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CONNORS CORNER By Chuck Connors AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 27. Dr. Charles, Strub, the top man at Santa Anita, according to advices from the Los Angeles area, would like to re-r vive the old fashioned selling race. The doctor has in this area many a, seconder for the motion, but how far the resolution would get if put to a vote is something else. wThe selling race, the forerunner of the present day claimer, is more or less all Greek to the younger generation of the training prof ession and to some of their elders it is just a remembrance. New York has not programmed, on the flat, such a race in years and the paddock veterans were at a loss to place the date of .the last one offered. The selling race was fashioned .that starters 4iwere entered for a certain price and the winner could be run up by anyone bidding while the owner had the privilege of protecting his charge by an advance of . However, an owner who had a starter in. that race could claim any horse but the winner for the entered amount. That originated the expression so common on the tracks in those days he started a policeman ah entrant so named to be used for claiming purposes only and, in many instances, brought about a wholesale scratching. Selling race wars, often the result of animosity between owners and trainers were carried to extremes. For a while part of the runup money, that is if a horse was entered for 00 and after winning was bid to say 00 and protected, went to the second horse. This brought into existence men of the caliber of "Kansas City" Sam Lewis and J. W. Hedrick who specialized in tilting a horse to a certain amount, knowing full well that he would be protected by his original owner. AAA The selling race was abused in the past and there is no doubt on that score, for many an owner would run a horse of near stake or handicap quality for a low price knowing full well that he would be returned the winner and could be protected at all costs. .Instances such as these concern horses like Lion dOr, Gladiator and others. Immediately following the running of a selling race, a crowd would gather around the judges stand, those structures were situated on the finish line and not on the roof as at present. When the race was made Selling Race Forerunner to Claimer EventsCausedWarsAmongTurfmen Bidding Duels Around Judges Stand Parallel of Tom Fool and Equipoise official, the presiding or senior judge would intone that the winner entered for soandso was for sale and call for advance. Whether the answer was affirmative or negative, the onlookers always got a kick out of the happenings, more so if the boys started bidding. To stage a selling race today the whole structure of the racing rules would be changed but it is doubtful if an owner would take a chance and run a stake or handicap horse. The big incentive today is missing the chances of winning a healthy wager or what could be looked upon as a sure thing. At that such a return to the old days might furnish some excitement during the afternoon, but it is rather doubtful. AAA Mrs. Esther duPont.Weir flew up from her Wilmington, Del., home yesterday to witness her Clive of India prevail in the Forget Hurdle affair. . .John Bain ton, the veteran, gave the boys a tip on his age during the hot spell. He sported a seersucker ensemble. . .The Marlboro Studs Jet Master is. back at his Belmont Park stable following an invasion of Delaware and New Jersey that lasted about three weeks. . .Bob McKeever, the veteran who died on Thursday, was at one time a printer on the old New York Journal before he turned to racing in the 90s. . .Charles Kruse, a groom at Aqueduct, was kicked by a horse and suffered two broken ribs. The bent members were taped at the Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica. . .Trainer Bob Odom is pointing the Charfran Stables Crafty Admiral for the Carter Handicap. . .Joe Eitinger returned from another excursion to Monmouth Park . . . Charles Cohen, master of the Charfran Stable, is down on the New Jersey coast trying to beat the heat and prepare to celebrate his natal day on Saturday. He is due back here by Monday. AAA Blenomar, owned by the Charfran Stable, is turned out to be freshened up for the three-week session at Jamaica and then be shipped to Saratoga Springs for that meeting. . .Phillip Goehring, who finished third astride Eternal Light in Thursdays final, is a 20-year-old Jamaica, N. Y., youth. Following his graduation from high school, he tried commercial and office work but for the past four years has been galloping horses for the Apheim Stable. . .P. L. Gris- som will be in from Detroit to witness his Dixie Flyer perform in the Vagrancy Handicap... The South evidently was not represented when Confederacy was making a bold bid through the stretch to overtake Tiny Request, or if so they withheld their rebel yells. However, honors were carried off by Texas with the dam Yankees, third . . .Hitex, pronounced Hit-X and not High-tex, despite his Texas ownership, Ben F. Whitaker, in his two years of racing has yet to win a stake but has humbled some mighty good ones on occasions. AAA Andy Gustafson, the Miami University football coach, and Earl "Greasy" Neale, another tutor in the pigskin art, spent the afternoon discussing two subjects. The other was racing. Mrs. Gustafson decided that Friday would be a good day to visit Monmouth and break up the incessant chatter of forward passes, end runs and well, what about this one, he drops weight . . .The air-conditioning unit of that the little guy who showed up last Saturday, in place of old man summer, went haywire the past couple of days. The concrete lawn was no place to cool off. The attendance, for clear skies, was the lowest of the season-. Probably many followed the lead of Isidore Bfeber and played the beaches instead of the field... The filly, Lode" Star, who was struck by lightning about a week ago, will probably be destroyed. The insurance company veterinarians have examined the miss on several occasions and are about convinced that she cannot be saved for racing or breeding. AAA Frank Kearns returned from Monmouth Park where he went to saddle Crocodile, owned by Harvey Fruehauf , in a race. The English-bred will be campaigned at Saratoga Springs. . .Trainer Bert Mulholland showed up yesterday to report that he did not feel any too hilarious. One of his starters was whipped by this fleet one earlier in the meeting: Mulholland later reported that Battlefield is coming along nicely but his next appearance under silks is indefinite. The four-yeaf-old is a victim of sinus . . .The Greentree Stables Tom Fool is eligible for the Carter to be run on July 4 and the Dwyer to be run on July 5. The Carter is at seven furlongs under handicap conditions and the Dwyer over the mile and one-quarter distance. Tom Fool is entitled to many allowances in the longer race. There is a certain parallel between Tom Fool and Equipoise. The latter was on the sick list for the better part of his three-year-old career and then as a four-year-old came back to be a handicap star. History could repeat in this instance.
