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j t Connors Corner By "CHUCK" CONNORS— * . United Hunts Aided Turf No End Sportsmen in East Deserve Praise Kaster Ready for Steeplechasing BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 17. — Tomorrow the United Hunts takes over for a two-day meeting here and il it b r p t a a £ * s s E E s c is a far cry from back in the days when racing under the auspices of this organization was scratching for foothold to return the sport to the New York scene. That they succeeded goes without saying and to the then members of that almost forgotten meeting should go the thanks of the racing men of 1 J 1 i 5 i 3 i : : ; ; I r ■ ! 5 ■ 5 : ■ ; s s today. New York, in the first decade of the century, was the hub of American racing. The best tracks, the best horses, the best jockeys, best trainers and best bookmakers held sway here. Illinois, California, Tennessee, Louisiana, Indiana, Wisconsin and other centers had been blacked out by legislation, although later many returned to the scene. When the Directors Liability Law, passed at the insistence of then Governor Charles Evans Hughes, was enacted by the Albany solons, racing in America faced its darkest hour. Many of our big stables were disbanded, horses were sold for export at a tithe of their value and the exodus to Europe, France, Germany, England and other countries began to reach immense proportions. The road back from Piping Rock until today was a hard one, but racing men surmounted the obstacles, legal, financial and others. Belmont Park today is one of the show places of the country and the efforts of the men who carried on in face of adversity deserve more than • a passing notice every now and then. Had New York not forged back, many thoughtful racing men voiced the opinion tba the vast breeding industry with headquarters in Kentucky would be given over to tobacco or kindred1 crops and that the thoroughbred would be typified by the skeleton of Sysonby in the Museum of National History on Central r Park West. - Clifford "Sec" Walker, for the past 40 years or so a docker and prior to that an exercise boy and rider, he was with the late John E. Madden for many years, died in his sleep Tuesday night at his South Jamaica, N. Y., home. Funeral services will be held Friday evening at 8:00 p. m. at the Crowel Funeral Parlors, 162-10 South Street, off New York Boulevard, to be fol-5 lowed by interment in the Evergreen Cemetery. Walker was in his 75th year and had been associated with horses and racing for the better part of his life. He hailed from around the old Benning track neighbor-: hood in Washington, D. C, and is sur-i vived by his widow and two grown sons. . . Trainer Morris Dixon has decided to race Kaster, owned by C. Mahlon Kline, on the flat a few more times before turning him over to the steeplechase field. The homebred has been successful in recent forays, but is well schooled over the hurdles and I big fences. Dixon today shipped a quartet £ of horses to Kis Newtown Square, Pa., train-a ing center to freshen up for engagements . in July at Delaware Park. ~ _ 3*ugustino Catalano, a graduate of the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia* j found out that he was too small to be a soldier and then decided to turn jockey. He is a nephew of Joe Catalano who raced on the Maryland tracks for the past decade and has been associated with horses for the past several years before i, accepting his first mount. . .Eddie Arcaro - packed his boots and saddles, passed up D. . the Hunts meeting, and hied away to i- Delaware Park to await the arrival of Jamie K., Jim Norris three-year-old, a it starter in the Leonard Richard Stakes, s Arcaro will later go to Chicago for the Arlington-Washington Park meetings. ie Trainer "Monk" Mergler reported that G. H. "Pete" Bostwick will be back from e le Europe along about the middle of July. He on n played polo in England for a spell and then accompanied by Mrs. Bostwick planed over [~ to Paris for a look-see at the Longchamp meeting. . .Jack Skinner has decided to d ship a draft of jumpers to Delaware Park next week. He will retain a half dozen to here for the Aqueduct session. . .Dr. Alex n j Kaye, of the Physicians Hospital, Jackson Heights, N. Y., deserted his patients for the windup of the Belmont Park meeting. Continued on Page Thirty-Nine Connors Corner I By C. jr. CONNORS j Continued from Page Fbte . . .Mr. and Mrs. Horatio Luro will be missing from the Saratoga Springs scene this coming August. They will be in Europe when Union Avenue is in flower. . .Dr. Alberto Inclan, the Havana, Cuba, owner and breeder, will be along here shortly to dig up some data for a book that he is preparing on modern day surgery. Ike Perlstein, the paddock gang reported, was the first and only casualty of the Aqueduct clambake. He was carried into the first aid station Monday afternoon, but the doctors diagnosed the ailment as an upset stomach and nothing else. . .Jockey W. Lester canceled his mounts for the afternoon. He developed ptomaine poisoning enroute home from Delaware Park yesterday. . .Mrs. John F. Bryce returned from the Coronation and the Derby and made her reappearance in the Turf and Field enclosure during the afternoon. . .Barney Baruch, the elder statesman, he was out for the Belmont, promised to be on hand for the United Hunts meeting session. . .Frank J. Heller, of the Lester Manor Stable, came out to lend moral encouragement to his Affrighted in the two-year-old offering. The colt raced as if the only encouragement he needed was a longer distance. . . Apprentice Johnny Nadeau is convinced that Vigorous is the best horse, even better than Native Dancer, in training. The youngster accounted for his lone two victories on this fellow. Over at Aqueduct yesterday afternoon, track superintendent Lennie Litwak, aided and abetted by fire underwriters, fire fighters and a gathering of camera men, plus a handful of the Queens County Jockey Club officials, started a fire. The blaze was all part of an experiment to test the fire resistant qualities of a certain type of paint. The structure was a mock up stall, bedded with straw to the usual depth, located on the parking lot? where the winds would have a clean sweep. The blaze was permitted to get a good start, about eight minutes, and when put out, the experimenters went to work on the charred and water-soaked boards that was part and parcel of the object lesson. The boards showed, when sawed through, that the blaze had scorched the outer surfaces. Litwak said that the boards had been treated with three coats of this-fire resisting paint and that the experiment was a success. Someone later remarked that the stable that was ! destroyed a few days before the opening of Monmouth Park was similarly treated.
