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REFLECTIONS by nelson dunstan BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 14. This is not the biggest weekend of spring racing in the East, but it is a day when the attention of the racing world will focus on Belmont Park, where Native Dancer will start in the Metropolitan Handicap at one mile, the first of the three events that comprise New Yorks own Triple Crown the Metropolitan, Suburban and Brooklyn. The weatherman predicts that the elements will be kinder than they were last Saturday, when the International Steeplechase and the Withers were run in a downpour. Next Saturday, the 00,000 Preakness will be staged at Pimlico, and the following week the Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont and the Jersey Stakes at Garden State will still bring three-year-olds into the picture. The mqnth of May will end with the Suburban on May 31. ill know late Saturday afternoon whether Native r has won the Metropolitan and will go one to the I event in an attempt to duplicate the feat of Whisk l H. and Tom Fool, who won the three New York No horse has a larger public following and there e many thousands wishing him well in this task, only two horses have been able to accomplish in I irs. the Black-Eyed Susan AAA is the feature event at Pim-aturday, it is interesting to note the breeding of any members of the so-called weaker sex who have winning in all divisions. On Wednesday, King ls On Your Own, a full sister to the "Triple Crown" r Assault, won the Betsy Ross Stakes at Garden Park. In each division we have outstanding mem-if the filly and mare ranks that promise to play a lefinite part in the races to come. Next Wednesday, Racing Eyes on Belmont Park This Week End Native Dancer in First of New York Triple Fillies, Mares Prominent in Current Sport Sales Yearlings Again Proving Their Worth the National Stallion Stakes, filly division, will be run at Belmont Park and it will be interesting to see how Fan-tine Busher copes with her opponents. She shapes up as one of the most promising youngsters of her age and sex. Have you noticed that in the National Stallion there are fillies from such famous racers and producers as Vagrancy, Miss Rushin, Elpis, Boudoir II., Beaugay and others too numerous to mention? The two biggest coming events for fillies and mares are probably the 0,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, which goes far toward pointing out the three-year-old filly champion, and the 00,000 New Castle Handicap, the worlds richest race for fillies and mares, which will be renewed at Delaware Park on July 5. The best fillies and mares in the East will be in these two events. AAA Pimlico is going into its biggest week and before the Preakness is run there is an event that will interest all Marylanders. It will be run on Wednesday when the Hon. George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the United States Treasury, will be the judge at the Maryland Horse Breeders annual yearling show. He is well -qualified for the post for he. has been a horse owner and breeder and a long-time participant in the sport of fox hunting. He is a shrewd judge of a horse and we have seen him on the lots examining yearlings at Saratoga on many occasions. This will be the twentieth annual show of the Maryland organization, and on the afternoon of it "The Back Again," a race designed for the two-year-olds who were exhibited in 1953, will be renewed. Maryland has made a great comeback despite keen opposition from neighboring states and next Saturdays Preakness should draw a record throng. Naturally Marylanders are interested in Mrs. Harry Parrs Staffordshire, but whether this state-bred measures up to the opposition he will meet is something only the race itself can tell. There are several possibilites, as we see it, in the Preakness and certainly one is Ring King, who ran the second fastest race in the history of the Chesapeake Stakes. He is certain to have a following, but then that could be said for many others who are likely starters. It is a wide-open race. A A- A Our old friend, the late Neil Newman, kept an exact record, year after year, of the doings of the hqmebreds as opposed to the babes who were bought at the yearling sales. Digging into statistics, Newman could quote the records and he always amazed us with the figures he appeared to have at his fingertips. He maintained that the homebreds had the edge over the youngsters taken from the ring by the highest bidder. It always seemed that the homebreds had an edge because they were bred by the big stables. But before us is one of the most interesting booklets we have ever received in a long time, and, needless to say dozens, upon dozens of such publications come . to our desk every year. We do not know of any sport which is covered so thoroughly and the various publications are not only of great interest but very useful. The one we are talking about now is "Spotlight on Thoroughbred Auctions," and it was prepared and edited by Bill Evans, general manager of the Breeders Sales Company, assisted in the layout and art work by Allen I. Brewer, Jr., well-known Kentucky thoroughbred artist. Evans confines this booklet to the sales by his company at Keene-Continued on Page Fifty-Three Is ii in N p pi n j a h 11 u 11 -1 0 of f r 0 t jj r I g g z REFLECTIONS I By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight land, and he offers a powerful argument favor of purchasing yearlings at auction. Not all men can. maintain large and expensive thoroughbred farms, but, as he points out, that is no reason why one cannot obtain horses capable of winning major stakes in this country. A A A Evans refers to the finishes of the 1953 and 1954 Kentucky Derby renewals to prove his point. In 1953, the winner, Dark Star, who defeated Native. Dancer, along with Inyigorator was a Keeneland sales product, and so were Invigorator, who finished third, and Royal Bay Gem, who was fourth. Those three horses cost 1,000. The 1954 Kentucky Derby saw Determine the winner, Hasty Road second, Gbyamo fourth and Admiral Porter fifth. The four horses costing the owners a total 7,700. Needless to say, they have earned many times that amount, Hasty Road alone winning 77,132 to the end of his two-year-old career. We so often hear of high-priced yearlings who fail to earn their purchase price, but Evans points out that there are 60 Keeneland-sold horses who have earned over 00,000 each. The total cost of these horses was 47,500 and to date they have earned over 0,000,000. While it is fine that we have breeders who race the products of their own establishments, it is obvious that a shrewd buyer can go to the salesring and select a youngster capable of winning the Kentucky Derby and other important events. It will be the same this year, the trick being to pick the right ones.
