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MR and MRS HARRY JAMES James Family Mr and Mrs Display Genuine Interest in Sport of Racing Homebred James Session Carries Their Colors in Todays Renewal of Derby DerbyCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky April 30 Two of Californias bestknown citizens trumpettooter Harry James and film star Betty Grable are providing an unusual touch to the Derby this year be ¬ cause of their Californiabred colt James Session Miss Grable and her husband while famed in the entertainment world are two owners who actually love the turf Their interest is entirely genuine and has nothing to do with socalled publicity publicityFor For the last several years Miss Grable has tried insofar as possible to schedule her movie production commitments to per ¬ mit her to attend the races at Santa Anita Hollywood Park and Del Mar On other occasions in spring and fall when her film work permits she is a frequent visitor at the San Francisco Bay area tracks where her stable always races between southern meetings meetingsMiss Miss Grable presently is the owner of six mares and James Session of course is a homebred A few years ago the Jameses purchased some fine acreage in the San Fernando valley at Woodland Hills to be exact and set themselves up as breeders on their own farm After three years they decided that while they were learning it might be better to board their mares at farms already established So at the mo ¬ ment their mares are boarding in southern California and the farm is for sale It probably will be sold for use as a real estate subdivision for it boasts some of the choic ¬ est land in the San Fernando valley area which has a population now approaching the 750000 mark and which is continuing to grow at an amazingly rapid rate rateMiss Miss Grable of course plans to purchase a new farm in time for when she eventu ¬ ally retires from the films she hopes to settle down to the thoroughbred farm life and maintain a small but firstclass opera ¬ tion As for mares she will strive for qual ¬ ity and not for quantity She has already achieved this goal We havent the exact figures but we know that an unusually high percentage of the horses she has bred riave been winners An equally high per ¬ centage have been stakes winners winnersUntil Until James Session came along her bestknown stake horse whom she also bred herself was Big Noise a horse en ¬ dowed with keen early speed but who was not able to sustain it in top company for more than a mile and a furlong furlongThe The decision to ship James Session to Kentucky came as a surprise We talked about the Kentucky Derby with Miss Gra ¬ ble at Santa Anita during the winter and she told us I have named James Session for the Derby just in case but I wont even consider thinking about shipping now because I dont want to send a horse to Kentucky who would have no chance Well have to wait and see But if it turns up that he does have a chance he has been nominated and always cango Ive always dreamed of going to Kentucky and seeing the Derby It would be the thrill of a life ¬ time timeHarry Harry James has seen one Derby He was playing in Cincinnati one Derby week end and hired a car for the day He saw the Derby then returned to Cincinnati in ample time to keep his evenings engage engageContinued Continued on Page FortyOne Harry Jameses Display Genuine Interest in Sport SportHomebred Homebred James Session Carries Their Colors in Todays Derby DerbyContinued Continued from Page Thirteen Thirteeninent inent However if we remember correctly Miss Gnible has never been in Kentucky before beforeWe We have never been able to discover a pattern in the bookings of the Grablc ma ¬ trons except that in general they have been sent to Californias bestknown stal ¬ lions She has booked liberally to Count Speed at Amarillo Ranch to Khaled at Bex Ellsworths Chino farm and to the jsires at W W Tiny Naylors showplace fnear Riverside James Session is by a Nay lor sire Kings Abbey AbbeyBetty Betty Grable and Harry James are among the outstanding entertainers of modern times She has been one of the top stars at MetraGoldwynMayer for some years and virtually all of her pictures have been socko box office James has his own orchestra a n d is world renowned as a trumpet player playerThe The names of their horses are reminis ¬ cent of music and entertainment James Session of course is at once a combination of jam session which Harry likes to en ¬ gage in and enjoy and James session which is Harrys own private brand of a jam session One of their breed is named Laughin Louie for Louis Prima who often joins with Harry in a jam session
