view raw text
WEIGHING I N y EVAN shipman SARATOGA, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Aug. 20. Belairs Sabette, an Alsab filly who has shown well in stakes company all season, finally regarded her connections with a worthwhile race when she captured the Diana Handicap yesterday from an excellent field of fillies and mares. Carrying one pound over scale, Mr. Fitzs pupil traveled the nine furlongs in 1:52, finishing well to the good of the fast, but non-staying, Canadian filly, Canadiana, and the lightly weighted Dinewisely, Ming Yellow, a belated fourth. As was to be expected, Canadiana made all the early running in the Diana, but once Sabette launched her bid at the three-eighths pole, the result could have been predicted, so willingly did this filly answer jockey Jess Higleys demand. We had expected that Harry LaMontagnes good Lovely Night mare, Valadium, would have a lot to say concerning the result of this Diana, and this handsome chestnut, actual high-weight of the seven starters with 122 pounds in the sad- die, received strong support in the wagering, but she appeared overburdened and was never a threat. On the scale, Sabette with her 114 was equally weighted with Valadium, but we are r full agreement with those horsemen who believe that the scale of weights is overly generous to three-year-olds. To just what. extent the scale should be altered to achieve a more equitable rating we would hesitate to say, but the results of our major handicaps and weight-for-age fixtures leave no room for doubt that, as matters now stand, older horses are at a disadvantage. AAA At most tracks, Sabettes time of 1:52 for the mile and an eighth of the Diana would be considered woefully slow, but here at Saratoga that was a perfectly respectable effort. The track record for the distance is still, after Belair Filly Looks Impressive in Diana Deep, Safe Strip Is Reason for Slow Time Record Crowd Was Tribute to Gray Champion Fencers Add Needed Variety to Programs all these years, the 1:50 set by the late Willis Sharpe Kilmers pride and joy, Sun Briar, and, over this deep strip, it takes a pretty sharp horse to shade 1 :40 "for the mile. Canadiana was still in front at the mile station in this Diana renewal, the sway-backed filly reaching that pole in 1:39, and she was all done there, Sabette passing her without the hint of a struggle. This strip is deep and somewhat tiring, but it is not cuppy, and it is definitely kind to bad-legged campaigners, many "oucy" veterans recovering their form. In the overnight handicap that followed the, Diana on yesterdays program, Wheatleys once highly esteemed colt, Hilarious, also from Mr. Fitzs barn, required 1:12 to negotiate the six furlongs. Again, that was a smart effort over this strip, smart enough to discourage colts who had covered the same distance right at 1:10 at Monmouth recently, and Monmouth is hardly our idea of a fast strip. AAA Going back to Bobby Brocatos score in the Sanford Stakes on Tuesday, we would strongly advise you not to overlook this race. Joe W. Browns homebred son of Natchez Dorothy Brown, by Brown King, hooked up with the odds-on choice, War Piper, at the head of the stretch, and the pair ran like a team for there to very near the wire, where Bobby Brocato, under a masterful ride from Ovie Scurlock, finally dropped his head in front, and kept it there. Bobby Brocato and War Piper were caught the last quarter of a six furlongs in 1:13 in :26, but over that tiring strip we have been talking about, this was not to be sneezed at.- In the wagering for the Sanford, Bobby Brocato had been almost totally neglected, starting at around 15 to 1, but this stable, which does not make so many mistakes, had thought the colt good enough to ship west for the Arlington Futurity, and that should have been the tip-off. Both the Sanford winner and the runner-up look like good colts, and they are sure of several chances to proye just how good they are between now and the end of the meeting. AAA As we compare the day-by-day attendance at this meeting with that of last year, it become more and more certain that the record crod of last Saturday was due to the presence of Native Dancer, and to that alone. Many racing officials, and notably John Banks Campbell, are extremely skeptical concerning the ability of any "name horse" to draw a crowd, and we vividly recall the remark of the veteran secretary and handicapper a few years ago, when we said that Citation would bring a throng to Belmont Park for a certain week-day program. "Yes," said Campbell, "you and about six others will make a special trip out here to se that horse." At that time, perhaps Campbell was right, although we hated to think so then, but today, television has changed all .that, and Alfred Vanderbilte fine gray three-year-old champion is a familiar figure to thousands upon thousands for whom Citation was only a name, if that. Come right down to it, even Man o War was seen by relatively few people. Until the dawn of the television era, the American race horses most familiar to the public were the pacers, Dan Patch and Single G., and the worlds champion trotter, Greyhound, 1:554, and this was because, year after year, they toured the countrys great state fairs. They were household words to people who had never in their lives Continued on Page Thirty-Niif I WEIGHING IN I By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight seen a thoroughbred race, but today, thanks to television, Native Dancer is almost as popular as "Heigh Ho Silver." AAA Because of the prevalent cough, fields, and particularly two-year-old fields, have been unsually light at this meeting, and we all should be grateful to the steeplechase and hurdle horses here for the welcome variety they bring to otherwise rather monotonous cards. Unfortunately, there are no top horses of either category this season, but, on the other hand, the average appears better than usual. All the hurdle races, once merely tolerated, have proved exciting contests, and a glance at the breeding of those being sent over the little jumps shows that many really good horses are now being trained at this specialty. And if the hurdle horses have improved, so, too, has the riding. Time was when one or two jockeys stood out, but at present most of the familiar names on the program represent competing professionals. August droughts are not uncommon in this neck of the woods, and there have been times when the infield course at Saratoga was baked like macadam, reducing the entries in races through the field to a minimum of sturdy campaigners. This, year, the weather has been kind, and consequently the turf is in good condition.
