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■™™"« BETWEEN RACES *oxmotb HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood. Calif., May 21. — Upon our return to California, most everybody asked us for details and items about Native Dancer, an indication that he has captured the public imagination of the nation as has no other horse since Citation. Most everybody is gradually ly accepting accepting him him as as a a great great race race horse horse ■™™"« ly accepting accepting him him as as a a great great race race horse horse despite his defeat in the Kentucky Derby, and all hands will so accept him, we are sure, if he is convincing enough in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Native Dancer has faile*d to step on his pedigree, as many predicted he would, and has gone a full mile and a quarter, less a head, in the Derby. He has come up to his spring form in a manner that has dazed old time horsemen, who insisted his time schedule was too short, after the application of the firing irons, which occurred on December 1, last, at Santa Anita. About the only question really left, then, is his soundness, a matter of considerable debate and no little interest, especially as every race, and training move he makes, is under the close scrutiny of able horsemen. It might be stated that insofar as the records are concerned, all the doubts have been expressed by those outside the stable. He ran soundly enough in the Withers at Belmont last Saturday, but just to make sure, we checked with owner Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt about it, who remarked: "He is as sound as horses come, and he has never had heat in his ankles, even before firing. His ankles are rough looking, hence are deceptive. There is one optical illusion about Native Dancer you can check for yourself. One ankle has a large patch of white hairs, the other has not. This difference in color is what throws a person off when judging him. Rough, yes, but unsound, no." AAA There is more of a foundation In truth in what Van- An Appraisal of Native Dancers Ankles Looks Alone Do Not Make Race Horse Great Everett Adds Prestige to Las Vegas Track Dual Stakes to Enhance Holly park Program derbilt said than most people might readily admit, an item which was proved rather dramatically and forcefully in the Southwest a few years ago. Indeed, the incidents were such as to change the concept of an. entire breed. We refer, of course, to the quarter horse. It wasnt many years ago when horse show judges in Arizona and New Mexico awarded their blue ribbons to horses with the best conformation and appearance in the show ring, plus, of course, freedom from the obvious defects such as being over at the knees. For a spell, breeders tried to get this type for the blue ribbons, and while they got what they wanted, to their surprise, they found that in general, the ribbon winners were comparatively useless for any purpose. Some fine looking horses were utterly dumb in the scale of equine intelligence, while others had so little heart as to be poor specimens for even riding academy use. Some of the pioneers in the industry came to the decision to junk conformation as a basic guide, and substitute merit. And merit is today the foundation of the present quarter horse breed registration book, or stud book. It still is a prime requirement for entrance into that book, and only a few breeds are barred completely, like the Appaloosian, which gets Native Dancers ankles. They may be rough, but to date they have accomplished the job for which nature intended them. AAA When Webb Everett resigned his post at Santa Anita to become the general manager at Las Vegas, turf observers took this to mean that Vegas was going to fulfill its press releases and go "first cabin." We agree with this analysis, and can further report that the Vegas track, in its picturesque setting surrounded by sage and sand, is going a step further and will bring a well-known New York name out as its presiding steward. This name will be one which has commanded some prestige in that it has been closely allied with The Jockey Club and the clubs school for officials, which is spreading its influence throughout the nation. In fact, New York has loaned out so many of its trained men that one bigwig recently posed the query if the great metropolitan tracks had not indeed weakened themselves, personnel wise, by having so many of its men in other places. The answer was no, that the men who remained in New York were not only as competent as those who are or were to visit other tracks, but also as versatile. AAA The last time we looked, here is the way the graduates were developed: Cal Rainey was in Delaware after serving the first part of the season at Garden State Park, Fred Parks replaced him at Camden. Myron Davis and Jerry Burke were at Suffolk, and Davis is to proceed on to Rockingham Park. J. G. Cattlett was scheduled for Detroits MRA. Jimmie Kilroe is shortly to be on loan from The Jockey Club to Arlington-Washington Parks, and Jack Kennedy also is to report to the Lindheimer tracks, where he will be an associate steward. Also, The Jockey Club has six freshmen waiting to enroll, three of them from California. Del Mar is sending Jack Myers and George Zarelli on for training. Alfred Shelhamer, who is a patrol judge and who also has made a specialty of interpretation and analysis of film patrol screenings, will take the course before the year is out. This corner Continued on Page Forbr BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty-Four thinks that maybe the notion, which is held in some high places, that stewards and other officials should be like umpires, assigned from a central pool, is too revolutionary, but the heavy borrowing from New York or the sending of officials to its school for indoctrination is growing and is perhaps a step in the right direction. Nor can the employment of a steward from the school be construed as against the best interest of the state, or at least, Massachusetts did not think so, for Davis is the steward representing the commonwealth, not the association. AAA Western race fans will receive an extra dividend Saturday in the way of stakes entertainment by reason of the fact that the original Hollywood Premiere Handicap will be run along with the Will Rogers Stakes, the latter being a six-furlonger for three-year-olds, and which probably will see Chanlea and Decorated both renew old rivalries from Santa Anita. The Premiere is a six-furlong dash which was originally designed as an inaugural attraction. Of the two stakes, the Will Rogers will perhaps be the most significant, inasmuch as the Santa Anita season left the sophomore picture in the West more than muddled. It was, to be frank, most inclusive. Decorated did not run his race in the Santa Anita Derby, while Chanlea won that race thanks largely to the superb riding of Eddie Ar-caro and many questioned after the race if he had indeed proved his right to top ranking this year in the Far West. The 0,000 Westerner will be the final test of the summer, of course, but the Will Rogers has nevertheless become established as something of a prestige stakes in its own right.
