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WEIGHING By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 5 Since little De ¬ termine the Kentucky Derby winner was not nominated for the Belmont Stakes because of some confusion concerning the date of closing and since the diminutive gray son of Ali bhai severely campaigned ever since last July will be given a respite until after the running of the Preakness eastern turf followers will hardly get a look at him this season and certainly not this spring As those who did not see Determine in his brilliant effort back of Hasty Road in the Derby Trial and his smashing victory in the Derby itself will have gathered from the accounts Andy Crevolins latest cham ¬ pion is something less than impressive to the eye at least as viewed in the paddock but more than compensates for this inconspicuous presence with his fighting heart un ¬ failing stamina sound underpinning and above all his superb mental coordination and physical agility qualities that have stood him in good stead in many a tight corner Like that other fine son of Alibhai On Trust the first to bring his fashionably bred imported sire fame Deter ¬ mine is and has always been sound and in these days of myriad excuses for otherwise promising talented per ¬ formers that paramount virtue looms large indeed De ¬ termine thanks be has the legs and feet to withstand and type of racing strip any and all demands of pace together with a severe racing schedule that would aston ¬ ish if not shock any foreign horseman and that is to put it mildly the envy of our native conditioners conditionersA A A A ANature Nature has done her part as far as Determine is con ¬ cerned but we all know that nature under the best of circumstances requires a considerable assist from skilled horsemen if the modern thoroughbreds are to stand the Alibhai s Best Sons Prove Sound and Tpugh Stock On Trust Determine Both Conditioned by Molter Good Grooms Are Essential for a Wei I Run Stable Crevolin Has the Last Laugh on Skeptical Visitor gaff From all we have ever heard Alibhai sire of On Trust and Determine and many another sound cam ¬ paigner was originally a sound individual and with good strong legs under him Selected for Louis B Mayer by Laudy Lawrence Alibhai was shipped to this country with specific recommendations from Lawrence a shrewd horseman concerning his training and the schedule of work that she should follow All that was a waste of words and the trainer then ir charge of the Mayer stable ignored everything that he had been told with the result that Alibhai almost immediately broke down and never thereafter got to the races NOW in the next generation both On Trust and Determine have been trained by Willie Molter one of the outstanding conditioners on the Pacific Coast In both cases Molter has had wonderful material towork with as he himself would be the first to say but just the same for the sake of On Trusts and Deter ¬ mines reputation we are glad that these horses found a home in Molters barn barnA A A A AAmong Among other causes for a bowed tendon the extremely serious mishap that annually retires many prominent thoroughbreds is a badly applied bandage Horses at night are usually done up with cottons and bandages on all four legs and the knot of the bandage should be at the side away from the tendon The groom when he is through should give a feel to each bandage at the top where the strings are fastened to make sure tha the fit is snug but that there is no chance of binding All this is absolutely second nature to ally good groom or care ¬ taker the only kind that should ever have anything to do with a top horse To our mind for a horse to bow a tendon because of a bandage is a damning reflection not only on the groom who had that horse in charge but on the trainer who hired that groom And yet just the other day the owner of one of the most prominent colts who has recently bowed said to us We do not know what the reason was It may have been the groom you know a groom can be careless particularly if he has been on a party that night Well thats just the point and we do not agree we broke into the sport as a groom and we have known good grooms all our lives Party or no party we never knew a groom in a good stable who would under any condition put on the kind of bandage that can bow a tendon tendonA A A A AWillie Willie Molter has always had a groom taking care of Determine and the rest of his mammoth public stable are looked after by good grooms You know of course that Dr Eslie Asbury bred Determine that Andy Crevolin selected the colt at the Keeneland yearling sales and now owns him and that Molter is his trainer and Ray York his rider All that is important but it is Determines groom who has his eye on the colt 24 hours a day and it is with this man that responsibility begins Tony Diaz who has looked after horses for Crevolin for as long as that owner has been in the game has been the Derby winners caretaker from the beginning or right up until Determine was flown from Bay Meadows to Louisville Tony has an aversion to planes so he turned the colt over to Bill Lovelace another longtime employe of Molter and Crevolin while he stayed at San Francisco with Im bros As far as a stake was concerned both Diaz and Continued on Page FortyFive WEIGHING IN INBy By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page FortyEight FortyEightLovelace Lovelace were jn a grooms seventh heaven Saturday night because both of them led a 100000 stake winner back to the barn Imbros duplicating Determines feat just a few hours later in the William P Kyne Handicap HandicapA A A A AAlthough Although we told you last week in this space that we would be rooting for De ¬ termine on Derby Day we can lay no claim to having been one of the first on the band ¬ wagon Well do we remember our first view of the little fellow in the paddock at Santa Anita late last December and also the talk we had with his owner about him at the time Crevolin of whose buoyant optimistic nature we were well aware as ¬ sured us that Determine just shipped south from Bay Meadows was a top pros ¬ pect and that he had turned down an offer of 90000 for the colt This was just be ¬ fore the start of an overnight sixfurlong sprint in which Determine was engaged A few minutes later we saw Determine vic ¬ tim it is true of an overconfident ride on the part of Johnny Longden soundly then was merely a highclass plater as we knew full well Laughing at Crevolins ex ¬ uberance we could not wait to retail this story to John Hertz citing it as an amusing example of Californias brash overcalcula tion of anything Californian In our com ¬ ment on the race the next day we wrote Instead of thinking that Travetine has moved up that much and in spite of the fast time of the dash we are inclined to believe that Determine and the others were a trifle overrated Little do you know Andy Crevolin if you think he was the slightest bit crestfallen at this setback or if you think he was ready to accept our tongueinthecheek reproof And of course it is Andy who has had the last laugh and a hearty one 1 if I if i T c iJ ij VAldft ju a ti02
