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I England i Darius Festoon Capture Guineas GuineasBy By CLTVTE GRAHAM GRAHAMLondon London Correspondent Daily Racing Form FormLONDON LONDON England The French chal ¬ lenge for the Two Thousand and One Thousand Guineas was held after all by the hometrained con ¬ tingent Ferriol made a brave effort to catch Darius in the colts race but the French fillies Cordova II and Fair Jane II were never serious threats to Festoon in the One Thousand Guineas GuineasA A spring drought which had lasted for three weeks combined with keen winds and night frosts to make the Newmarket turf as hard as it has ever been beenThese These conditions were riot in favour of Damelot Baron de Waldners muches ¬ teemed candidate in the Two Thousand The French colt kept on changing his legs and faded out of contention at halfway halfwayA A A A ANoble Noble Charger and Royal Challenger both by Royal Charger and Kings Evi ¬ dence by Court Martial were on top for the first threequarters of a mile Then Manny Mercer gave Darius his head The leaders stopped so quickly that Manny found himself in front nearly a furlong before he had planned plannedThere There was only one course to pursue then keep going Rae Johnstone sent Ferriol at him and got to his girth but Darius drew away again in the last hun ¬ dred yards to win by a length lengthFive Five lengths away Poona staying on took third place On the camera de ¬ cision from seven horses all within two lengths of him He started at 40 to 1 and Herman Helbush may nave secured a bargain when buying him on the eve of the race from the Aga Khan Infatuation Nearco was sixth with Landau further back Sir Gordon Rich ¬ ards had no excuses to offer for Landau and it is doubtful now if the Queens black colt will be started for the Epsom Derby DerbyDarius Darius the winner is a strongly built deepgirthed muscular son of Dante hero of the 1945 Derby out of Yasna an 18 yearold Dastur mare who died this year As a twoyearold he ran second to The Pie King at Ascot and scored his most important success in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster His failure to beat Tudor Honey in his 1954 reappearance at Kemptoii can now be attributed to shortage of work His Guineas victory brought him to first choice for the Epsom Derby DerbyThe The question of his ability to go that route is one that will recur constantly before June 2 The writers preference is still for Ambler II who runs in the Lingfield Derby Trial next week weekA A A A AFestoon Festoon a daughter of Fair Trial from Monsoon won the fillies classic from end to end Her feathery action was untroubled by the hard ground and she was always jtoing a shade too well for the others othersBig Big Perry Big 0ame Red Brier came along with a fast finishing run to take second place in front of another Fair Trial filly Welsh Fairy Then came Key by Big Game and Bara Bibi by Bois Roussel A A A AThe The first three in both classics were all bred by their owners Festoon owned by whisky magnate John Arthur Dewar has been made favorite now at 8 to 1 for the Epsom Oaks The One Thousand Guineas was only her third race raceNearula Nearula looking greatly improved since last year had an easy win in the March Stakes His next race will be against Aureole and other leading fouryearolds in the Coronation Cup at Epsom on June 3 3His His owner Mr Humble tried to syn ¬ dicate him as a stallion at the end of last season but the venture did not ap ¬ peal to breeders He will stand at New ¬ market next year at 700 700A A A A ASyndication Syndication has been made less popular by the mishap to Alycidon Apparently healthy in every respect this young stal ¬ lion of which so much is expected has not been getting his mares in foal this season seasonIt It is probable that three mares out of the 40 matings may produce foals but the veterinary experts are no more than hopeful hopefulA A A A AWithout Without knowledge on the state of the Belmont turf we should name Rose Park mad Prince of Denmark the most likely likelyContinued Continued on Page fortyNine Report From England EnglandBy By CLIVE GRAHAM Continued from Page Six Sixcontenders contenders from this side of the Atlantic for the International Steeplechase SteeplechaseIf If there has been no rain Prince of Denmark will probably finish in the first three If it is muddy forget Kim KimOur Our choice therefore is Rose Park who was nominated in this column as the pick of all the foreign horses when prospects for this race were first mooted toward the end of last year
