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Dancer Dancer Seeks Seeks Metropolitan-Eight Metropolitan Eight in in Sportsmans Sportsmans Feature Feature First Appearance In Handicap Race Champion Totes 130, Giving His Ten Foes Much Weight; Porterhouse Returns in Dash By BOB HORWOOD Staff Correspondent BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 14. Belmont Park if offering one of the "big" Saturdays of the entire racing year Saturday with Alfred G. Vanderbilts Native Dancer appearing for the first time in a handicap against seasoned members of that division in the 0,000 Metropolitan Mile, and Llangollen Farms potential champion three-year-old, Porterhouse, returning to action against older horses in the Knickerbocker Handicap at six furlongs. Native Dancer is asked to carry 130 pounds Saturday, the same burden successfully carried last year by Greentree Stables Tom Fool. In the absence of Royal Vale and White Skies, who were weighted immediately below the gray champion with 126 each, Native Dancers chief rival is expected to be Greentrees Straight Face, who gets in with 117. Has 19 Tallies Out of 20 Starrs As practically everyone knows now, Native Dancer has won 19 of 20 starts, his only defeat coming in last years Kentucky Derby, when he failed by a head to catch Dark Star. The big gray son of Polynesian came back last Friday after having been sidelined with a bruised foot after his victory in the American Derby last August and created a profound impression as he literally smothered six rivals with one burst of controlled power at the head of the stretch, then coasted to the end of six furlongs in 1:11. He worked the same distance two-fifth as a second faster yesterday morning. Eric Guerin, who has ridden The Dancer in all of his races except the American Derby, will again be in the saddle. Straight Face last Saturday turned in the best race he has shown since his victory in the 1953 Flamingo Stakes, winning the Dixie Handicap at a mile and a furlong in time that was just a fifth off the Pimlico track record. The son of Count Fleet, who suffered assorted injuries in the Everglades Handicap before the Flamingo, injuries that forced his retirement after last years Kentucky Derby,, returned to action last winter, scoring two easy victories over modest opposition at Tropical Park. Flown to Santa Anita after a sensational nine-furlong trial Continued on Page Seven i j I PORTERHOUSE Last years juvenile champion is scheduled to return to action in the Knickerbocker Handicap at Belmont Park today for his first public outing since the Santa Anita Park season. Native Dancer Goes in Metropolitan; First Appearance in Handicap Feature Champion Totes 130, Giving Ten Rivals Much Weight; Porterhouse Returns in Dash Continued from Page One at Hialeah, he caught a rough track for the Maturity and finished fourth. Flown back to Hialeah, he had an exceedingly rough trip in the Widener and was unwilling to extend himself on a track that stung his tender feet in the Gulf-stream Handicap. He was then freshened and turned in a good race here at one mile, finishing fourth behind Open Show, Golden Glover and Jamie K., after, being in trouble in the backstretch, then having to go excessively wide when making his move. Ted Atkinson, who has looked anything but his competent self on the son of Count Fleet on more than one occasion, will ride again Saturday. Vanderbilt has also entered Find, 122 pounds, in the Metropolitan, but that four-year-old is also eligible to meet Royal Vale in the Massachusetts Handicap on Wednesday and since Eric Guerin has been named for both Find and Native Dancer it seems probable that only one will start. Finds recent races have been somewhat disappointing. Valley Farms Impasse, 112, and Spring Hill Farms Jamie K., 110, must be conceded outside chances against Native Dancer, who looms an odds-pn choice Saturday. Impasse, who won the Palm Beach Handicap at Hialeah last winter and had very rough trips in both the McLennan and Widener, came back with a powerful race last Friday that was obscured by the brilliance of Native Dancers triumph. The son of Contradiction made up more than ; six lenths in the final furlong of that race to be third, a length and a quarter and a ; neck behind Native Dancer and Laffango. After racing in claimers early in his career, Impasse improved steadily, winning seven ; races in a busy campaign last year and fin-1 ishing second to Find in the Empire City Handicap for his final start as a three- year-old. Jimmy Nichols, his regular rider ! and also his exercise boy, will pilot Impasse : tomorrow. Jamie K., who gave Native Dancer his 1 only two hard races last year except for the Derby, has slipped far below that form, but 1 recent races have indicated some improve- ment. However, trainer John Partridge says 1 that a relaxed vocal cord causes Jamie K. " to "choke up" after a mile and the son of 1 Crowfoot usually starts too slowly to be effective at shorter distances. Hedley Woodhpuse will ride. ; There will also be some support for 5 C. Mahlbn 4 Klines Kaster, 112, who has ; been racing on the grass course here, win-i ning one race and finishing second to Royal Governor after being all but left at I the post in the other. Augustine Catalano, 5 his regular rider, will be aboard. The others in this 61st Metropolitan are ! 1 Rokeby Stables Magic Lamp, 110; Max " Kahlbaums Jampol, 107; J. W. Nizleks : Count Cain, 106; Saga Stables Flaunt and 1 Killian Farms Resilient, 104 pounds each. Magic Lamp won the Jamaica Handicap ; ; and is reported to have lost all chance soon after the start of the Dixie. When Tom Fool won last years Metropolitan by a neck over Royal Vale, he became the first four-year-old to successfully carry 130 pounds in the stake since it was inaugurated at Morris Park in 1891. Grey Lag, Eight Thirty and Devil Diver won it with heavier burdens, but were five-year-olds at the time, while Equipoise was disqualified after scoring under 132 as a six-year-old. Such memorable four-year-olds as Ethelbert, Irish Lad, Jack Atkin, King James, The Finn, Questionnaire, Equipoise, Third Degree and Attention won the race with 120 pounds or more, but all carried less than.Native Dancer is assigned tomorrow. Incidentally, Vanderbilts two ; previous Metropolitan winners were both lightweights, Good Harvest scoring with 107 in 1936 and Loser Weeper winning in 1949 under 105 pounds. Both were four-year-olds. Porterhouse, who was ranked with Turn-to at the head of the Experimental Free Handicap by John Blanks Campbell, is again topweighton the scale in the Knickerbocker Handicap, in which he faces eight older horses. Campbell is evidently unimpressed by the defeat of the three-year-old Artismo in a similar event, having given Porterhouse the same package of 114 pounds that he gave the colt who was ranked two pounds below him and level with Hasty Road in the Experimental. After turning in a dazzling six furlongs for his spohomore debut at Santa Anita, Porterhouse was sidelined by the same injuries that temporarily retired Native Dancer, developing stone bruises while training at Keeneland. The son of the South American Endeavour II. has since trained brilliantly, stepping five furlongs in 1:01 yesterday morning, the final furlong in :11. He showed his class last year with victories in the National Stallion, Christiana arid Futurity Stakes, as well as the Anticipation and another dash, and beat Turn-to in the Saratoga Special, then was disqualified for a foul that was started by his rival. Porterhouse ended his juvenile campaign with a disastrous race in the Pim-lico Futurity, in which he wrenched his back at the start, an injury that left no ill-effects. Four of the horses who preceded Artismo in that Colts lamentable debut, will oppose Porterhouse tomorrow and three of them meet Mrs. M. E. Persons colt under even more favorable circumstances. They are Mrs. Charles Silvers Ruthred, 110; Belair Studs Game Chance, 106; C. T. Chenerys Fly-Lo, 114, and T. P. Morgans Plus Fours, 116 pounds. Ruthred won that race and picks up two pounds additional. Game Chance, who finished third, drops two pounds, while Fly-Lo, who was fourth, drops four. Plus Fours, who was sixth, but r came back to win here, drops three. Game Chance will have a formidable running-mate in Wheatley Stables Hilari- ous, 122 pounds. The son of Bimelech comes : from a couple of defeats here and in New : Jersey, but has also run many fine races . this year. There will be some following here for i Howell E. Jacksons Caesar Did, 113, who finished second to White Skies and in front of Hilarious in the Toboggan, as well as for Saxon Stables Invigorator, 122 pounds. The field is completed by Mrs. Wallace Gil-roys Eternal Will, 104. Invigorator was narrowly beaten by Laffango in the Champagne Stakes at one mile here at two, and last year finished second to Native Dancer in the Withers Mile here. The son of Brookfield also won the Peter Pan Handicap on this course last year, but has been on the sidelines since he suffered a stifle injury at Delaware Park last June. 7" 4 e j.
