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• -- ■•— - W E l G H I N G I N By EVAN SHIPMAN 1 BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. IT, N. Y., May 28. — From mid-morning, when Chuck Connors "flash" first warned us that something was seriously wrong with Native Dancer, to the end of a long day spent at two race tracks and intermediate points, the topic of conversation was every- where where the the same: same: What What has has happened happened - where where the the same: same: What What has has happened happened to the gray champion? Will he race again? Is this the end of a magnificent career? Trainer Bill Winfrey, the only one who could conceivably have answered any of these questions, was not available, he being thoroughly occupied— you may be sure — at barn 20 over in the Belmont stable area. But, as the afternoon wore on, we in the press box did receive brief bulletins, and they were reassuring. After pulling up from a three-furlong breeze definitely lame, so lame that Bernie Everson, his exercise rider, jumped off and led the colt from the track, X-ray pictures of the near foreleg were taken immediately. When, a little later, the plates were carefully examined, they showed nothing, and by now Native Dancer was moxing easily around his stall. The negative plates mean - that no bone is involved, and that had been the chief cause for concern. The likelihood seems to be that the big fellow is again suffering from an as yet "undeclared" stone bruise, an injury similar to that he had met with last fall at Chicago, and that had compelled his temporary retirement just as he was about to meet Green-trees Tom Fool in what might have been "the race of the century." AAA Native Dancers bruise — if it is a bruise — must be high up in the pulpy mass encased by the shell of the hoof. It must be high because it was in the vicinity of the coronary band that Winfrey first felt heat, following a nine-furlong Turf World Stunned by Dancers Mishap X-Ray Plates Show Thereh No Bone Injury Lameness May Be Due to Another Bruise Extra Points Is a Boon to Steeplechasing work late last week. Subsequently, that heat and the slight soreness that went with it completely disappeared, leading the trainer and owner Alfred Vanderbilt to believe that Native Dancer might fulfill his engagement in Mondays Suburban Handicap. Then came yesterdays breeze, and a- pronounced recurrence of the trouble. A stone bruise in that particular location is difficult to treat because it is almost impossible to tell exactly where it is. X-ray pictures will be taken again and again, in the hope that a faint shadow, a shadow roughly resembling a "spot" on a humans lung, will represent the ruptured small blood vessels with the attendant inflammation and collection of pus. AAA , Once located, there are two possible treatments for stone bruise. Usually, the affected area is cut away, plugged and allowed to heal gradually. Porterhouse had a stone bruise early this spring at Keeneland. In the case of this three-year-old, trainer Charley Wittingham.merely soaked the hoof repeatedly in hot water with Epsom salts, and the infection was. absorbed by the colts system. Whichever method is employed, a cure requires time, but it can be emphasized that this is not a serious injury, and is absolutely does not mean that Native Dancer "has broken down." Porterhouse, as we know, was ready to race again after a few weeks on the sidelines, and if owner Vanderbilt has his heart set on racing Native Dancer at Ascot this July, a stone bruise now should not interfere with that engagement. It is by no means easyjj for a trainer to maintain a horses condition when a hare 3 training schedule is suddenly interrupted in this f ashioi but Whittingham did it successfully with Porterhouse, ana j Winfrey is, of course, equally capable. Native Dancers J absence from the field is certain to rob the Suburban of much of its interest, but the main thing is that we 1 have not seen the last of this great colt. J| AAA j Only the dramatic mishap suffered by the champion % yesterday could eclipse in interest the remarkable show- j ing of Colonel Nelles steeplechaser, Extra Points, in the | Corinthian Handicap, the best race so far this season for the specialty and a spectacle that will live long in the memory of those fortunate enough to see it. Under his topweight of 162 pounds, the Grand Slam gelding with*! whom his trainer, Mrs. C. E. Adams, has worked wonders"* this season, led for nearly every step of the two-mile trip, but he had to be a game horse and a good one to turn back the persistent challenges of Sun Shower, to whom • he was. conceding 10 pounds. The Corinthian field was .: not large, but just about all of them had a crack at the s pace-setting Extra Points without ever seriously bothering j him until the last half mile. His Boots and Palaja had ? dropped back after vain bids, and Extra Points seemed well able to cope with Sun Shower. The latter, however, * returned again and again to the charge, and over the last two obstacles and on the flat, the favorite had all he j could do under "Dooly" Adams skillful handling to maintain his advantage. AAA * Extra Points jockey would probably have preferred laying off the pace with the heavily weighted odds-ori A choice, but this fencer was all eagerness yesteday, and Adams wisely decided to let him ramble rather than to , Continued on Page Fifty-Three WEIGHING IN Br EVAN SHJPMAN Continued item taga Fttbf-Stx "swing on him," thus upsetting his beautiful, rythmic action. The 1953 Grand National winner, His Boots, was in receipt of 18 pounds in actual weight, and they took many of the early jumps together, Extra Points gaining at every obstacle, but, as was pointed out by Bob Horwood, not showing quite the same soaring freedom that he had recently in the Appleton Memorial, his lead on that occasion never challenged. All this while, Pat Smithwick "was biding bis time with Sun Shower. "When that ones perfectly placed move was delivered, it was with great authority, this one never looking better than when he surged up to challenge rounding for home. Had Extra Points faltered ever so little, Sun Shower would have won the day. He did not falter, responding visibly as Adams applied the whip, his ears pricked as he cleared the final fence. As we have told you repeatedly recently, this is a top horse, and a boon to the sport of steeplechasing.
