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W E I G H I N G I N By EVAN SHIPMAN AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 25. — Little Grecian Queen won yesterdays Gazelle like the fine filly she is, running down the quick Canadian trick, Canadiana, in the drive and drawing away at the end, while Sab-ettes late rush was not enough to trouble either of the top two. It came r i_l iTrus -as iiu surprise iul wie tnumm familys game but diminutive daughter of Heliopolis to score; in this mile and a sixteenth test, but it was indeed surprising that she never had to deal with Greentrees Hows Tricks, the latter was in receipt of eight pounds and was confidently expected to prove the sharpest kind of factor in the Aqueduct stake. Unprepared, Hows Tricks propped at the start and never had a chance, while the miss from across the border left the gate like a shot, leaving it up to Grecian Queen and the others to chase her. After all, she was coming off her victory in the mile and three-eighths Coaching Club American Oaks and Grecian Queen had all the speed necessary to stay within range of Canadiana, catching the pacemaker inside the furlong pole. The final time of 1:45% was about average for this stake. There have been hints before that Hows Tricks racing manners still leave something to be desired, and it may have been her own fault that she was never able to measure strides yesterday with the filly Who certainly deserves her hard-earned position as leader of this division. It takes manners as well as speed and endurance to make a really good one. Grecian Queen possesses all three vital qualities in abundance. AAA The result of the Grand Steeple de Paris, greatest of all continental events over the jumps, was just as surprising to French sportsmen as was the Temple Gwath-mey here last week, when Sea Legs broke down at the next to last obstacle, allowing the lightly weighted Errol- Gazelle Assures Grecian Queens Place at Top Fifrelet Loses French Stake at Last Fence Hambeltonian Prospects Kept Under Cover Royal Vale Type to Carry Off Rare Double ford to score. In the race at Auteil, opening feature of "La Grande Semaine," Jean Sterns Fifrelet, easy winner earlier this season of the Prix du President and many other important stakes, was the heavy favorite, and he had what looked like a perfectly safe lead at the last fence of the 6,500-meter course, but there, alas, this ordinarily sure jumper tumbled, and the order of finish was Pharamond m., Radium and Tourney, only four of the nine starters finishing. It must have been a sad disappointment to the French, because Fifrelet has been compared favorably with the outstanding specialists of the of the last half century, horses such as Hero XH., Master Bob and Coq Gaulois. In the Prix du President, for instance, one of the most important handicaps of the year, Fifrelet was assigned 167% pounds, a burden exceeded only by that carried by Hero xn., back in 1821, and equaling Coq Gaulois weight for the previous renewal. Accounts that we have read concerning the brilliant French chaser strike us as a trifle enigmatic, such as this parapgraph in a recent issue of LEperon: "Fifrelet is one of those phenomenons that we occasionally meet in all sports. Why is he so good, and in what, exactly, does his superiority consist? He has no quality at all on the flat, and if he jumps well, why plenty of other horses jump as well as he does. Why, then, is he better than , they? He has an extroordinary aptitude beyond a doubt, but in what, exactly, does an aptitude consist? It is not the first time that I ask myself that question." If we recall, there was less soul-searching concerning the merits of Hero XII. and Master Bob, but then, they did not fall at the last jump. AAA With Lively Lady, the two-year-old filly who swept the Grand Circuit stakes for juvenile trotters last season, definitely retired. to the farm, the situation as regards a favorite for the Hambletonian Stake at Goshen is more than ordinarily confused. Several three-year-old trotters eligible to the big stake have been seen in action at either Roosevelf Raceway or Detroit, but one has the feeling that the major stables are reserving their "big guns" until the opening of the new three-quarter mile track at Vernon, N. Y., early next month. In the meanwhile, many of the leading trainers are now stabled at the Goshen mile track, and we hear encouraging reports concerning a stablemate of Lively Ladys, a well-bred youngster named Worthy Aristrocrat, whose races last year were largely "educational." This member of the powerful Delvin Miller string is out of the Belwin mare, Calumet Aristocrat, dam of the 1940 Hambletonian winner, Bill Gallon 4 1:59%. In his few stake engagements as a two- . year-old, this ones manners left something to be desired, but Miller tells us that he is training exceptionally well, and the young reinsman is confident that, this season, Worthy Aristocrat will make the grade. With promising members of Tom Berrys and Fren Egans stables, he is staked at Vernon, a track lying half way between Syracuse and Utica. AAA It certainlylooks now as if trainer John Gaver is prepared to pick up handicapper John Bank "Campbells " challenge and start Greentrees Tom Fool for the Carter, 135 pounds and all. Should the "spectacular Menow colt succeed in winning under such a burden, he will have Continued on Page Forty-Jhree h - ., . I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN | Continued from Page Fifty-Two done what not even the great Roseben was able to accomplish, "The Big Train," with 135 up, having run second to Glorifier back in 1907. Going back to the long-ago chart of Rosebens Carter, we find, however, that it was not weight that beat him, but rather bad racing luck. It was his first start of the season, and he was an outsider in the wagering, going to the post, for1 once, at odds of 8 to 1, while something called De Mund was the choice in the large field at . 13 to 5. Roseben, according to the chart footnotes of Daily Racing Form, was "bumped and knocked back in the first furlong, then closed an immense gap and finished with a tremendous burst of speed." Looking at the cold figures, he was eleventh at the head of the Aqueduct stretch, eighth at the furlong pole, and was beaten a length and a half for it all, conceding the winner 16 pounds. It was certainly a great race, but thats the kind we have come to expect of Tom Fool, and we are wishing the latter better fortune in his brave attempt than that experienced by Roseben. A A A When Billy Ames, major-domo at Nar-ragansett, paid New York racing a visit re- | cently, he was full of the New England exploits of Mrs. E. duPont Weirs astonishing importation, Royal Vale, and it was not hard to guess that Ames covets this one as an entry for the Narragansett Special next September. The transplanted English horseman had nothing but praise for the transplanted English horse, going so far as to hazard the opinion that Royal Vale might, conceivably, have accomplished that rarest of all doubles — Cesarewitch and the Cambridgeshire. Naturally, such a feat depends to a great extent on the none too tender mercies of the handicapper, and Royal Vale, we both were forced sadly to concede, has now "shown hishand" in no uncertain manner. What Ames was really driving at was that here was a horse who looked capable of both the nine-furlong distance of the Cambridgeshire and the gruelling two and a quarter miles of the Cesarewitch. It was alo accomplished by the English filly, Plaisanterie, as a three-year-old in 1885, but we doubt if there is a more modern instance. The late Jacques Wittoucks Palais Royal II. captured the Cambridgeshire in 28, and since he was a good third in the Ascot Gold Cup, the Cesarewitch could have had no terrors for him, but he was not started. The Macomber Stable, then a power in French racing, did succeed in 25 with a Cambridgeshire-Cesarewitch double, but that was with two different horses, Masked Marvel IT. and Forsetti.
