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V***- **RV II Weighing In I By EVAN SHIPMAN DELAWARE PARK, Stanton, Del., June 12. — This little track which, with Keene- land, is operated as a non-profit organization, has always boasted a distinguished stake program, and top horses in every division ship here for these worthwhile events that , carry considerable ! value in terms of dollars, and considerable I prestige as well. No matter how desirable , the participation of the I big stables is, however. !no track can afford to neglect the more modest campaigners. You have to take i care of platers, and we have noticed that j it requires considerably more ingenuity to j write an interesting book for platers than I it does to think up stake events that will attract good horses and interest the weekend public. Too often, in our opinion, racing secretaries are inclined to take the easy way out, listing a plethora of six- and seven-furlong dashes for the claiming brigade. Here at Delaware, secretary Gil Haus has realized that the platers can help to put on a good show if the distance they are asked to travel is stretched out. We find that it takes a very good sprinter, indeed, to make a six-furlong dash interesting, but, frankly, we have often been thrilled to see a cheap field at routes of nine furlongs to a mile and a half or two miles. The public seems to agree with us in this matter. Horsemen, on the other hand, are prone to protest that their cheaper charges are not "up to" these tasks, and it requires a certain amount of artful temptation on the part of the racing secretary before such long distance events will fill satisfactorily. Last year, for example, Delaware Park found, near the close of its meeting, that there was considerable money left over from the original amount advertised in purse values. This was because many of the advertised events in the book had not filled, and cheaper races had been substituted. Secretary Haus was instructed by the management to use this money for long distance overnight races, and that meant he would be, often, offering a ,000 purse for ,500 platers — an invitation that you would hardly suppose would be disdained. Well, from what we hear, Haus still had a lot of trouble filling those races, and the numberless excuses he had to listen to are an old story around any secretarys office. We do not know just how Haus answered these wails, but we imagine that he told the horsemen that a lot of them would never know whether or not they had a stayer in the barn until they made the experiment. And we imagine also that he said something about pace, rather than distance, being the major factor in breaking down horses. He may also have added that, where cheap horses are concerned, bloodlines have very little to do with their ability to say a route. Consistency, they say, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a good horse, but we can remember a goodly number of humble platers who showed marked consistency, particularly over the long distances. These horses, for all that they often raced with a price tag attached as low as ,500, quickly became familiar favorites with the crowd. We actually believe that such thoroughbreds as Misrule around New York and Maryland and Guy Fawkes in New England would swell the attendance at the tracks where they were due to appear by many hundreds, and we are all familiar with the firm hold game old Malicious had on the affections of Cali-fornians. As we recall, Misrules owner lost him, through claim, time and time again, but he always re-purchased the French gelding at private sale, and it is quite possible that all, or nearly all, of his many starts were in the Fleischman colors. Misrule, like Guy Fawkes, who used to be campaigned by our friend, Lyman Brusie, was originally cut out to be a top horse, but they both had weak underpinning and would stand little or no training. Nevertheless, their legs stood up, under wise care, season after season. We believe that they endured the longer because they were not hustled out of the gate in sprints. Yesterdays Delaware card concluded with a mile and a half race for a group of. horses entered for ,500 — about as low as you get these days at a major track, and yet this was a pleasant event to watch. The feature was the second leg of the Montchanin Handicap, a race designed by Haus for horses who have started for ,500 or less since last October 2. Beginning with a mile and a sixteenth, the Montchanin gradually works up, by successive stages, to a final at a mile and six furlongs, and these races excite a lot of local interest among horsemen and public alike. The very consistent Bimelech mare, Bimfort, was the favorite yesterday, having captured Continued on Page Thirty-Seven I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four the first leg by a wide margin last week, and for most of this nine-furlong trip, she was on the head end, and looked like making it two in a row. Just inside the furlong pole, however, the gray South American, Benhadar, from Bob Odoms barn, caught Bimfort and went on to score with plenty in reserve from Net Result and Vamanos, the mare tiring badly under a nine-pound heavier burden than she had carried the previous week. Benhadar, we learn from Horatio Luro, was bred in Venezuela by Senor Jorge de Atucha, who will be remembered as having shipped the giant Endeavour JJ. to this country for the Empire International Gold Cup some years ago. According to Luro, Benhadar showed nothing remarkable in his native land, but this nine-year-old entire horse by Badruddin is extremely well bred, and may prove a useful sort up here. We had seen this fellow once before, he winning a high class claiming race recently at Belmont Park for Eddie Arcaro. On that occasion, we. thought that Benhadar was possibly underestimated by his connections, because he gave us the impression of being master of the situation at all times. Yesterday, Ronnie Nash kept Benhadar much farther off the pace than had Arcaro, but the result was the same. The winner, who only had two horses beaten in the field of 10 with half a mile to go, made his move between the turns, making up many lengths on the leaders, and it was already evident at the head of the stretch that the invader was going to reach. On what he showed us yesterday, and unless the handicapper is particularly severe, Benhadar, while no Talon nor Ol-haverry, will pay for his oats in this country, and his first contributions toward that end will come from the ensuing legs of the Montchanin.
