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WEIGHING IN Ry EVAN shipman j BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 25.— The colt division of the National Stallion Stakes Wednesday brings out several highly regarded youngsters, and, as usual, should result in an interesting, revealing contest. The most recent renewals of this traditional feature, first first run run back back in in 1898, 1898, have have shown shown us us first first run run back back in in 1898, 1898, have have shown shown us us winners of the caliber of Porterhouse and Tahitian King, while, over the years, the roster of those who have scored in this dash contains many brilliant names. Mrs. Russell A. Firestones Heliopolis colt, Summer Tan, winner of the Youthful and runner-up to the highly regarded Nashua in the recent Juvenile, may go to the post a slight choice in this small but well-balanced field. Summer Tan may have experienced some difficulty in the early stages of the Juvenile, while the margin of his defeat by the Nasrullah colt, to whom he was conceding five pounds, was a mere half length. Mrs. Firestones homebred prospect may meet his chief rival Wednesday in George D. Wide-ners Islander, a Polynesian colt, who has shown trainer Bert Mulholland a series of keen morning trials, and who was narrowly beaten by Thunder Hole for his swiftly run debut here recently. Others who will receive backing include Nashuas stablemate, Laugh; the Princequillo colt, Thunder Hole from Casey Hayes barn, and Fast and Far, a son of Count Fleet" from a Hyperion mare, who is rumored to be considerably better than his two starts at the current meeting would indicate. » AAA Breeding journals may be expected to point out the similarity of pattern in the breeding of Native Dancer and Hasty Road. Both colts were sired by "speed horses" and have dams that have infused an element of stamina into the pedigrees. Native Dancer, of course, is by Poly- Summer Tan Fancied for National Stallion Stars Breeding Conforms to a Pattern Hasty Road Goes Middle Distance on Courage Rare Champions Hint a Future of Breed nesian, who, although a Preakness winner, was more at home over distances of a mile or less. Roman, Hasty Roads sire, accentuated the speed characteristics of Sir Gallahad m., because of the powerful Sundridge and Domino strains he received through his dam, the Buchan mare, Buckup. American fixed events best suited to the talents of Roman and Polynesian were probably the Fall Highweight Handicap and the Toboggan. Their classic-winning sons. Hasty Road and Native Dancer, are both products of Discovery mares, the staying Fair Play line sure to receive the credit for their ability to negotiate the "middle distances." We doubt that there is convincing evidence of any "nick" here, or that Native Dancer and Hasty Road indicate any short cut to success. In contrast to these two brilliant examples, the same formula will also show literally hundreds of abject failures. It is the individuals who count. AAA As was the case with his sire, Polynesian, a Preakness victory, taken by itself, will not be enough to establish Hasty Roads reputation at the middle distances. His second to Determine in the Kentucky Derby and his score over Con-elation in the Preakness last Saturday tell us that Hasty Road is possessed with unusual courage, but "courage" and "stamina," as a horseman employs7* those terms, are by no means synonymous. We watched both the Churchill Downs and the Pimlico race carefully, our impression being that in each case Hasty Road would have been better suited by nine furlongs than by the f actual distances In defeat, as when he scored, the big Roman colt held on nobly, but we are certain that his t connections will be well advised to concentrate now on r the shorter Chicago features to which he is eligible rather than pointing him for the completely unsuitable mile and / a half Belmont Stakes. AAA Native Dancer, as we see it, belongs to an altogether different category than Hasty Road, and we have abandoned any attempt to explain the gray colts greatness in terms of a pedigree. Like Citation before him, Native- Dancer is probably "a sport," the combination of genes that is responsible for him representing a one-in-a-mil-lion gamble. Citation or Native Dancer in their contests 1 with ordinary horses have often given us the uncanny feeling that they belonged to a different species, but, in a 1 certain sense, such a fanciful hallucination may not be too * far off the strict truth. Great thoroughbreds, or great j trotters, such as Greyhound, 1:55 and Lou Dillon, 1 1:58, are actually -forerunners of what the breed may be expected to produce, sometimes at an interval of a quar- « ter century, or even longer. They are as sporadic, as hu- 1 man genius, but they differ markedly from human genius in that they appear to prophesy a type. * * 1 Considerable interpretive license was necessary if one was ever to read what we call "cup" qualifications into j Citations pedigree, and the same difficulty exists today , concerning Native Dancers immediate ancestors. Yet any horseman will admit that this pair will travel "as far * as horses run." Citations Jockey Club Gold Cup is still green in our memory, many considering that two-mile"] test as the best, the easiest, of all the Calumet champions great races. Native Dancers Belmont Stakes last June j Continued on Page- Forty-Seven WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Fifty-Two was a revelation to all those who had previously doubted his staying ability, Alfred Vanderbilts graybeing comfortable at the finish despite the narrow margin, maintained at his own pleasure, over Jamie K. We knew that afternoon that mere distance was never going to bother Native Dancer, while if he is sent abroad to Ascot this summer, we would be just as confident of the grays success in the two-mile and a half Ascot Gold Cup as in the shorter Queen Elizabeth and King George VI. Stakes, for which his owner intends him.
