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W E I G H I N G IN By EVAN SHIPMAN SARATOGA, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Aug. 29. There was once a time, and it is well within the memory of many horsemen present at this meeting, when Saratoga racing did not compete with any other major track. In those days, there was no New Jersey racing, no racing in Chicago nor in New England nor on the Pacific Coast. All of the countrys leading stables were here at the Spa for the month of August, and yet the fields for many of the associations fixtures, particularly those for aged horses, were always small. We bring this up because we have heard the situation here this season commented on as something without any precedent, whereas actually small fields for the Travers, the Whitney and particularly the mile and three-quarter Saratoga Cup at weightrfor-age are no novelty. This year it is no exaggeration to say that the best horses in training were on the grounds here. Native Dancers superiority to other three-year-olds need not be insisted upon, while Tom Fools dominance of the handicap division is fully as clear. Chicago may have as good a filly as Evening Out, but few hailing from this neck of the woods will believe it until confronted with unmistakable proof. As for the two-year-old colts, we may have to wait until the running of the Belmont Futurity next month before the title to leadership is clear, but the most valid candidates for the honor seem to be those seen here in the series of juvenile fixtures. Altogether, Saratoga need not apologize for the class of horses at its meeting, but the trouble has been that in each division, barring that of the two-year-old colts, there has been an absolute standout, the meeting suffering, one might say, from "an embarrassment of riches." It is plain to everbody that a few top horses -the kind that any meeting would be proud to boast have been responsible for small fields in some -of the stakes, Top Horses Were Responsible for Small Fields Safe, Deep Saratoga Strip Pleases Horsemen Greentree Uncovers Promising Devil Diver Colt Upstate Crowds Respond to Appeal of Chasers and that was just as true 30 years ago as it is today. With or without competition, there is never much uncertainty as regards relative class when the month of August rolls around. AAA If you recall, we have never failed to speak of the deep, "safe" nature of this Saratoga strip in describing any of those performances that have caught our eye during the past four weeks. Horsemen have been pleased with this strip, and for all its depth, we gather that it is not in the least bit "cuppy," a fault from which even Belmont Park is not free. Some race tracks make a fetish of "time," and nothing on earth will prevent them from "skinning" their strips for the afternoon of an important fixture, the temptation to achieve headlines in the following mornings paper apparently being irresistible. Saratoga, of course, conducts its meeting on an altogether different plane, the wishes of horsemen being paramount. Now that we are leaving Saratoga however, it would be wise to keep the peculiar condition of this strip in mind for purposes of comparison, and a hasty rule of thumb might be to call it a good two seconds slower to the mile than Belmont Park, or three seconds slower than Arlington and Washington Parks. AAA Alerteds performance in the Saratoga Cup, a race in which he was at some pains to dispose of Bit o Fate and Great Captain, was by no means as impressive as the Bull Lea horses earlier victory in the Saratoga Handicap. C. V. Whitneys 1952 Metropolitan winner, Mameluke, the only other starter for the mile and three-quarter Cup, played absolutely no part in the proceedings and was eased toward the end, even though his connections had made no secret of their confidence. Alerted had no choice but to set all his own pace. Everybody, it seemed, wanted to wait. Under those circumstances, Conn McCreary on the 11 to 20 choice allowed Alerted to gallop along in front, ticking off each furlong in about 13 seconds. Wood-house, who had the mount on William Ziegler, Jr.s Bit o Fate, kept that chestnut right with Alerted, never trailing him by more than a length, and through the final half mile, he came on to make a real race of it. Those last two quarters were run in :25 and :26, McCreary busy but never in any danger. Alerted showed a tendency to bear in during the drive, although we doubt that he bothered Bit o Fate, while Great Captain, closing well enough out in the middle of track, arrived on the scene too late to participate in the struggle. The truth was that Alerted was hardly keyed for so long a race, and it may be added that this rather temperamental entire horse had been abusing himself frequently before the start. He won the Cup on his class, and he was not beating very much, as the final time of 3:01, slowest in many years, makes perfectly plain. Alerted at his sharpest and best is another knd of horse, as we hope you will see shortly on Long Island. AAA One of the charms of Saratoga racing and this also applies to the sport at Belmont Park is the chance it gives of spotting really promising two-year-olds in overnight events. The prevalent cough has kept many interesting youngsters in the barn of course, but we have Continued on Page Forty-Three I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Fifty-Two seen a few here in those modest dashes who may reasonably be expected to show well in stake company, a little later on. Yesterday, we made mention in this space of Nydries extremely attractive homebred filly, Remission, whose conformation would single her out for any horsemans praise, and today we offer you Greentrees Gotta Go, a Devil Diver colt who, if all had gone well, might have been carrying his stables colors honorably in this afternoons renewal of the coveted Hopeful. Gotta Go started here during the first week of the meeting, capturing an overnight maiden race in a common "canter, and he might have followed that victory up with starts in Saratoga stakes had he not fallen a victim to the cough. This was a mild case however, and trainer John Gaver was able to resume work with Gotta Go after a brief interruption. Yesterday, the son of Devil Diver Why the Rush, by Sir Gallahad HI. came out again, and again he was successful, this time humbling a colt who has shown well in stake company, Terrebonne, and several others thought to be of stake quality. For a rapid half in :46, this had the look of a race, but Gotta Go disposed of Menemsha, who had been trying to run with him, and then had more than enough in reserve to hold Terrebonne perfectly safe through the stretch. Once more, this was a very easy score, suggesting that Green-tree may have a Devil Diver at last who will do that stallion real credit. AAA Any resume of this Saratoga meeting should give credit to the steeplechase and hurdle horses for the fine sport they have provided here throughout, the month. One need not have been a dyed-iri-the-wool "aficionado" to have appreciated the exciting contests over the big and little jumps, and we had the impression that the public up here enjoys racing through the field far more than does the public at Long Island tracks and almost as much as at Delaware. True, the fields in the steeplechases were small, and this partly because of the hard going, and partly because we just, do not have many good horses in this specialty. In the hurdle events, the fields were usually large, and the general, caliber of the entries was infinitely superior to the kind who once gave this type of sport a bad name. The riding too merits praise. We now have a fairly large group of professionals at a high level of competence, and the criticism that used to be directed toward these riders is now completely out of date. Nothing would please us more than to tell you that through the field racing here this month had uncovered a chaser as good as Sea Legs was last spring, or as Oedipus used to be, or a hurdle horse as good as Titien H. Unfortunately, we can make no such statement but we can claim to have seen quite a few useful, well schooled horses of whom Sun Shower is probably best over the larger fences, while War Rhodes and King Commander have looked very good indeed over hurdles.
