Between Races: A Gleam Shows Class in Debonair Calumet Trio Makes Vanity Sweep Hollywood Problem on Sweepstakes Refuse a Gleams Double Entry, Daily Racing Form, 1952-06-17

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BETWEEN RACES «, »« HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 16. — There has been a school of thought in the East that holds that Real Delight is perhaps the only really worth-while three-year-old filly in America, but Californ-ians would be inclined to doubt this following another sparkling triumph Saturday on the part of Calumets West Coast heroine, A Gleam. The daughter of Blenheim II. — Twilight Tear won her fourth straight stakes Debonair Debonair in in clever clever fash- Debonair Debonair in in clever clever fash- race in taking the fashion from Stranglehold and Princess Lygia, and upped her lifetime earnings to 21,995. 4 A Gleam is not as yet the equal of Real Delight if only for the fact that Real Delight has proven her ability to go a distance of ground," comments Jimmy Jones. "But A Gleam will be given that chance. She went well enough in the Oaks at a mile and one-sixteenth, but even that distance is not conslusive. A Gleam has shown sparks of real brilliance, and if she can sustain these performances, she will be right in a class with Real Delight. I believe her trouble up till now has been a tinge of rheumatism, and while she had been overcoming that normally, I think the warmer weather of summer might be credited with some of the improvement." AAA After the rebonair was out of the way, the fans figured the three-horse entry of Calumet in the Vanity, to wit, Two Lea, Wistful, and Jennie Lee, were something of a cinch, and so it proved, the trio running one, two, three in that order. It made a clean sweep for Calumet in the Vanity and of the day, for Ky. Lea had won the fifth, giving the Devils red silks one of its greatest days in all history insofar as decisiveness was concerned, but not in money. As for Two Lea, it can be revealed that her racing days are numbered, Jones remarking that she only had a few more races left, perhaps three, in any event no more than five, and that she definitely would be retired to the farm well before stud season next spring. This writer was more interested in the improved race turned in by Wistful, and rated in the 00,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at a mere 108 pounds, she could be far more dangerous than hitherto thought possible. Wistful has a deal of class, too, and a mile A Gleam Shows Class in Debonair Calumet Trio Makes Vanity Sweep Hollywood Problem on Sweepstakes Refuse A Gleams Double Entry and a quarter suits her as well as any other distance. She ran in the Vanity only during the last part, an indication that she has eyes on future events at a greater distance, and that future event could be only the Gold Cup. AAA. Returning to Two Lea, an effort has been made on the West Coast to liken her comeback, after a long absence to the races, to that made by Citation. Jones says the two cases were entirely different, inasmuch as Citation had a low bow, complicated by an osselet, whereas Two Lea had bad feet, had to grow four new ones, and then became bothered with a bit of osselet trouble. Two Lea would have been retired at that time, excepting that Calumet then needed some horses of stake caliber more than the farm needed broodmares, so the lengthy process of fitting Two Lea out with new underpinning was undertaken. Actually, Two Lea was away from the races for a total of 22 months, missing all of her fifth year. Perhaps her best race was the day she was third to Noor and Citation, and beating Ponder, in the Santa Anita Handicap. Two Lea also is a Gold Cup possibility, being weighted at 113 pounds, the same poundage she carried so brilliantly, if fu-tilely, in the Noor race across town. AAA Saturdays twin stakes program unearthed a "legal" situation which few knew existed and which has sparked a discussion that continues on and on. Briefly, it boils down to the premise that a sweepstakes is no longer to be considered as a contract, and that an entry may be refused under certain circumstances even though the track accepted nomination fees. It came about with A Gleam being named in both the Vanitay and the Debonair, and, when Jimmy Jones went to enter her in both stakes, he was informed that such was against the rules of the Hollywood Turf Club, said rules being "house rules" and not those of the California Horse Racing Board. Even so, house rules at most every track are clearly recognized as carrying authority except in the instance where they might conflict with racing statutes, which •the double entry rules does not. Jones explained his position rather simply. "Whether t to run A Gleam in the Vanity or the Debonair was a moot question in my mind, and | I really shouldnt have made a decision until after the draw for post positions and j until after I had seen my opposition. A lot of decisions effecting both the training and racing of thoroughbreds should be made only at the last minute, because so ; j many things can happen. Training and racing are meeting conditions as they develop, and are not amendable, in the usual 1 cousre of events, of any iron-clad advance ! planning " Jones intimated that as long I | j as he had paid the fees for A Gleam in both the Vanity and Debonair, that his ; entry in both stakes should have been accepted. Some legal brains add that in their : opinion he should have his Vanity nomina-tion I fee refunded, inasmuch as A Gleams entry was refused in that stake. AAA Racing secretary Johnny Maluvius explains the tracks stand thusly: "Our first duty is to the public to present worthwhile racing programs. The rule both here and at Santa Anita has been in effect for quite some time prohibiting double entry in two races on any one day, including sweepstakes. Much of the need for such a rule arose when the racing board passed a rule, at the request of the horsemen, that any race having six different interests must go, regardless. I have seen a 10-horse sweepstakes in which six of the overnight starters also were named in another race the same day. Either one or the other races, or both, were riddled as a result. The rules of the New York Jockey Club, so far as I can find, say nothing about a stake being a contract. It has been a part of the unwritten law of racing that they are. Whether Calumet would be entitled to its nomination fee back on A Gleam in the Vanity would be up to the stewards to decide, although I doubt if any such request will be made. The rule is printed in every condition book, and every one knows it is , • there, and that if a horse is eligible for ! , two stakes on the same day, a choice must be made before the closing of the entries. As a rule, such situations do not develop, as when we run two stakes, they usually cater to different type horses, although it could happen again at this meeting next Saturday in the Cinema and Lakes and Flowers, the Cinema being for three-qear-olds, the Lakes and Flowers for three-year-olds and upwards. Anyway, we believe the rule is the fairest possible for all concerned."


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