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4 and jHI ► r— Between Races By OSCAR OTIS Imbros Accounts For Will Rogers Pet Bully Takes Delayed Premiere Indian Hemp Impressive in Defeat HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 25. — Imbros, a son of Polynesian, forced his way into the select group of • tnree-year-olds in the West, rated as the "best," by winning the 5,000 Will Rogers Stakes here Saturday afternoon from Atomic Speed and the lightly-regarded son of Khaled, Karim. It was only the fourth start of his career for Imbros, made it three scores, and it was, of course, his first stakes victory. Imbros is something of a question mark as yet, for he is a horse of blinding speed, but has, nevertheless, been a hard luck horse all his life. He is a poor shipper, which doesnt help any, either. But as of today, he must be rated as the future favorite for the 0,000 Westerner, Hollywood Parks version of a Derby, even though Imbros has never travelled further than six furlongs. However, all hands connected with the stable believe he will because of his action, conformation, and, believe it or not, his breeding. Imbros is from Fire Falls, a Bull Dog mare, was obtained by owner Andy Crevolin at the Keeneland Sales for 6,100. In case you were wondering what a son of Polynesian was doing carrying such a name as Imbros, well let Crevolin explain. He tells us: "When we started to name this colt, we naturally looked for a South Sea motif, but found that most of the names were already taken, or, at least, we found it that way. Nick, the head waiter at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, suggested we forget the South Pacific and name the colt after a truly noble island, that of Imbros in the Mediterranean. Imbrcs was, Nick insists, the birthplace of Socrates. In any event, thats how a colt by Polynesian happened to wind up named for a Greek Island instead of an exotic place in the South Seas." Only one stable from the East was enticed by Hollywood Parks lush summer program, that being a division of the stable of Mrs. Ada L. Rice. Everybody else of consequence are either Californians, race here the year around, or, like Calumet, keep a division in this state the year around. Insofar as the Rice invasion is concerned, the Chicago stables first dividend came in the delayed running of the 5,000 Hollywood Premiere, which Pet Bully, who made his last outing at Churchill Downs less than a month ago, won in his first West Coast outing. The net in the Premiere was 6,100. Although Pet Bully had the services of Willie Shoemaker, Hollywood fans did not fancy his chances particularly, backing the West Coast sprint king, Reighs Bull, down to solid favoritism. Reighs Bull, top weight at 126 pounds as against 120 for the winner, had all his dazzling early speed, but he was under a drive all the way, and flattened badly in the final sixteenth. It was, in fact, the first poor race he has run in just a few days short of a calendar year. Most fans are aware there is a school of thought which holds that horses shipping East must undergo a long period of acclimitization, the extent of the period depending a great deal upon the individual horse. But this same school also claims that shipping West, in the summer, very little if any acclimitization is necessary. Pet Bully would seem to bear out this contention. He has been here only about two weeks, and raced in the Premeire off mostly blowouts, his only drill of note being five furlongs in 1:01%. This may sound fast, but for Hollywood Park, it isnt. Most everybody works in smart time here, so much so that it can be extremely deceptive in classification of horses and assessment of true merit. While the Premiere was clocked in a mere 1:10%, the five furlongs was reeled off in :57%. The Claremore Handicap at seven furlongs was one of those "dividend" races which a track and the public get every once in a while, and by a dividend race, we mean one in which the quality of the starters surpasses the size of the purse and the normal importance of the race itself. The Claremore was a mere overnighter of 0,-000, a sum that is by no means uncommon now for Hollywood races of less than stakes Continued on Page Thirtf-Six I BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Three calibre. While the Claremore was won by the rank outsider, Grey Tower in a game 1 :22% at the expense of the muchly campaigned Horsetrader-Ed and Home Free, we watched the performance of Indian Hemp with considerable interest. The four-year-old by Nasrullah broke into a "jackpot" and lost all chance when forced to pull up right after the start. He did show that he has come a long ways in learning American racing procedures since we first saw him at Laurel last fall, for he recovered in approved American fashion, raced gamely after his field, loomed up dangerously as the field swung into the stretch, then hung. In defeat, it was an exceptionally good effort and one that will gain him many friends in future stakes races here over a distance. Indian Hemp was saddled by Vance Longden, the new trainer for Alberta Farms. Longden was discharged from the Army only three days ago with the rating of a sergeant, and he wasted little time in doffing his uniform and taking over the training of the powerful Alberta outfit campaigning here. A rapt audience of 47,268 listened to a broadcast of the Preakness, while any number of horsemen left the stands to go back to the stable area and their television sets to see the screening of the running. The result of the race had few repercussions on the Coast save for the oft encountered observation that it was unfortunate that the California horse, Correspondent, could not have made a better showing. Some horsemen pointed out, and quite correctly,-that Correspondents best races were over our western pasteboard tracks, and that perhaps he disliked the ancient Pimlico footing. However, this still leaves unexplained his good showing at Keeneland, which is far from being a pasteboard. Apparently, this was not a California year in the eastern classic races, but a swift check with a few leading Golden State breeders indicated that they had not lost faith, and would keep trying from year to year in the future if a worthwhile horse comes along. Some said that a change in the California -bred rule might be the best thing that could happen for the improvement of the breed out this way. This is not to be confused, however, with any change in the breeders award regulations. Incidentally, Californians hark back to Correspondents Blue Grass, in which he shattered Coaltowns track record, a race which makes it impossible for them to believe he is not a worthwhile race horse regardless of what has happened subsequently.
