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JUDGES STAND by charles hatton RANDALL PARK, North Randall, Ohio, Aug. 18. Fred Burton is a veteran of more than half a century of racing, as a jockey, racing secretary, handicapper and steward, in which latter capacity he serves here at Saul Silbermans delightful Cleveland race course. We were interested today in having his oninion concernimr t.hp present scale of weights, of which there is so much discussion. He is convinced, along with Jack Campbell, Larry Bogenschutz, Jimmy Kilroe and others who must deal daily with the scale that "it affords three-year-olds too .much the best of it in competition with older horses. Not just in the fall, as some seem to think, but all season. The reason for the supposition the scale errs only in the fall is that very few three-year-olds of any prominence oppose older horses in the spring and summer. But if one will check the records, it will be found that Coal-town, HiUL-Qail, and others, have defeated good older horses as early in the year as Keenelands spring meet." That is perfectly true, and as a matter of fact, Citation and Twilight Tear beat more mature rivals even earlier, during winter meets at Hialeah Park. What actually will come of all the disagreement with the arbitrary differential Admiral Rous devised in another generation we can only guess, but it would seem, from the racing records, relatively too much is being required of the four-year-olds and upward. This is important not only to the cup races and stakes decided during the last weeks of the season, but in writing the conditions of all races. The scale is the basic "par" employed by racing secretaries universally in arranging contests among all classifications of horses. The study might well be pursued by writing some "races in which three-year-olds would carry two or three pounds more than the present scale. Burton Convinced Weight Scale Errs Miss America Nominations Encouraging Three Rings Randalls Big Name Horse Silberman Improvements Prove Popular Back at Atlantic City the other day we were wondering about the quantity and quality of the three-year-old fillies who would be made eligible for the new 0,000 Miss America Turf Stakes at John Kellys course August 29. It is nice to be able to report the horsemens response was most encouraging. Such capable fillies tas Canadiana, Countess Jane, Eddie Sue, Home-Made and Tritium are among the 33 eligibles. The nominations, like the caliber of those in the "Triple Turf Classic," reflect a growing acceptance of grass racing among the trainers of top-class performers. An increasing proportion of the purse distribution is being offered for turf course competitors, and, as Ben Lindheimer has pointed out, racing on grass represents less wear and tear on horses underpinning. There is still another consideration, it seems to this department. For many of our grass surfaces are within one mile main ovals. A clever horse who can change stride with the facility to act around sharp turns sometimes stays more successfully than in competing on courses having long stretches. Dr. John Lee theorizes Spartan Valor is potentially a very good "grass horse" because of his handiness racing around turns. Then there is the crack sprinter, Tuscany. We watched Jimmy Stout breeze him a mile on the turf recently, for next Saturdays 5,-000 Boardwalk we suppose, and he skimmed the hedges and finished as if this is his metier. However, racing on the grass needs no rationalizing. As Ben Jones has commented, the distribution makes it almost a compulsion to campaign horses in going that is, after all, their natural element. Randall Park is not without a "big name horse," though some are uncharitable enough to call him a has-been. We refer to Mrs. E. L. Hopkins colorful careerist, Three Rings, who is training for the handicaps here and at ThistleDown. It would be nice were he to recover a semblance of his form of other years and win a Cleveland feature for he is locally owned. Mrs. Hopkins thought of racing him here the first year Saul Silberman operated Randall, but he then was one of the nations leading handicap performers, and Cleveland racing was not yet ready for him. He would have created a costly Tom Fool "exhibition." He still was competent enough last season, as a seven-year-old, to win the Bowie and Lucky Draw Handicaps and 7,990, though he was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the fourth consecutive Royal Palm Handicap in a project which gripped turfgoers interest nationally. Three Rings was, we believe, the first to call attention to Bull Dog as a broodmare sire. Dark Star, Tom Fool and Spartan Valor have since made him one of the leaders. Conversely, Mrs. Hopkins gelding is among the last of the progeny of Blue Larkspur to appear under colors. AAA Silberman and DiChiaro have given Clevelanders one of the pleaantest little parks we know in the remodelled version of Randall, and just across the road Mack Lesnick and Lou Pondfield have a modern new stand under construction at ThistleDown. Randall somehow reminds one a bit of Pimlico, which also has undergone improvement without any sacrifice of the nostalgic charm of its old-fashioned architecture. The club here, in. particular, is delightful, with dining facilities on the porches and tastefully decorated lounges and bars. It is really quite May-fairish in appearance and has become a favorite gather-Continued on Page Forty-Three JUDGES STAND By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page Fifty-Two ing place for Clevelanders. Silberman and DiChiaro are in the construction business in Baltimore and their experience has stood them in good stead in renovating this park. While they were about restoring and enlarging the accommodations on the stand side of the oourse, they did not neglect the horsemen along the backstretch. An entire new row of stables was constructed, complete to modern tack rooms, showers and other facilities. Each season the partners have further improved the plant as it- seemed indicated, keeping pace with the steadily mounting racing interest in this area. It would not surprise us were the patronage at tracks here ultimately doubled. AAA Turf ana: The local winner, Crownlet, will join D. A. Headleys select Manchester stud of mares in 54. . . . Randall may boast a safe "1:12" racing surface. . . Ji. number of Delaware Park strings followed Gil Haus here. . . . Atlantic Citys John Kelly is an amateur songster of some fame in that resort. . . . Set the Table is among the better two-year-olds here. . . . The size of Arlington - Washington stakes fields certainly justifies Ben Lindheimers policy of a wider distribution of prize awards. . . . ThistleDown may have a turf course. . . . And some of Garden States directorate now are inclined to consider such a surface. . . . Greek Lady, who tied Queen Hopeful in the Mademoiselle, is a half-sister to Miss Mommy, who won numerous stakes for Mrs. E. E. Dale Shaffer a few years ago.
