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1 REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Fifty-Two country Flushing n. has had 38 winners. His service fee is 00 and the buyer of these two services will have a letter from Delman guaranteeing them that if the mare does not get in foal he will return the purchase price to the successful bidders. He goes further, however, in saying that the colt or filly from these matings will have to be a winner as a two-year-old or he will refund the fee to the buyers. Although other breeders have told us they will donate stallion services, we do not want to make any announcement until we have contacted them once again for verification. Within a few weeks we will announce in this column the 10 or 12 sires anw we can only hope that the respense from mare owners will be as strong as it was a year ago. In this year especially, this is a concrete way of showing our returning veterans that we deeply appreciate what they have done in the service of their country. AAA On Monday the directors of the Fasig-Tipton Company met and told Humphrey Finney, general manager, that they were well pleased with the outcome of the five night sales conducted here. As near as we can judge, most of the consignors were well pleased, although we understand that the Ali Khan thought some of his yearlings should have brought more money. This writer has been watching these sales at Saratoga for over 20 years and it is our belief this years vendues were among the best ever conducted here. The average of ,350 was a far better one than in 1952, when the figure was ,312. The wisdom of barring youngsters who were obviously not of Saratoga quality was one of the big factors in the upswing. There was not one yearling at Keeneland or Saratoga who was taken from the ring without some bids being made and the market is so strong that we believe there will be demands for the many that will be sold in Kentucky and on Long Island in the weeks to come. A feature of this years sale, as well as last years, were the many who were buying for the first time. These sales at both major points are but one of the many instances that horse racing is more popular today than it has been at any time in this country. It is interesting to note that at Keeneland three fillies topped the sale at 9,000, 0,-000 and 2,000, and that at Saratoga, the highest price heard was the 9,000 that Dan Van Clief, of Nydrie Stud, paid for a Bois Roussel filly.
