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■ BETWEEN RACES By Oscar Otis HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 6.— The Belmont Stakes does not arouse the public excitement here in the ■ Far West as does the Kentucky Derby to a great extent, and the Preakness to a lesser, but insofar as horsemen and breeders are concerned, the race is one of real significance. From this distance, this writer rather fancies Blue Man, and if this estimation is correct, it will serve to mark the coming of age, so to age, speak, of W. C. "Woody" Stephens as one of Americas ranking trainers. Checking back on the records, it is apparent that Stephens has done remarkably well with the stock he has had under his care. It was our good fortune during Preakness week to be at the old clubhouse at Pimlico and every evening after the races, wed chat with Joe Kramer of Brookmeade, who, after Roaring Bull couldnt make it, was hoping that Woody could. Stephens himself was commuting from New York. To : fill in further on the background, we also wish to remind our readers of the premise advanced in New Jersey by W. E. Charles, Jr., of the HBPA, broadcasting the thesis that the backstretch could be a career instead of just a job. Stephens proves his point. AAA "I guess the luckiest thing in the world that ever happened to me was to get fat," remarked Stephens one evening. "Id come along the usual way, rode a spell, and then started galloping horses. In those days, they wanted exercise boys light, and it was uncommon to see an exercise boy who weighed much over 120 pounds. One morning I galloped a horse as usual, and when I returned, I noticed a glare of displeasure on the part of the man. When I dismounted, he took me by the arm and led me a ways directly to a scale. He made me get on, and I tipped the beam at 130 pounds. Silently he led me back to the stable, and just as silently handed me a rub rag. I was no longer an exercise boy, i but a groom. I made the best of it, and as long as I couldnt gallop horses any more, I decided Id just as soon be the best groom in the world, if I could. If I hadnt gotten heavy, Id no doubt still be exercising horses. And as a groom, I learned things : i * Belmont Interests Wests Turfmen i Stephens Got Fat, Became Trainer Blue Mans Beetlebaum Maneuver Twin Stakes at Hollywood Today about the care and especially about legs and feet that no exercise boy or jockey can ever learn. My break finally came, and I started training horses on my own. Whatever success I may have had, I owe it to my education about thoroughbreds while serving as a groom. As you probably know, Blue Man is the only outside horse I have in my barn. My employer, Mr. Royce Martin, kindly let me take him upon request." AAA Said Kramer after the Preakness, while cooling out the nervous Stephens, who in turn was cooling out his horse: "Blue Man will win the Belmont if he follows the same tactics he did today in the Preakness, and he used different tactics than he did in the Kentucky Derby. I call it the— Here comes Beetlebaum-maneuver. Beetlebaum is the collective name for all those horses who have but one run. The one safe way to play it in a stake with such a horse is to let him drop back early and then, when he makes his move, get him -to the outside so that when he gets in stride to make his run there will be no chance of his being impeded. When the Beetlebaum type horse has his stride broken, or gets into close quarters, they usually do not recover quickly and sometimes not at all. Blue Man in the Preakness was out where he had no chance [to get in trouble, but he did not go any wider than was called for under the particular set of circumstances. When such a horsemakes a bold and dramatic move iike that, it often develops that the public announcer calls out and here comes Beetlebaum. Hence the saying. In any event, unless an unusual amount of luck enters* it usually is the wisest strategy to give such a horse a full chance to make his run in stride." AAA Here at Hollywood Park, fans will be diverted by twin stakes, the Hollywood Oaks at a mile an one-sixteenth and the Haggin Stakes at five furlongs for two-year-old colts and geldings. The Oaks boils down to three fillies, Princess Lygia, A Gleam and Tonga. The Haggin has resolved itself into a small field, and the only question is whether Little Request can or cannot be i ♦beaten. Trainer Bill Finnegan believes that Princess Lygia will definitely stick, perhaps as far as horses go. If so, she is definitely better than the .proverbial empty stall. A Gleam could be Americas number two sophomore filly if she set her mind to it, the first, of course, being Real Delight. A Gleam is positively brilliant in her top races, of which the Milady Handicap last Saturday was one a new track record of 1:21% for seven furlongs but in all her past history, A Gleam has never been absolutely dependable. This is a cause for frequent sighs on the part of trainer Jimmy Jones, for if A Gleams races were all of the Milady type, she would be a jewel without a price. Another brilliant performance in the Oaks would go a long ways toward convincing the fans that she has turned over a new leaf, especially as regards her two-year-old form in Chicago, where she exasperated by indicating tremendous possibilities, then as often as not failing in the promise. Tonga has become a different sort of horse since being taken off the early pace. AAA The Haggin is named for the great California breeder of the halycon days of the Gold Coast, and since 1940, its inaugural year, has four times been split. There is no such possibility on Saturday because Little Request seems to have scared the wits out of most of the juveniles on the grounds, winning as he did, at first outing, in :5iys pulled up almost to a walk. This writer has never subscribed to the theory that one good race makes a good race horse, but if Little Request can repeat in the best company that can be mustered here in the West, we for one will be a long way towards being convinced. The Arizona lettuce grower, Joe Palmisano, tells me that the Haggin is the vital test for Little Request, and upon its outcome will be decided -whether or not to send him to Chicago, New York, arid Maryland following the close of the Hollywood Park season, where he is fairly liberally staked. The East is not the strange place for Palmisano that many Westerners find it, for the mans lettuce gose everywhere on the continent. As we reported earlier, the man is endeavoring to build a prestige stable, one that will be a factor on the major tracks of America, and if Little Request proves worthy to launch such an ambitious project, so much the better. Incidentally, when Palmisano went to the Keeneland sales last year to buy yearlings, including Little Request, he had never been in Kentucky before.
