view raw text
1 ■ j Between Races By OSCAR OTIS Cinema Muddles Westerner Picture Indian Hemp Triumphs in Studio Internationalist Experiment Pays HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 15. — The 00,000 Westerner became a wide open race Saturday after the running of the mile and a sixteenth Cinema Handicap, which saw the homebred Alis Gem win a narrow nose over King Ranchs reformed claimer, Rejected, and a race, which saw such three - year - old favorites as Imbros and Decorated finish third and fourth, respectively, and such as Chanlea out of the ; I l ; ! , i- l » ! j i money completely, Correspondent badly beaten off. True, the Cinema was at handicap weights, but nevertheless, the race did prove that the three -year-old division here is still a fluid one, and. that anything can happen before the summer season is over. Alis Gem, a colt by Alibhai, raced the distance in the sensational time, for a three-year-old, of 1:42 flat, with the first mile in 1:35%. He held on stubbornly through a lonand stretch drive with frantic urging on the part of the jockey Willie Shoemaker. As for the highweight and favorite, Imbros, we felt the race confirmed a suspicion we had entertained since his last race, namely, that he might have trouble controlling his terrific burst of speed. He broke from the outside, but rushed up as if in a six-furlong sprint and then flattened when put to the final drive. No one. questions his extreme speed, but to carry it over any real distance will require better rating — if the colt can be rated. Nasrullalis "best son on the West Coast, Indian Hemp, gladdened the hearts of the lovers of a really first class horse when he snapped to the form which made him a leading three -year-old last spring in England by winning the Studio Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth in 1:41%, but a fifth of a second removed from the track record. Indian Hemp toted 120 pounds as against the 114 he has been assigned in the Gold Cup. Indian Hemp just toyed with his opposition the first five furlongs, then drew clear to win as Johnny Longden pleased, and had he been pressed, there is little doubt that he could have broken the track record. The most important part of the effort was, however, that at long last in his American racing, Indian Hemp is displaying real zip. Just what the future holds is anybodys guess, but a good one might be that he would go on from there to possible greatness. And in any event, his sparkling form will do much to stimulate interest in the coast handicap division, which, as we pointed out only a few days ago, easily could stand a few more horses of calibre. Perhaps the most newsworthy event of the racing last week at Hollywood Park was the victory, at first American outing, of a colt by Stardust, who raced in the silks of Ronald A. Barnett, the interna-ir tional aviation executive. Barnetts flying operations are world wide, and while his headquarters are in New York, he spends much of his time in California. He fancies the racing out this way, but at the same time is quite Tceen on Anglo-Irish breeding. Barnett has his European offices in London, and is as much at home on the courses of England as at Belmont Park or Hollywood. In any event, he decided that foreign horses took too long, as a rule, to become accustomed to American racing methods, thought an experiment in ship-» ping youngsters to America just after they were weaned would be worth while. The Stardust winner, Anhajo by name, was the Continued on Page Forty-Three BETWEEN RACES I By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Three first of a group of four such weanlings flown over from England in one of Bar-netts own planes to grow up in America. There is nothing new about the theory of importing young rather than made foreign horses to this country, but Barnett is one of the few people who are giving it a long range test. The Barnett horses in California were broken and are trained by Willie Molter, who did rather well with at least one "made" import in Shannon n. The ranks of the handicap division were hit during the week by the retirement of Admiral Drake from racing, and his owner, Abe "Murphy" Hirschberg, is offering him for sale as a sire prospect. A son of War Admiral from a, Teddy mare, Admiral Drake was a first class race horse with exceptional early speed and the ability to sustain it over a distance. But while Admiral Drake has gone by the wayside as a Gold Cup contender, the star of Pet Bully continued to rise. On Wednesday, he scampered home in the 5,000 Lakes and Flowers Handicap, seven furlongs in 1:21% with 123 pounds aboard. Now, seven furlongs is a long ways from a mile and a quarter, but Pet Bully has done everything to date at this" meeting so easily that fans are beginning to believe he can accomplish most anything. • Racing secretary Johnny Maluvius pegged Pet Bully at 120 pounds in the Gold Cup, but two pounds under Fleet Bird, five under Trusting, and eight under Royal Vale. Incidentally, his rather hastily arranged invasion of California this summer has paid rich dividends already, and the big money is still in the offing. In three starts, he has earned 2,050 even though he won but two of them, finishing second to Fleet Bird in the 0,000 Argonaut. Pet Bully led a division of the stable of Mrs. Ada L. Rice westward for the summer, the only stable to so ship out from the East for summer racing. Hollywood Park is hopeful that people in the East will ponder, this phenomenon and perhaps consider sending some worthwhile horses out next summer. The current purses make Hollywood Park a veritable gold coast for a. horse that can run. y California-breds are all- but dominating the series of primary stakes, and last weeks offering, the 5,000 June Juvenile, was no exception. Heel Flame, a homebred son of Heelfly, won. from a War Relic, War Tryst, with Major Speed, a son of Count Speed, a fighting third. At this early date, it is apparent that the primary stakes are accomplishing their announced purpose, i.e., to create an opportunity for young stock to prove themselves up as stakes winners and in so doing elevate the standards of California breeding. They also are accomplishing something else that was not considered at the time of. their establishment, namely, the filling of certain, sire books for 1954. As a rule with some notable exceptions, California mare owners have not gotten around to thinking about the bookings for the next season until late in the fall. Now they are beginning to think in terms of at least .a year ahead. Primary stakes winners have been a convincing and dramatic advertisement for their sires, and the mere spectacle of their triumphs or worthwhile efforts have made most everyone, even the patron in the stand, more bloodline conscious. It is just our opinion that the primary series, which includes three-year-old fillies as well as juvenile races, is the most forward policy a California track has inaugurated in years.
