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BETWEEN RACES Byoscons HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 14. Nominations for four of Hollywood Parks greatest stakes, the 00,000 net guaranteed to winner Gold Cup, the 00,000 added Cali-fornian, the 0,000 Westerner for three-year-olds, and the 0,000 Star-, let for two-year-olds, have been closed, but as is customary, there will be a late closing for the 00,000 added and five furlongs Sunset Handicap, a distance race which traditionally brings Hollywood Park to a close. These nominations indicate a story of steady progress, quality wise, plus a growing base of ownership in the Far West. In the early days of Hollywood Park racing, it was necessary to get a few "eastern horses" out of these stakes to lend them a suitable degree of prestige, but these days seem num- bered. While there are some eastern horses named, and by eastern we mean anything the other side of Denver, the stakes mentioned are bound to be "first cabin" regardless of whether these horses decide to ship or not. Of the stakes mentioned, the Calif ornian is the only one new on the roster, and its list somewhat surprised even the man-agement. The Californian is a luke-warm approach to a scale weight stake, something that the Far West has lacked, except of a winter time at Santa Anita. It is an allowance race at a mile and one-sixteenth, with a possibility of a weight spread between 130 pounds and 114 pounds, for older horses, from 119 pounds to 103 pounds for three-year-olds. The base is 115 pounds for three-year-olds, 126 for four and upward, with a four-pound penalty to winners of 0,000 twice since April 1, and from there, allowances ranging up to 12 pounds for non-winners of stated amounts since last December 25. AAA The name of Native Dancer appears in the list for the Stake Rosters Hint Rise in Coast Quality Native Dancer Possibility for Californian Rich Starlet Seems Ready for Scale Status The Pie King, in Barn, Is Still Newsworthy Californian, a list which contains 50 stakes winners out of the 74 nominees, and these 50 having won collectively no less than 162 stakes to this writing. The Californian was not carded in. the hopes of attracting Native Dancer, but the Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt gray was responsible for the race. This sounds contradictory, but actually, it is not. Native Dancer did awaken the Hollywood Park leaders to the possibilities of an allowance race in the Far West of a summer time, and it was decided to go ahead with the plans on a long-range basis. If Native Dancer does come west, fine, but if he does not, it strikes us that the race still will be worth while and will provide a base for future runnings. As to Native Dancers intentions, we talked with Alfred Vanderbilt last Saturday at Belmont Park, and he told us, "There will be no decision made as to Native Dancers program until later on. As you know, he is nominated in certain English stakes, and assuming that everything goes according to our hopes, we will have a choice between sending him abroad or continuing his campaign in the United States. You can tell the people out west that as of today, the chances of Native Dancer racing in the Californian are about equal with those of his racing across the Atlantic." AAA The Starlet, emblematic of the two-year-old championship of Hollywood Park racing and a stake which is preceded by a thoughtful program of 10 other sweeps for juveniles, also is an allowance event. It is our personal opinion only that perhaps the time is not far distant, if not already here, when the management should give careful consideration to making this a straight scale stake. We say this because the two-year-old picture in the West is now so powerful, and has such a broad base, that a scale stake in mid-summer is now feasible. Certainly it would be desirable. We have no quarrel with handicaps and allowances races, feeling that they have been a necessity in the development of western racing, but we also feel that the time has come, in the two-year-old field in particular, when the top two-year-old race of the summer should be decisive, and the only way it can be decisive would be at scale. We do not hold with the school of thought which holds that handicaps and allowance races prove only that a certain horse is best at the weights, even though such may appear, at superficial glance, to be the case. It isnt quite that simple. Many horses have won their big- handicaps so impressively as to convince they have been far superior to the weights actually carried. A good example might be Citations Gold Cup, the race in which he passed the million-dollar mark in earnings. Citation toted 120 pounds as if it were the .proverbial feather. AAA The Westerner, a mile and one-quarter race for three-year-olds, has a 12-pound possible spread in weights, and Determine to the contrary, we feel that this spread could be reduced, although we believe scale in this particular race would not be probable for at least another few years. But it is bound to come. Handicaps and allpwances are designed strictly to bring about a contest, but few would care to argue that if a contest can be obtained at scale, a handicap or allowance race becomes somewhat unworthy. This commentary, as we say, is made because we detect definite signs of progress in the summer racing set- Continued on Page Fifty-Three BETWEEN RACES I By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty-Eight up in the Far West, a set-up which in the I past has been slightly envious of Santa j Anita, which almost automatically gets a fine gathering of stake horses because of the winter concentration. But at the same time, summer racing has, nevertheless, j posed a formidable challenge to California breeders in particular and to western own- ers, and they are meeting that challenge 1 1 magnificently. A . A A As you may know by now, The Pie King will be missing tomorrow afternoon from the Will Rogers line-up, and while this is regrettable, we feel sure that he will be able to make his American debut within the immediate future. For a horse who has never started in the United States, The Pie King has commanded more newspaper space than most any other thoroughbred we can think of. His every move has been newsworthy, but something has always happened to prevent him from getting to the post. At Garden State he jumped the outer fence one rainy morning while prep-ping for The Garden State, and tender hoofs shelved him during the Santa Anita meeting. He went on steadily this spring only to wind up with sore shins, -ie now has, of course, no chance to fly to the Preakness, .and while we cant speak for the stable, we feel that in all probability if he does go east, it will not be until either late July or early August. But even though he has yet to start in this country, The Pie King can still command headlines and we dare say he is at the moment the most newsworthy horse on the grounds. His j owner, Ellwood Johnston, is desirous now of proving him up in America as a stud prospect, j although there are some who insist t that he has proved his right to sire status as a two-year-old in Europe. He is, make no mistake, a good horse.
