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REFLECTIONS B* kelson dunstan NEW YORK, N. Y., May 15.— Tul-yar, the European wonder horse, who was bought by the Irish National Stud, for approximately 50,000, has been insured for his full value with six companies participating in the policy, the highest ever written on a thoroughbred. . . . The Joe E. Palmer Handicap, which is actually a memorial to the late, brilliant turf editor of the N. Y. Herald Tribune, will be a Belmont feature next Tuesday, and the turf writers throughout the country appreciate this recognition of a man they all worked with. . . . The daily mutuel handle of approximately ,000,000 was the largest in the long history of the Bowie race track. . . . Preston Burch, the Brookmeade trainer, will judge the Maryland-bred yearling show on May 19 and, with his lifetime devotion to the thoroughbred, he is perfectly qualified for a job of that kind. . . . Despite reports to the contrary, Lesie Combs II. has made no attempts to syndicate the stallion Royal Charger, who is soon due in this country. . . . Monsoon, dam of Cold Command, was a winner of over 00,000. ... A Forst Hills real estate organization was the buyer of the old Sheepshead Bay race track property and will develop a housing project on it to be called American Park. . , . The Saratoga yearling sales will open on August 10, and on Travers Day, August 15, a morning sale of horses-in-training will be held. . . . The Washington, D. C, International will be run on November 7. AAA The best news of the day was that a settlement had been reached between the Hollywood management and the HBPA and that racing will open at the California track tomorrow. Following all the excitement, in which neither side refused to yield, the unwarranted statements of lawyers, who would not hesitate to kill racing in Cali- Hollywood Opens Today in California Everyone Hoping Peace to Be Continued Dispute in Own Ranks Injurious to Sport Idle Hour Farm May Have New Record fornia provided they won their case, and the hyprocrisy of jockeys who violated their own code of ethics despite meek statements that they were "neutral," who really won anything? A | in war, no one won. The loser was horse racing itself. How long are these disagreements going to continue with both sides refusing to meet each other? Racing has many enemies on the outside but the greatest harm during the past year has come from those within its own ranks. It is not for us to say who was right or wrong in the Hollywood dispute, but it is for us to say that the sport is being injured at the very height of its acceptance by the public. These differences of opinion, or differences in policy, should be settled long before a meeting is scheduled to get under way. This writer, for one, did not agreed with the stand the jockeys took in the Hollywood case, and Eddie Arcaro, as its president, and Sterling Young, western manager of the guild, should have refrained from injecting himself into the dispute. AAA There are some subjects regarding the thoroughbred that always bring differences of opinion. One is inbreeding, on which this writer has ever kept an open mind. But it will take considerable argument to prove it is worth the effort and the money put into it. For years we have been reading about the "doubling-up" of St. Simon in England, Lexington in this country, and later Ultimus, who was an inbred Donimo. During late years the proponents of inbreeding have said: "How about Battlefield?" He is a horse that is a solid argument in favor of those who support the inbreeding theory. But Battlefield, now on the sidelines, is by War Relic, a son of Man o War, thus of the Fair Play line. On the distaff side he is out of Dark Display, by Display, another son of Fair Play. He proved to be one of the greatest in turf annals, but is he a true example of some of the experiments that are being tried with close-up ancestors today? The last thing in the world this writer, who never invested a nickel in the breeding of a horse, wants to do is criticize a man who is willing to gamble with his breeding stock and his pocketbook to try out a theory. But this writer, after watching these experiments for a quarter of a century, now questions whether the number of successful horses substantiate the theory that an owner or breeder will get a sufficient number of top horses to justify the experiments. AAA Whenever a truly great sire comes along, and certainly Bull Lea must be included in that category, there are some breeders who want to double -up on his blood. The latest is True Davis, Jr., the owner of the young sire, De Luxe. Davis is also the owner of Bull Leas sister, Summer Time. He now plans a mating of these two horses and this is just another of the thousand experiments that have been made through the years. Then, to our surprise, we read in the Thoroghbred Record recently that Jimmy Jones, the Calumet trainer, was advocating inbreeding to this great horse, who is now at Calumet Farm with Citation, Coaltown and other noted horses. This writer, and we work only from the records, is not an advocate of breeding within two generations of the same sire. It did succeed with Battlefield and it did with other horses, but we continue to wonder if the number of failures do not offset those who did made their way on the race course. Bull Lea has done mighty well with mares of other blood - Continued on Page Thirty-Nine ! ! I j j : j ] 1 1 I j j j I | I ] j ] ] I ! i I ] ] ] j ; * : I I c * REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAiM Continued from Page Forty -Eight lines, so why experiment along inbreeding lines with the horse who now stands out as one of the great sires of all time? AAA There is plenty of excitement and also headaches on the breeding farms these days. At A. T. Simmons Idle Hour Farm last Monday night a mare suddenly decided to drop her foal, although it was not expected until a few days later. Many of the men around the farm had left for their homes, so Simmons took off his coat, loosened his tie, and said he would help with foaling the youngster. When the off-I spring arrived it was a colt, and that re-I lieved everybody, for she was the last mare on the farm due to deliver. The net result of the breeding season was 13 colts and two fillies, and that is about as good an average as this writer has ever heard of. There may have been better averages, but the Simmons contingent was delighted. In the group are seven youngsters by Blue Swords, and one of them is a full brother to Blue Man, who was one of the outstanding three-year-olds early in the 1952 season. Last year, A. W. Abbott, owner of Blue Man, bought the younger brother in the Keeneland salesring for 2,000. It is a question who will be the top bidder for the youngster foaled this season and who will go into the salesring next year.
