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JUDGES STAND Ry charles hatton PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 14, — The field for the seventy-seventh Preakness, second of Americas Triple Crown events here on the twenty-third, should assume fairly definite shape with the decision of the Withers mile at Belmont Park and the Preakness Trial here on Monday. Still more or less in the Preakness this morning were Native Dancer, Dark Star, Correspondent, Royal Bay Gem, Jamie K., Real Brother, Tahi-tian King, Isasmoothie, Ram o War and Invigorator. There are 10 in that group, with a possibility week-end competition will result in some additions to the list, or subtractions from it. Fred Colwill, who has done such a knowledgeable job as racing secretary at this point, expects that Mondays Trial will bring together one of the classiest three-year-old fields of the spring season. Dark Star, Correspondent, Invigorator, Ram o War, Isasmoothie asnd Real Brother are prospective entrants in this ,500 test of a mile and a sixteenth. The Trial is under allowance conditions and Harry Guggenheims gallant Dark Star will be the starting topweight under 122 pounds, making a concession of eight to a refreshed Correspondent. Though Dark Star ran what horsemen call "a big race" in the Downs classic, hanging on grimly when Native Dancer challenged, most observers seem convinced "the best horse" was second, and the Saga-morean is expected to rule staunch favorite again in the Preakness. Particularly if he picks up the winning thread again in the Withers. Reports from Long Island have him training smartly for it. This Preakness, incidentally, will be the most extensively "covered" of all its renewals, what with a nationwide CBS radio and TV broadcast, and a request for press credentials almost- double those of any .previous season. See Classy Field for Preakness Trial Hyperions Descendants Bid for Oaks Arcaro Says Dancer Is Not Yet Great Many Still Favor Broader Distribution Americas second generation Hyperions continue factors to conjure with in the seasons classical three-year-old events. Correspondent, Money Broker, Blaze and others have shared generously in the purse distribution in colt races. Secret Meeting and Sally Catbird now loom rather formidable on the horizon of the three-year-old filly stakes. Both are daughters of the 00,000 Hyperion horse, Alibhai, who serves at Les Combs Spendthrift in Kentucky. Secret Meeting may be said to have "arrived" in the Acorn, which harked only the third start of her budding career for James Cox Brady. Here at Pimlico, Louis Lee Haggin II.s Sally Catbird has reminded Balti-moreans she is in their 0,000 Blackeyed Susan on Decoration Day. Haggin is assembling a small, select stud of about 10 mares in the Blue Grass, and purchased Sally Catbird privately from Greentree at Hialeah last winter, largely for her bloodlines and intrinsic worth at stud. She is out of the Sickle mare, On the Level. Greentree did not place Sally Catbird on the market, but Haggin and Jock Whitney are friends and the New York sportsman placed a price on her when Keenelands president manifest an interest in having her. At Keeneland this spring, trainer Joe Kramer hacked her about the fields mornings. She has since shown a zest for race tracks and has improved steadily in recent weeks, so that she will retire to the stud recommended by an acceptable racing record. Sally Catbird is so typically a Hyperion, with her rich chestnut coat and excellent definition of underpinning, she might readily pass for an own daughter of the Stanley House stallion, who has exerted such a vital influence on the worlds bloodstock. Reminds one a bit of Lord Derbys Hyperion filly, Sun Stream, a sister to Helio-polis. who won the Epsom Oaks. AAA Jockey Eddie Arcaro says, "I have a lot more respect for Native Dancer now than I had before the Derby. I still do not think he has proven himself a great horse, however. We will buy that, as the popular expression goes. It may be uncharitable of us but "great" is an appellation we rarely have occasion to employ, and it seems to us that it is being cheapened through promiscuous usage. Perhaps Native Dancer was a great two-year-old. A recitation of his achievements at that age sound a little prodigal. But then "two-year-old" is a sort of modifier. Similiarly, we may say Osmand was a great sprinter, Exterminator a great cup horse. But one is lucky to see five unqualifiedly great race horses in a lifetime. A. G. Vanderbilts strapping gray may ultimately prove "one of the ones," if he remains sound and this potentiality lends his performances a peculiar interest for racegoers and TV fans across the nation. Arcaro thought "The Dancer" was loafing when he might better have been on his bicycle at some stages of the Derby, and he expect "Guerin will shake him up leaving the gate in the Preakness and you will see him run a different kind of a race." Guerin, of course, rode him to orders at Louisville. As it turned out his mount could not take Dark Star lightly as he had the colts he met in New York. Since the Preakness is a sixteenth shorter than the Derby, he is likely to come out running in this one. AAA We doubt if you have heard the final word on the recent proposal to "redistribute the distribution" to provide Continued on Page Thirty-Nine a " T si sj a tl t to n ? ™ . a 1 B j. to I s f of a a is e j j j j . 1 j , JUDGES STAND By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page Forty-Eight awards back to fifth or sixth place. The w Maryland Jockey Club had planned to "■ "I adopt a policy of having fifth awards at * this meeting, but abandoned it when the 0j of TRA directorate expressed a dim view of m such a distribution, without, however, ■ stating what they considered so objection- . able about it. There is to be a meeting of j tu the TRA in which this matter is expected H He come up for discussion, and we have a 01 on, notion some of the member tracks will cast a vote in favor of it. This corner has k, heard all sorts of arguments for and s against offering fifth or sixth awards. Some ic fear it would lead to a competition among st tracks for horses on the basis of attractive tl awards for also-rans, eventually extending a; beyond the first five or six. But then the e] TRA might agree to an arbitrary limit. o: on Racing, of course, cannot guarantee any- S body who invests in a horse that the animal a a will not be a liability, and we are opposed r such things as reimbursing jockey fees. js is But it is important in the interests of a a sounder racing economy to spread some of f the fabulous purse distribution over more g the horsemen. h AAA Turf ana: Mrs Henry Obre, who is racing c small string in Danny Sheas care, has _ — imported a two-year-old Signal Light fil- a ly for competition here. . . . Ralph de v Chiaro tells us Randalls flossy turf club j£ being further improved. . . . Waited, who • earned his diploma earlier in the week, is e the first winner saddled by his owner, Mrs. ti to Barbara M. Kees. . . . Mort Weil has a p filly from Alerted s immediate family he c plans to breed. . . . Royal Vale is a prospect for Chicago stakes. . . . The Washington, _ D. C, International intrigues TV magnates. . . Nesbit Waddington recently inspected the French yearlings The Aga will offer Saratogans. . . . The Germans captured I all Jeff Conns horses except Plucky Liege, who was considered too puny to travel, and doubtless would have taken Epinard, except that he was broken to harness and disguised as a cart horse, pulling a small r wagon about the streets of Paris. a
