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Palm Tree Displays Liking for Sloppy Belmont Strip to Score Route Triumph Greentrees Candidate for Withers Defeats High Gun Cammel Laird Falls inGhase inGhaseBy By BOB HORWOOD HORWOODStaff Staff Correspondent BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 3 Displaying a marked liking for the sloppy track Greentree Stables Palm Tree turned in the best race of his compara ¬ tively brief career in winning the featured Great Neck Purse today With Ted Atkin ¬ son steadying him through the final six ¬ teenth the chestnut son of Shut Out scored by three and a half lengths over King Ranchs favored High Gun who led Ethel D Jacobs Paper Tiger another six lengths William Ewings Roman Spring who set the early pace was another two and a half lengths out of the money moneyPalm Palm Tree who had stopped as though short of work in the Wood Memorial stepped todays mile and a furlong in 149 threefifths faster than the Wood but carried only 116 pounds The Green tree colt paid 660 as second choice with the rainsoaked crowd of 19718 19718Eligible Eligible to Saturdays Withers Mile Palm Tree stepped that distance today in 136 which is about average time for the stake and a fifth faster than Native Dancers Withers last year Of course Ixrag Island tracks are always speed conducive when sloppy having a hard bottom under loose sand but the Great Neck was a swift race all the way with fractions of 23 46 110 and mile in 136 136Landscaping Landscaping was first out of the gate in the Great Neck but at the end of a quarter Roman Spring led by a length and a half over John B P who was another length before High Gun and Palm Tree who raced as a team followed by Landscaping and Paper Tiger TigerHigh High Gun and Palm Tree moved to the leaders together with Palm Tree on the outside and going a bit faster The Green tree colt took command at the threefur ¬ long pole without being unduly urged while High Gun was a half length behind and just a head before Roman Spring John B P was falling back and Paper Tiger just beginning to run runPalm Palm Tree took the final turn a little wide and seemed to want to bear out a bit through the stretch but widened his lead rapidly without being under punishment High Gun couldnt match the winners winnersContinued Continued on Page FortyOne Palm Tree Gains Sloppy Track Score at Belmont BelmontGreentrees Greentrees Hopeful for Withers Whips OddsOn HighGun atRoute atRouteContinued Continued from Pag One Onestride stride and the fact that Eric Guerin dropped his whip for the second time while riding this colt made no difference This time Guerin lost his stick 20 yards from the finish when thoroughly beaten beatenFive Five candidates for Saturdays Interna ¬ tional Steeplechase met in the Whaddon Chase today and James F McHughs Sun ¬ downer the oddson choice was eased up at the end as he reached the finish of the about two miles 20 lengths before F Am ¬ brose Clarks The Creek Lowry Watkins venerable Tourist List was another three and a half lengths in arrears while Arthur Whites Patrol finished eventually The race lost all semblance of a contest when Mrs Vernon G Cardys Cammel Laird fell while leading in the backstretch The Eng ¬ lishbred who campaigned in France is trained by an Irishman and was ridden by the French Albert Foot was a strongly played second choice and was taking his fences like the proverbial bird when he slipped on landing at the tenth fence skidded some distance and finally went down downSundowner Sundowner who may be favored in the International paid 390 and was timed an extremely sluggish 355 over the soft track He seems to have steadied down consider ¬ ably this year possibly helped a bit by the fact that jockey Earl Phelps is riding with a longer stirrup Sundowner had passed Cammel Laird between the ninth and tenth fences but the invader had regained com ¬ mand just before he went down Foot es ¬ caped injury while Cammel Laird didnt appear to suffer any serious damage It was noted that his surcingle was broken when he was recaptured on the main track near the finish after running loose
