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Colonial Handicap Attracts Sixteen Sunshine Nell Vies With B razen Brat Meeting of Pair Highlights Garden State Holiday Stake; Atalanta Also Well Fancied By WILLIAM C. PHILLIPS Staff Correspondent GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 29. — Meyer J. Kaplans Sunshine Nell and Mrs. Samuel M. Pistorios Brazen Brat will resume the bitter argument they staged in their recent New York encounter on Monday when they participate with 14 other fillies and mares in the thirteenth running of the Colonial Handicap. This six-furlong feature will ring down the curtain on the Garden State Park spring meeting, which will have its 25-day counterpart next fall. There remains a lull of 11 days on the New Jersey scene, with the sport being next resumed for a 50-day session at Monmouth Park, beginning on June 12. The steady development of Garden State Park was continued in several phases during this spring, not least of which was a satisfactory increase in wagering and attendance over the coinciding record-breaking spring meeting of 1953. The racing, itself, has never been more interesting and exciting in the history of the course. The damp weather on the eastern seaboard this spring was a minor headache, but it made no adverse effects on the sandy, waterproofed racing strip peculiar to this track. Purse to Gross 7,050 The Colonial promises to provide a thrilling climax. The gross purse will be 7,050, if all 16 start, and several top members of both the filly and mare classes are going to thresh out the issue. Sunshine Nell is the original high weight of 126 pounds among the 45 nominees. Rated just one pound less in Darby Dan Farms Atalanta, after whom comes Brazen Brat with her assignment of 123 pounds. Also listed in the upper brackets is E. P. Taylors Canadian, 119, with the others ranging from 115 pounds to 108. Sunshine Nell was defeated a neck by Brazen Brat two weeks ago in the six-furlong Level Best Handicap at Belmont, the result coming after a ding-dong duel the entire distance. Peak interest will be in these two fleet rivals, the New York-owned Sunshine Nell, a six-year-old by Sun Again and Nellie Flag, and the Maryland stalwart, six-year-old Brazen Brat, a daughter of Sky Raider and Geraldine. One pound has been added to Brazen Brats impost for their second meeting Monday. Jorge Contreras will have a return engagement on the latter, while no boy has been named for Sunshine Nell. Beaten Only Once in Five Starts Brazen Brat has the best record for the year. She has started five times and her only defeat was against male rivals in the Bowie Handicap, in which she finished fourth. She beat horses in the Capitol Hill Handicap, and again in the Rowe Memorial Handicap. Sunshine Nell, who won 6,732 last season, has been out just three times this spring. She won her debut, in an overnight handicap over fillies and mares, and was third among her own sex in another overnighter before making her last start against Brazen Brat. Atalanta, another seasoned six-year-old, received a useful prep in an allowance race last week, in which she carried 121 pounds and finished fourth. She won 17,450 in. 1953, gleaned mostly from longer distanced events, and probably will be neglected in the betting, despite her known class. Canadiana, was beaten 11 lengths with just one pound more than she carries Monday, finishing behind the Brazen Brat-Sunshine Nell combine at Belmont. It was her first start this year, however, and she gave a better accounting in the Autumn Day Handicap last fall when she carried 123 pounds and was beaten just a little more than two lengths by this came pair. Several of the lighter weights loom dangerously. Mrs. Pistorios Singing Beauty, coupled with Brazen Brat as the lone entry in the field, is capable of generating high speed with her 110 pounds, and she has shown a fondness for this course in past seasons. T. F. Corcorans Stepper Upper is another who performs well locally, and just this week she scored an upset over A. G. Vandebilts Outsmart, who renews that feud Monday, with Atalanta finishing fourth. Warner L. Jones, Jr.s Lillal gained quite a following in the Midwest last year, and she gave a good effort in her second start of 1954 here when she was narrowly beaten by Huntsville. j Two others must be mentioned, and they are King Ranchs On Your Own and Maine Chance Farms. Fascinator. The former won the Betsy Ross Stakes, for three-year-old fillies, earlier this meeting, and Fascinator, another sophomore, won. the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
