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; ► I : — i Between Races - By OSCAR OTIS : Renew Inglewood Handicap Saturday Will Break Citations Mark-Jones Beat Older Horses When a Juvenile HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 18. — Stakes interest here in the Far West is beginning to intensify as Hollywood Park hits its mid-season period, and Saturday, the 5,000 Inglewood, a mile and a sixteenth traditional stepping stone toward the coveted Gold Cup is down for decision. The Inglewood is expected to clarify, and to a considerable extent, the current status of many of the leading [Gold Cup hopefuls on [| y 0 y s y k _ • J _ e 1 1 - 3 = 1 • , 3 - ■ ; : : • ; k c £ £ ? J * 8 v 8 the grounds, especially those of Calumet Farms Fleet Bird and Alberta Ranches Indian Hemp. The latter is one of the most improved horses in training, and, as we pointed out some days ago, is beginning to race in the form which made him one of the leading three-year-olds in England a year ago in the spring. Fleet Bird is something of a question mark, for nobody seems to know just how good he is. The horse was more or less-kept in reserve by Calumet last winter, and while he is no Hill Gail or Mark-Ye-Well, he is still far better than the proverbial "empty stall." But even on the eve of the Inglewood running, the major interest at the track centered around the three-year-old division and the 00,000 Westerner, which will be decided at a mile and a quarter a week from Saturday. The Westerner field re-_ mains the same as it was at the seasons opening, open, with the only important equine name on the sidelines being Cor- respondent, who has a date with the firing irons and who wont be able to race until Santa Anita. Jimmy Jones is something of an au- thority on thoroughbred earnings, for he trained Citation to his current world leadership of ,058,760. Asked his opinion of Native Dancers chances of surpassing Citations mark, he replied, "You may re-5 call that when we retired Citation, I re-l marked at the time that the right horse would come along at the right time to shatter Citations record. But I rather imagine that Native Dancers connections will discover the same thing we did with Citation, namely, that the last quarter of a million is the hardest. No horse will ever beat Citations mark without enjoying both a big two- and three-year-old year. Once a horse of merit gets into the hands of the handicapper, it is a different story of course, Native Dancer had a record two-year-old year, and so far, is doing all right as a three. Looking back, which is always a lot easier than looking forward, I can see where, had things been a bit different Citation might have done far better We shouldnt have brought him to California late in his three-year-old form, and per-; haps if we hadnt, he might have been able to race at four. "Naturally, Im awfully partial to Cita- tion as a race horse, so maybe Ill be pardoned if I point out one thing, namely, that Citation did beat tough, aged horses when he actually was only a two. It happened by chance in Florida and stemmed from a good natured rivalry between the late Warren Wright and Edward S. Moore over the respective merits of Citation and Relic. They had a friendly wager going as to which horse would beat the other the first time the two met. Naturally, I wanted to win this one for Mr. Wright, but Relic was a good week ahead of us in his training schedule, and I didnt want to send Citation into the race, which promised to be a tough one, without the benefit of another race. So, on February 2, I sent him into the Seminole Handicap against hard-hitting older horses at seven furlongs. Mind you at this time, he was still quite a ways away from his. third birthday. Citation was snatched between horses for the first part, but drew clear in the stretch, and jockey Al Snider told me that Citation had just been toying with his field. He ran the seven furlongs in 1:23. Ill always feel that beating older horses in a common gallop when only a two-year-old in reality was one of the solid proofs of Citations greatness which is generally overlooked." Riding verging on the brilliant is gradually moving jockey Joe Phillippi to the ranking with the tops on the grounds, Continued on Page Thirty-Nine BETWEEN RACES 1 By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Three and some competent observers are going so far as to say that he is in a class with Willie Shoemaker. In at least one re- C spect, he is Shoemakers equal, and that C is steady coolness. It has been said, and £ with some degree of truth, that California riding success is hard to attain for ? an unknown newcomer lacking a nation- f al reputation, but Phillippi accomplished •= the "cracking" through sheer pcrscver- q ence. The young man came West last winter ? to Santa Anita with the stable of Howard 2 Jones, Chicago ad king, and Jiked the ? Coast so well that when Jones shipped back East, he decided to stay. He went to Tan- £ foran, where he had little or no luck. So j he stationed himself at the work gap, offers ~ ed" to work "any horse for anybody, just to get a chance to ride the horse back in an c afternoon race. One Sunday morning, 2 when most everybody else was taking it n easy he was the only "exercise boy" on ~ hand and got a chance to work Program "* for trainer G. B. Priestly. He rode Pro- ~ gram the next time out, and the horse paid u ° 11.00. It was enough to get his name into the papers, favorably, and we hardly need to add that Phillippi was "on his way." In comparing him with Shoemaker, it is pointed out that Phillippi always seems to have something left for the stretch run. He explains his riding philosophy this way: "After you ride a horse once, you should have a pretty good understanding of that horse. He will usually let you know a lot of things. You sort of feel this, and it is an understanding that is hard to put into words. But it is there. Some older horses will anticipate you, and make their own moves at just the right time. Sometimes I think the horse has as much understanding as to what the rider is thinking as the rider has of the horse. Maybe more. And as for trying to break in on the West Coast circuit, I dont think it is any harder than any place else. When I had that broken leg at Suffolk Downs in May, 1949, and didnt ride again until Florida in December, it didnt seem as if I could buy a mount. Maybe everybody was afraid that the spill had hurt my nerve. Certainly the Coast has been no tougher for me." To date, Phillippi has never won a major stakes, but he has some solid mounts coming up in most of the stakes remaining on the Hollywood Park schedule. Phillippi is a young man of extreme determination, which was demonstrated by his graduation from washing dishes in a Miami restaurant to riding, plus his living on a near starvation budget in California for months in an effort to get mounts. It is this same determination which is making him "hard to beat" in the final drive in racing here at Hollywood Park. There is a good chance that by seasons end, turf winters will vote him the "saddle development of the year." We might add -that at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, turf writers always vote on a variety of subjects, and that vote is taken seriously by many people, especially breeders where the voting concerns horses, not people.
