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■■■■""■■MIIH EmmJBkLJM REFLECTIONS *y nhson dunstan NEW YORK, N. Y., May 26.— Repeat performances usually mark the spring sport and this year is no exception. Two of the most interesting races this season are the Metropolitan Handicap, which was run last Saturday, and the Suburban Handicap, which will be the feature at Belmont mont this this week week end. end. There There is is a a EmmJBkLJM mont this this week week end. end. There There is is a a difference in the distances and John B. Campbell has shifted the weights. These two factors will have the handicapping lads digging deep for the winner. In the Metropolitan at one mile, Tom Fool, 130 pounds, won by half a length from Royal Vale, 127, and some eight lengths behind them came Intent, toting 125. Tom Fool is one of the most impressive performers now campaigning and it is doubtful if any horse in the country can defeat him at a mile or a mile and an eighth in his present condition. The Suburban, which is at one and one-quarter miles, presents quite a different picture for Tom Fool is at the top with 128. One Count has 126, Royal Vale 124 and Intent 121. Following those four the weights drop sharply. Jimmy Jones, the Calumet trainer, is one who is closely studying the assignments given those in the middle and at the bottom of the list. We find Oil Capitol and One Hitter at 116 each; Cold Command and Kiss Me Kate, 112 each, while Golden Gloves gets in at 110, with Bryan G. and How at 108. AAA In the Metropolitan, Tom Fool ran the mile in 1:35% but, according to the charts, Royal Vale was wearing him down and that extra quarter-mile of the Suburban, we believe, will favor the imported horse. But One Count and Intent are thoroughly capable of negotiating the classic American distance and if they start they should test Mrs. E. duPont Weirs horse, who won the Bowie, Gallant Fox and Dixie before running second to Tom Fool in the Repeat Performances of Great Interest Suburban Will Draw Hcmdicap Stars Jack Westrope Riding at His Best Again How Many V/ill Start in Belmont Stakes? Metropolitan. One Count has been training impressively and the Metropolitan was Intents first start since he won the San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita last fall. Obviously Intent needed that race and he will be a sharper horse when running the distance more suited to him. The sidelining of Battlefield, Spartan Valor and Crafty Admiral will have our racing secretaries looking for other horses as the season wears on. The older division is not too well supplied with material, but the Suburban will probably draw most of the best handicap stars now campaigning in the East. This could be one of the best races of the spring and summer, but the horse who wins it is going to know he has been in a race. AAA Speaking of Royal Vale and his spectacular victories in the Gallant Fox and Dixie Handicaps, we think his jockey, Jack Westrope, rates 21 guns or the equivalent. "Rope, as the boys in the jocks room call him, is a long way from being a green hand on any mans horse and this writer was pleased that trainer Jim Ryan persuaded the California booter to come east this season as first-string rider for the impressive stable raced by Mrs. Weir, a great lady in American racing. Not many years ago, Jack was a sensational apprentice of the type of Tony DeSpirito, but his record in the years following the loss of his bug was little short of sensational. Jackie did most of his riding in the Far West and his averages during the past 10 years at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Tanforan, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields and Del Mar bespeak his skill. As usually happens in the eager-beaver days of ones youth, caution often is thrown to the winds. So it was with Westrope. He encountered trouble with the stewards, traffic cops and sometimes, other jockeys, but somehow he always squared himself and came back trying. He even fell out with his best friend, Eddie Arcaro, at one stage, but now he and Eddie are buddies again. Jack is living at Baldwin, Long Island, in an attractive home he rented from a fellow jockey, Arnold Kirkland. Tony Pedone is his agent and a good one. Good luck, Jackie. AAA While the older division is in need of replacements, we are wondering if the bottom of the three-year-old ranks has not dropped out. No less than 126 three-year-olds were nominated for the Belmont Stakes, to be run on June 13, but if there are more than six in this years renewal, as there were last year, we will be surprised. It is a question who will start beyond Native Dancer, Jamie K. and Royal Bay Gem. It was announced last night by Harry Guggenheim that Dark Star, winner of the Kentucky Derby, had twisted a tendon and will be permanently retired. He is a big loss to the division, along with Tribe and others, and it proves again the terrific strain that is put on sophomores prior to the Belmont Stakes. Should the Belmont attract only Native Dancer, Jamie K. and Royal Bay Gem, it still will draw a huge throng to the beautiful Elmont course. After the Preakness last Saturday, Jamie K. left for New York with a new legion of followers. Needless to say the long stretch is going to favor Royal Bay Gem, who will be coming hell-bent-for-leather after they make the turn for home. It will be interesting to see what strategy the riders of this trio will use in this one and one-half miles event. It easily could develop into a test of jockeyship as well as a test of the Continued on Page Forty i REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Four three topnotchers who ran one-two-three in the Preakness. AAA Delaware Park opens on Friday and fans at the lovely Wilmington course will have an added show this year as the National Museum of Racing at Saratoga has loaned some 12 paintings for exhibition there. E. J. Rousuck, director of the museum, has sent us a list of the paintings which are by such famous artists as the late F. D. Voss, Martin Stainforth, H. Stull, Charles Zellinsky, William Sextie, Joseph Konrad and Vaughn Flannery. The paintings are of War Admiral, Commando, Man o War, Equipoise, Sickle, Miss Woodford, St. Blaise, Sun Beau, Blue Larkspur, Assault and Stymie, the latter in the Butler Handicap of 1947, and the one by Vaughn Flannery shows "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons saddling the Wheatley Stable and Whitney Stone entry in a race at Saratoga. The museum, of which C. V. Whitney is president, has loaned paintings to Louisville and is planning to do so at other tracks when the season is not on at Saratoga. The museum now has one of the finest collections of horse paintings anywhere in the world and they are well worth seeing by those interested in the sport. * *
