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8y CHmS HATT0N JUDGES STAND PJMLLICO, Baltimore, Md May 14. Fascinator and Queen Hopeful were such a good show in the Kentucky Oaks we are looking forward to seeing "them meet again in this week-ends Black-Eyed Susan here at Pimlico. There are seven other fillies in this mile and a sixteenth, including the clever Fancy Diver. But we think that most patrons will be a little surprised if both the Hasty House and Maine Chance fillies are beaten. Experts in such matters here at Pimlico fancy Queen Hopeful will be the favorite to repudiate the form of the Kentucky Oaks. Certainly the players are unlikely to be inspired by Fascinators Acorn. This engagement may have followed that at Louisville a bit too closely for her, and it now becomes a question if she has recovered the condition she held in the Oaks. We had the impression she beat Queen Hopeful on their merits. The diminutive Hasty House filly is the more consistent however, and this is a fairly rare quality in three-year-old fillies, particularly in the spring. Nor can there be a more genuine performer than this daughter of Roman. Though she had to be content with secondary honors in both the Ashland and Oaks, Queen Hopeful was challenging Jen jay in the former and Fascinator in the latter, and was beaten honorably on each occasion. Matter of fact, we have yet to see her run an indifferent race, and it never ceases to amaze us that one of her miniature proportions can have made 21 starts without ever being unplaced. Tratiner Trotsek seems pleased with the zestful fashion she has trained for the Black-Eyed Susan. Fancy Diver is a filly having a nice turn of speed and she will have jockey Eddie Arcaros services in this stake. It must remain for the race to disclose if she has the class to carry levels of 121 pounds a mile and a sixteenth in this company. One finds it diffi- Queen Hopeful May Avenge Oaks Form Today Horsemen Supporting Pimlico Turf Events May Increase Limit of Fields From TO. to 72 Busy Social Calendar During Preakness Week cult to work up a convincing lather of enthusiasm for the rest of those named. AAA If Pimlicos patronage has seemed a trifle hesitant to wager heavily on events decided over the new turf course, the horsemen have supported these races enthusiastically, and we feel sure the players will gain confidence as the form is more resolved. Several days ago, racing secretary Colwill posted a mile race on the turf and there were 29 entries. It was split and presented as two races. The grass surface here is about 70 feet wide and fields have been limited to 10 in the interests of safety. There has been no crowding and the turns are well banked, if a trifle sharp, so that the management and stewards may decide to increase the maximum number of starters to 12. Several years ago, when turf racing was being developed beyond the novelty stage, one occasionally heard it questioned if there was sufficient talent to fill these events. It turns out, to the amazement of the questioners, that all horses can perform on the grass. And if some do it better than others, this is of course equally true of competition on sand courses. Nearly as we can tell, the public here enjoys seeing the sport in its natural green setting, and a number have voiced their approval to the management. After all, many of them also attend Laurel, which has had a turf course several years and has found it profitable. As a matter of fact, we know of only one individual who is a conscientious objector to grass racing. This is a system player in Washington, D. C, who writes letters to tracks offering these events, denouncing them as a dark plot to separate the patrons from their money. We do not know if this amuses him, but we were amused at the last line of a recent missile directed to the operator of one track which has thus complicated his handicap ping. "If flat racing," he said, "with its yen for the different and spectacular in horse racing is attempting to reduce the sport to a game of chance comparable to bingo and roulette, I would say that it is more than succeeding." Fancy that, reducing racing to a game of chance! AAA Preakness week will be celebrated here at Pimlico by the memberships of everything from the Maryland Horse Breeders Association to delegates from the Society of Aeronautical Weight Engineers. The horse breeders have their annual dinner in the old clubhouse on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, there is the Maryland Yearling Show, with Secretary of the Treasury George Humphrey serving as judge. This is also Virginia Day, and members of the Virginia Horse Breeders will attend en masse. On Thursday, there is the Dinner Purse, followed that evening by the Maryland Jockey Club dinner, followed next morning by a very few early risers. Pimlico also is host to conventioneers, of whom there are scores in Baltimore and Washington at this time. This season the club has, or will entertain delegates of diverse organizations including the Armed Forces Communications Association, the directors of the National Association of Home Builders, the accounting division of American railroads, the Maryland Truck Association, the Governors Safety and Health Conference, and the Food and Drug Officials As- Continued on Page Fifty-Three 5 J . i , ; 1 JUDGES STAND By CHARLES HATTON : 1 Continued from Page Forty-Eight sociationv of the Central Atlantic States. Marylands governor, Theodore D. McKel-diri, will, as usual, present the Woodlawn Vase to the owner of the Preakness winner. And this spring he will have an assistant, Miss Evelyn Ay, who is Miss America of 1954. Miss Ay, in turn, will be assisted by Jack OKeeffe and a chaperon. Never realized that Vase was so, difficult to manage. , In addition to the states chief executive, i the Preakness attendance will include : dozens of government officials from Wash- ington. AAA Turf ana: Humphrey Finney was here to inspect the High Ground Stable horses that wnTbe disposed of in a Belmont paddock sale June 10. . . . The club ascribes the decrease in attendance and play to continued uncertain weather in contract to the balmy days of a year ago. On only three of the 15 days in the fall, beginning November 4, will there be conflict with Garden State. Avoiding this opposition is worth an estimated 00,000 daily Lou Pondfield is perhaps the most-traveled track executive, spending a good part of each week in the air between Cleveland and Baltimore. . . . The Back Again, for two-year-olds that competed in last seasons yearling show, will be carded next Wednesday. . . . The Preakness will be both telecast and broadcast over the facilities of CBS, coast to coast, the approximate time, 5.45. Fred Capossela will describe the race, Mel Allen supplying the color. ... The Stevenses report that Preakness Day will be a complete sellout, so far as concerns dining room reservations. j j t
