view raw text
mMlm New Jersey Report By FRED GALIANI L. I. Tracks House Stakes Horses Invade Other Points for Big Races One Reason for Uncashed Tickets GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 14. It has long been the contention of New Yorkers, and rightly so, that the success of the stakes at most out of state tracks depends upon horses from the big apple. There are no two ways about it; the majority of the leading stables in America are situated at the three Long Island tracks. When stakes come up on the schedule, the New Yorkers leave in short sorties to various points, mainly New Jersey. While Maryland, New England, Chicago and Kentucky usually get their share of stakes performers from the Empire state, no circuit draws more from them than New Jersey for obvious geographic reasons. It has been happening since racing was revived here. Foi the record, four stakes have been run at this session. The opening day feature was the mile and 70-yard Valley Forge Handicap. There were 13 starters in it and eight of them came from Long Island. The second added money offering was the William Penn Stakes, a juvenile test. This is one oi the few instances where the New York in-J vaders were missing, only one showing up out of seven starters, but with juvenile stakes that is to be expected, as there are sc many of these offerings and it so definitels very early in the season. Many highly regarded youngster have yet to start. AAA The third stakes was the six-furlong: Camden Handicap, which was decided over a muddy track, a condition that riddled the field with scratches. But of the seven in this 5,000 sprint, three were from New York and one from Maryland. At this point it might be well to mention that so far, none of these invaders have had any success. Horses stabled on the grounds have won all three stakes, Pet Bully, Right Down and Just Sidney taking them in that order. Last Wednesday, three-year-old fillies had their chance, and the response was overwhelming. Of the 16 misses in the sprint field, no less than 10 were from New York and one was Continued on Page Fifty-Three JbkbbY kbPORI By FRED GALIANI Continued from Page Five from Chicago. The arithmetic is simple. Is Without invaders the race would have ii in been, if not a very small field, lacking in N any name horses. Here the raiders found p their first spoils, King Ranch taking the pi money with On Your Own. Saturdays n Delaware Valley Stakes has drawn a big j field of three-year-olds. If you want to check on the number of horses shipped in for the 0,000, just turn to the past performances and see for yourself. a aaa h Cal Rainey winds up his steward duties here with Saturdays facing and proceeds 11 to Delaware Park where he will serve in a u like capacity for the Stanton tracks ses- 11 sion. Raineys place here in the pagoda will be taken by Fred Parks . . . Billy t Hildebrandt, a member of the New Jersey J Racing Commission from 1941 to 1943, has I been a daily visitor since the opening on I -1 his annual vacation. He winds it up now 0 of and says fie probably wont get to the races again until Monmouth. f r AAA 0 Muggins Feldman, publicity man at Sunshine Park and Atlantic City, and t spouse Sandy, were up for Thursdays racing before heading to Delaware and jj that session. Glad to hear that Lou Cun- ningham, also of the South Jersey shore r track force, has been elevated to junior I executive status and Feldman promoted to senior press relations officer. Couldnt g happen to two nicer guys . . .Joe Hoi- g sey, master of the Jay Cee Farm in Red z Bank, made his second appearance of the meeting to watch his Sky Command perform. It wasnt a fruitless trip as Sky Command earned the third portion of the purse. . . Ray DeStefano, trainer for the Hampton Stable, came down from New York to run La Perouse yesterday, but the mare wasnt inclined to do the same. AAA 5 Ev Wilson, track superintendent at Mon- mouth, showed up-for the afternoon. The J North Jex-sey plant will be open to receive horses starting Saturday. There will be big change, for visitors this year, says Wil- j . son, with a new paddock and. walking ring j among the many innovations. . . George McMullen, the former jockey, is wc-king in i the clubhouse mutuels department as a seller. . . One of Thursday "j feature races was the Jim Thorpe Purse and the track received a telegram from the late grid stars widow thanking them for so honoring Jim. . . Two fellows you seldom , Psee without a cigar in their chops are ; trainer Tony Mazzeo and jockey Nick Jemas. Mazzeo comes out on top because 1 Nick has to get rid of his a couple of times a day when hes riding races. AAA It has always been a point of mystification how so many winning tickets go uncashed every year in every racing state. In 1953 almost 50,000 reverted to the state coffers here because of fane failure to cash good tickets. How anyone can throw a good ticket away often seems unbelievable, especially to a guy who is on a losing streak and couldnt get, a winner in a match race. Heres how it happens. Wednesday afternoon, in the last race, the solid favorite Thee and Me crossed the finish line better than two lengths before Reaping Love. To a lot of people that was it and it being after six in the evening, they started dashing for home. AAA Now among these departures were a group of men, prominent people in Camden. One of them who runs a most successful business, had four ten dollar tickets on Reaping Love. While riding home in the car he took out his four tickets and, as they were driving through the heart of Camden, threw them out the window. One of the ducats whipped into the back seat where a fellow companion put it in his pocket saying, "never throw away tickets." When the gentlemen assembled in a popular gathering place they were dismayed to find out Thee and Me had been disqualified and Reaping Love moved up to the winners slot. That meant that blowing around somewhere in Camdens busy streets were three crisp mutuel tickets worth 82. Fortunately, it was no ill wind that blew one ticket back into the car, for he at least salvaged 94 clams, but for most of that night streets in Camden were the scenes of much flashlight activity and no one in the crowd was a Diogenes.