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i 1 Native Dancer Is Never Fully Extended in Withers Triumph Draws Off to Four-Length t Accounting Over Invigorator While Held at I t670 Odds By BOB HORWOOD Staff Correspondent BELMONT PARK, Elmont. L. I.. N. Y., May 16. — Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilts Native Dancer paraded before a crowd of 38.044 in the 78th running of the Withers Mile at Belmont Park today, drawing and• roar from the throng as he drew away from his two rivals with majistral authority in the stretch to triumph by four lengths. Saxon Stables Invigorator finished in "sec ond place, two and a half lengths before Mrs. George F. Spears Real Brother, the only other starter. ***-" Eric Guerin shook his stick beside -4hj? gray colts head by way of a signal wlita* he was ready to move away from his rivals at the eighth pole, but Native Danc?6F% 9 never fully extended and came back to the winners circle as fr.esh as when he came on the track. He paid .10 and stepped the mile in 1:36 Vs. The son of Polynesia?!*? Geisha, by Discovery, earned 3,050 of*bhe gross purse of 2,150, bringing, his total earnings to 85,045, gleaned by 1jflfr tories in 12 starts, his only defeat bemgin Continued on Page Three " - *0*V i Native Dancer Gallops to Four-Length Triumph in Withers at Belmont Park Draws Off to Four-Length i Accounting Over Invigorator While Held at 1 to 20 Odds Continued from Page One the Ketnucky Derby two weeks ago, when he was beaten a head by Dark Star. Native Dancer was in a running mood from the start today, stumbling slightly in his eagerness to come out of the gate, and running with his ears pinned back, as he does when anxious to give his best. Guerin took a light hold to steady "The Dancer" after they left the gate, while Pete Anderson sent Real Brother into a lead of more than two lengths as he stepped the first quarter in :234/5- Native Dancer and Invigorator raced as a team behind the pacemaker with the gray colt on the outside. Real Brother continued to lead around the far turn, but Native Dancer and Invigorator, still racing together, moved up on the outsider of the small field until they were lapped on him. Guerin let out a notch at the half mile pole and it took Native Dancer six, long, apparently effortless strides to take command. He went a trifle wide at the final turn, allowing Invigorator and Real Brother, who saved the most ground, to stay almost level with the favorite until they were straightened away for the long run to the wire. They had run the six furlongs in 1:11% and Guerin didnt rouse Native Dancer until he was well inside the quarter pole, shaking his stick at him a couple of times and scuffling a bit. Native Dancer stepped the seventh furlong in :12V5 then coasted the final furlong in :12%, just allowing the colt to run as fast as he cared to without urging and without being restrained. After the race, Guerin. who had put on a clean pair of pants for this race, said: "They broke so quickly that he stumbled, but he never had any trouble after that. He is the runningest hOrse I have ever been on. I just waved my whip at him a few times, but never hit him." Guerin added two other winners to his triumph in the Withers, taking the third race on Semolina and the seventh on Flight Cloud. Hedley Woodhouse said that Invigorator, went as far as he could, and they the gray horse left us." Pete Anderson said that he had been ordered to let Native Dancer make the pace, but that he had been unable to hold Real Brother. There was a minus pool of ,455.40, but the association saved ,250 when Vander-bilt scratched Social Outcast, who could not have received less than that sum for being fourth. That portion of the purse returned to the association. When Count Fleet won the Withers of 1943 at the same odds, the minus pool was more than 6,000. While the issue was never in doubt, the Withers had its element of suspense as Real Brother and Invigorator gave the illusion of a contest until well in the stretch. After that, the gray colt took com- mand, looking every inch a champion as he swept past the roaring crowd. Native Dancer looked a darker gray than usual today, the warm afternoon having caused him to break out a little in the paddock. Wheatley Stables Hilarious, who was rated on the third notch of the Experimental Handicap behind Native Dancer on his juvenile form, won his first race as a three-year-old in the Boatswain Purse that preceded the Withers. The son of Bimelech, who is somewhat touched" in the wind, ran the fastest six furlongs of the meeting as he drew out to beat Jack Amiels favored Sun Warrior by four and a half lengths in 1:10%. C. V. Whitneys Fly Wheel finished fairly well to be a half length farther back in third place, a neck before G. C. Ganters Virtuous. Ted Atkinson rode Hilarious, who broke more alertly than usual, and Jim Fitzsim-mons charge paid 5.00. Last year, Hilarious won the Tremont and two other races in a brief campaign of five starts. Todays race was his twelfth this year and by far his best. A colt named Hilarious, owned by James R. Keene, won the Withers of 1909.
