this week-ends eighty-fourth running marks no exception. Though its futurity conditions have been altered so that is now closes in January of the eligibles three-year-old year, it still has the clause barring geldings. Breeders have come to regard it as a, test of stamina and classic quality in potential sires. And down through the years it has been won by such noted progenitors as Spendthrift, Hanover, Sir Dixon, Hastings, Commando; Peter Pan, Friar Rock* Man o War, Blue Larkspur, Gallant Fox, War Admiral, Bimelech, Shut Out, Count Fleet and the promising young sires, Pavot, Phalanx, Citation and Capot. A victory for Blue Man would further enhance the value of the yearlings by his sire, Blue Swords. Ar-- mageddon has revived interest in Alsab down here in the "Na-tions Horse Capital," and Master Fiddle has attracted much attention to the youthful First Fiddle. Blue Swords, Alsab and First Fiddle all are represented in the "Sale of Select Yearlings." As you might guess, there is large rooting interest in the outcome here in central Kentucky. Turf ana: Ira Drymon, who reared him, tells us that Romantic Roman, one of the livelier N. Y. two -year-olds, was orphaned at four months of age when lightning struck his dam, Captivation. . . . Mrs. S. E. Veitch is recovering from an operation at Whitney Farm here. . . . Marsh Marigold is an exception to a rule, as Master Fiddle is her twelfth foal, ninth winner and second stakes winner. ... Aphrodite, dam of Reverie Knolls Smoke Screen, was traded to Henry Knight by Henry Drew in exchange for some stud seasons. Smoke Screens sire, Drawby, raced for ,000. . . . Blue Mans trainer, Woody Stephens, a product of Midway, Ky., saddled his first winner, Bronze Bugle, in 1940. Nine years earlier, in January of 31, at Hialeah, he rode his first winner, Directly. . . . William Gabby has been conditioning the Almahurst yearlings since 47. . . . m Max Gluck plans visiting his recently acquired Elmendorf Farm here soon. . . . Randalls Buckeye Handicap this summer will have 0,000 added, the new Great Lakes Stakes, for three-year-olds, 0,000. . . . The U. of K. recorded a total of more than 100 instances of virus abortion this season. . . . Seven Polynesians will be offered at Keeneland next month. . . . Arlingtons condition book contains the clause "Arlington Park, in an effort to provide better racing for the horsemen and the public, offers better purses for better horses. In the event these races fail to fill, the purses of the races substituted will be determined, by the calibre of such races." . . . Arlington ground rules permit the entry of two horses of the same interest in overnighters. . . . Fred Burton foresees "A higher class of horses than ever at Keeneland this fall." . . . The English Jockey Club now has a rule that the owner of a horse must be accompanied by the trainer when he visits his stable, . . . D. A. Headley includes a smart Shut Out colt in his consignment of seven to the Keeneland summer sales. This marks his debut as a market m** . breeder. . . • Wat Tyler is in training at Keeneland.
