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WEIGHING By Evan Shipman BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 8 Native Dancer is himself again and alls right with the world Alfred Vanderbilts big gray champion returned to competition in the overnight Colin Purse yesterday here at Bel ¬ mont and the fashion in which he disposed of the half dozen sprinters bold enough to risk the encounter left absolutely nothing to be desired The big colt galloped along in the wake of Count Cain and Laffango for a half mile and then at the head of the stretch Eric Guerin deeming the time opportune he disposed of the early leaders in one pounce cantering in from there to the finish His time for the six furlongs over a strip that was extra glib for the occasion was an unimpressive 111 but time has no con ¬ nection whatsoever with the authority of this performance He was his true self he was magnificent and this obscure purse was the best possible omen for thrilling sport in the big handicaps that will enliven the ensuing weeks of Metropolitan racing racingA A A A AIt It is idle to talk now of what Native Dancer could have done yesterday had he ever been pressed All that we know is that he tended to the business at hand with a dispatch that was breathtaking his real running yesterday not occupying more than a sixteenth of a mile One of the more pleasant aspects of the afternoon was that so many English and Irish horse ¬ men here for todays International Stee ¬ plechase were on hand to watch our champions seasonal debut From rumors that were rife in the paddock and that were not discouraged by Vanderbilt and trainer Bill Winfrey the English are quite likely to see a lot more of Native Dancer before the current season reaches its half ¬ way mark A A A APlenty Plenty big enough at the start of last season Native Dancer is neither taller nor heavier than he was as a threeyearold but it seemed to us as we watched him saddled yesterday that there had been a subtle change that the gray colts physique is more massive more rocklike than pre ¬ viously As he stood there in the stall with his handlers Native Dancer could have been hewn from New Hampshire granite immobile he was as weighty as a monu ¬ ment but he did not rest immobile long As if he had halfforgotten the purpose Native Dancers Return Thrilling Captures Sprint in Common Canter Top Performers Widely Dispersed of the trip from the tranquility of his familiar stable to the populous outskirts of the track he was for the first time restive under restraint Twice he reared majestically Wes Murray clinging to the shank while his eye usually so calm with action imminent was wicked and fiery like that of a seed bull bullA A A A ANative Native Dancer is as intelligent a thor ¬ oughbred as we have ever encountered and a large eye is the customary sign of the perfect mental balance that the gray champion has always exhibited But in this as in so many other respects Native Dancer is exceptional his eye is small but it certainly makes up in keenness and varying swift expression what it may lack in size Who are we to guess what thoughts flit through that equine brain But watch ¬ ing him we are aware of their passage the eye glowing fitfully in this stern iron gray mask like a live ember embedded in a bank of ashes ashesA A A A AMany Many curious glances were cast at Na ¬ tive Dancers suspicious front ankles yes ¬ terday Since early in his twoyearold form these ankles have been the subject of speculation on the part of Winfreys brother trainers they marvelling that the champion never seems to feel pain from underpinning that by rights should be worse than ouchy toward the end of any gruelling race For your information those front ankles are just as enlarged now as they ever were the blanched hair on the inside of the near one making it appear even larger than it actually is Last year at this time Native Dancer had already had a number of extremely tough races racesA A A A Aon on the afternoon when he won the Withers in the same kind of common can ¬ ter he exhibited in yesterdays Colin Purse the ankles at least as we viewed them had never been larger The strange but incontrovertible fact is that as the season progressed trainer Winfrey succeeded in reducing their ugly size and when the colt was abruptly retired for the year following his smashing victory in the American Derby at Washington Park it was definitely not because of his ankles Winfrey apparently had conquered the ankles and it was a stone bruise a purely fortuitous injury to the sole of the foot that deprived us of Native Dancer during the fall months Because of the dispersion of American racing it is possible to arrive at a com ¬ pletely erroneous conclusion concerning the quality of our competition We have listened recently to those who bewail the present poverty of one or another of our divisions but in every case we believe these critics are misled by the large number of competing tracks that absorb our leading thoroughbreds Native Dancer MarkYe Well Rejected Royal Vale Level Lea Pet Bully Thirteen of Diamonds Imbros Ber seem White Skies form a group of males that at varying distances of course we believe to be unmatched anywhere in the world while Sunshine Nell and La Corre dora not to mention Grecian Queen who is in temporary eclipse are mares of whom any nations breeding would be proud proudA A A A ABringing Bringing them together is another mat ¬ ter but with the Metropolitan ahdf Subur ¬ ban Handicaps up for decision thismonth Belmont Park is going to see a fair share of these horses in action Remember that it does not take a large field to make a great race last years Suburban was by common consent one of the brilliant races of all time this estimate depending solely on two champions Tom Fool and Royal Looking far ahead to the fall we will of course see the best of our absolutely ex ¬ ceptional threeyearold generation pitted against the top stayers among the older horses in Belmonts Jockey Club Gold Cup this two mile stake the outstanding feature of the American turf for thoroughbreds of all ages In this connection Andy Crevo lin owner of the Kentucky Derby winner Determine told us last night on long dis ¬ tance telephone that he had every inten ¬ tion of shipping his game little gray colt to Long Island in the fall the Gold Cup his i announced objective Crevolin is disconsolate at the stables mistake in not nominating Determine for the mile and a half Belmont Stakes next month he assuring us that the Derby win ¬ ner was never better in his life than right how and that couple of weeks rest will find him fresh and eager for competition at any distances colts are asked to travel We will know a lot more than we do now about all the threeyearolds by the time The Jockey Club Gold Cup rolls around but fine as any of them may prove them ¬ selves to be they will be facing no easy task when encountering our top aged horses and Native Dancer we repeat is just one of them
