view raw text
J U D By CHARLES HATTON PIMLICO Baltimore Md May 7 These last 24 hours here on the sylvan Hilltop have been punctu ¬ ated by the opening of what promises a most successful spring meeting the entry of a fine field of eight in the ancient Dixie the arrival via air of R S Lytles resourceful looking Cor ¬ relation a possibility Ring King and Gigantic will become supplementary Preakness eligibles and an indication Harry Trotsek will fly here to inspect the race course We returned to town last evening with Harold Simmons who is temporarily supervising Cor ¬ relations training in Noble Threewitts absence on the Coast and that veteran did not appear at all hopeless that the Lytle colt can fill his Preakness engagement Though he was a bit fragmented about the legs in the donnybrook of the Derby he is bodily a fit horse and Simmons supplied I expect to have him under saddle on the course tomorrow morning And I estimate that I could possibly work him twice before the Preakness Everyone I think is glad for the longer interval between the Derby and this race The Free America colt inci ¬ dentally is an excellent flier even though he is 162 and must carry his head low in a plane something which might agitate a less eventempered animal His arrival was the highest light of the day as it related to the Preakness and we turn now to the upcoming Dixie The octet in this 25000 added run of nine furlongs suggest to us an interesting race to watch appealing alike to spec ¬ tators and players Even though it was decided not to start Royal Vale who won the 1953 renewal so impres ¬ sively Most accomplished of the field is Greentrees rakish gelding Straight Face The son of Count Fleet has been freshened since his lapse of form in the late winter and 115 pounds will seem light to him for he has been Straight Face Is Class of Field in Dixie Pimlico Now Offers Racing on Turf Plans Grass Features at Fall Meeting MJC Renews Social Dinner Purse May 20 carrying lives to 10 pounds more We must think him the class of the acceptances though handicapper Fred Col will in his appraisal of them requires Capeador to con ¬ cede him a pound A winner of the Tropical and Letellier handicaps this season the Bull Lea gelding was runner up to Magic Lamp in the Jamaica Handicap in his latest sally He encounters Magic Lamp again in the Dixie but with a weight shift of five pounds in his favor Golden Gloves only last week end was a creditable third to Pet Bully and Royal Vale in the Valley Forge at Garden State in a race which revealed Pet Bully as something more than the one dimensional sprintermany had sup ¬ posed Parnassus is an invader from Lincoln Downs where he beat a moderate field for the Lincoln Special last month Ram o War and Mully S have been assigned a dismissive 108 Matagorda 105 The notion here is that Straight Face who has trained so smartly will appeal more to the players than he does to the handicapper A A ARacing Racing on the turf has contributed enormously to the publics enjoyment of the thoroughbred sport and Pimlico now is prepared to offer competition in this context The Preakness crowd last year put a great many divots in the new grass course but it has settled over the winter and looks very attractive in the bland spring sunshine Now stakes are to be presented on it at this meeting and we are Hot sure there will be in the fall There seems some disposition to favor overnight handicaps of sufficient value to appeal to the owners of stake horses writing these events so that in inclement weather they may be transferred to the main course Pimlicos turf strip is about seven furlongs in circumference and the awkward fact is those distances from a mile and a sixteenth to a mile and a half almost certainly would have to be abridged because the course is so turning Also we take it general manager John Jackson is not too keen on con ¬ ducting sprints over it The first races posted for decision on the grass will be sort of experimental to determine how best to use it and the quantity of available talent Pimlicos new course is carefully banked on the radius of the turns and the height and texture of the grass is nicely calculated to provide secure footing As you may know Jackson has consummate experience with the prep ¬ aration of turf surfaces having for a number of years supervised the meticulous care devoted to those magni ¬ ficent courses atArlington and Washington WashingtonA A A A APimlico Pimlico schedules no twoyearold stakes in the spring but the club has decided to renew the very social Dinner Purse on May 20 This five furlongs is for maidens as of the time of closing on May 15 which marks a change in eligiblity from the 53 race A year ago it was for maidens of March 1 As a consequence there were one of two entrants who qualified but had displayed such high form nobody much cared to oppose them The members of the Maryland Jockey Club may lease entrants for the occasion or owners may use their own colors In Maryland these are less garrulous on the whole than in some of the newer racing centers Following the run ¬ ning there will be a swish elegant dinner in the old club ¬ house This affair last spring was one of the highest lights of the social season with an attendance of several severalContinued Continued on Page FortyNine JUDGES STAND STANDBy By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page FiftySix FiftySixhundred hundred almost foundering on the subtle delicacies the Stevenses whipped up in the kitchen Of course it is much too early in the season to know the really good two yearolds but we saw a clever colt and filly in Kentucky in Royal Note and Smart Devil And we are told Maryland has a youngster of astonishing speed in the rec ¬ ord breaker Wreck Master though he seems not to have had it in the Bowie Kindergarten where he could only finish third to Will See and Powder Flask Re gretably the winner of this event is alleged to have had a booster shot of something prohibited in the drug rules and has been disqualified It is in the autumn that Mary ¬ lands twoyearold racing assumes a na ¬ tional importance particularly with the renewal of the Futurity and Marguerite at this point and the Selima at Laurel LaurelA A A A ATurf Turf ana Louie Lee Haggins Homestake is one who bypassed the Derby to await the Preakness Jack OKeeffe fancies that if The Pie King Irish champion of Englands 53 twoyearolds performs cred ¬ itably at Hollywood Park he may be ac ¬ counted a Preakness probable Cham iers form this spring confirms what he showed in the Irish Derby in which he was awarded the race the English invader Premonition disqualified This seems to tohave have touched off a series of warnings off which have the Irish thinking the English impossible and vice versa Messaline a sister to Queen Hopeful recently killed her Seven Seas filly foal at Charley Leavitts farm Hasty Road this season has a twoyearold halfbrother by Determines sire Alibhai who is called Traffic Judge Irish Lad who rivalled Broomstick then served at stud in France appears in Sunny Dales pedigree as the sire of her third dam The Minx n Few tracks provide more fountains than does Pimlico
