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IN THE BLUE GRASS By Huqh J.McGuire LEXINGTON, Ky., June 1 During his visit here last week end, Humphrey S. Finney, president of the Fasig-Tipton Com-, pany, provided us with a list of most of the consignors from Kentucky to the yearling sales at Saratoga. For the first time at the Spa salesring the sessions will continue through the entire week of Monday, August 9, With the final sale on Saturday night. Finney has been looking over the local vearlines en tered in the Spa sale in what is virtually the same procedure as employed in the physical examination of yearlings by the Breeders Sales Company for its summer sales. From this area and scheduled to sell on the evening of Monday, August 9, is Robert Alexander of Versailles who, as agent, will sell four head. Arch Graham has four for himself and one for Joe Graves. The Mulholland Brothers of Georgetown will offer three while Marvin Gaines of Walton will send into the ring seven from the Springlake Stud .and the Lookout Stud. AAA On Tuesday, Grant Dorland will sell two, James P. Headley two, Jonabell Stables nine, and Carter Thornton three. On Wednesday the Ellis Farm of the Litwin Brothers of Walton and Cincinnati, will sell eight. Friday evening will be the big night of the week when Henry H. Knights Almahurst Farm plans to offer 42 on what has come to be known as Knights Night. For the innovation of Saturday evening sales, another strong session has been arranged. From the Old Westport Farm of Matt Winn Williamson near Louisville will come 18 head which includes the consignment of the Laguna Seca Ranch of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Bishop of Monterey, California. Saturday has also been selected as the night for offering the 24 imported yearlings of the Aga Khan. , AAA In addition to yearlings the Aga- Khan will sell horses in training on Saturday morning. This group includes the three-year-old colt Lizanno, by Royal Charger-Bray Melody, a brother to Happy Laughter who was rated Englands best three-year-old filly in 1953. Incidentally Lizanno is also a brother to the yearling colt to be offered by the Crown Crest Farm of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Reineman at the Keene-land sales. In this group also is Sun Ruler, a three-year-old son of Nasrullah, along with others by Migoli, Palestine and Miza Ky. Consignors to Spa Sales -Knights Night Friday, Aug. 13 River Downs Ready for Meeting n. Fillies include Figina, by Nearco Ferry Pool, by Hyperion, and daughters of Vatal-lor, Palestine and Migoli. AAA With no racing currently in Kentucky, nor for that matter within a radius of some 200 miles, the upcoming meeting at River Downs can be expected to be a successful one. The 44-day session at the river bank course near Cincinnati runs from Friday, June 4 to July 24, with eight races daily except on Saturdays and holidays when nine contests are scheduled. Each year more Kentuckians help swell the rising andt-tendance. There was a time a number of years ago when the sport in Ohio generally left something to be desired both as to accommodations for ihe public and the quality of the competition. A genuine effort throughout the entire state has been made to correct both of these deficiencies and while it is true that the quality of competing horses is not top bracket, it is definitely in the ascendancy. The plants themselves have all been subjected to rigorous rehabilitation or been entirely rebuilt. Not the least attractive among the Ohio courses is River Downs. AAA It is not our intention to moralize on the conditions of the past at some Ohio tracks but suffice it to say that the intelligence of the patrons was so often insulted that attendance dropped off to where the very existence of the sport was threatened. This situation has been corrected under modern managements which realize that the race patron with the time and money to indulge in his favorite sport is not the "sucker" that he was more or less openly called in the past. In the final analysis he makes the whole thing possible, and this point is generally recognized now throughout the entire industry. If attendance fell away under the old practices it is a credit to the race fan that he gradually came to realize that conditions now are different. In 1934, when River Downs was still known as Coney Island, the. 44-day meeting saw ,894,419 handled in the mutuels. Last year, about 20 years later, the figure reached 2,684,696. AAA Interesting recent visitors to the Blue Grass were Dr. and Mrs. L. E. Brandenburg of Kenya, South Africa, which is, "we , believe, the territory of the Mau Mau. Dr. Brandenburg, who is a medical man in the ,Jcoony, is an inveterate lover of th.qrpughj breds and maintains six mares and an English stallion. Lately he and his associates have organized a race meeting. He has toured the nurseries of Spain, France, Britain, Eire and elsewhere, and was amazed and pleased at what he saw in this area. He was particularly taken with the modernity and general cleanliness of local farm operations, veterinary practice and such innovations as the aluminum roofs on the barns at the Stallion Station. In turn, he brought some surprises concerning conditions in his homeland. The spring water on his ranch is so cold that it has to be placed in shallow troughs in the sunlight to be warmed enough for the horses to drink. Constant vigilance must be maintained to protect the horses from snakes and ants. Armies of ants will attack and destroy a horse in a very short period. AAA Blades of Blue Grass: Some sort of record may have been established by Dr. Horace N. Dayis when he treated by phone from Lexington, a foal of Mrs. John Payson Adams in California. Dr. Davis diagnosed and prescribed from phone1 conversations daily and last reports have the foal doing very well Racing secretary Fred Burton reminds that the five stakes at ThistleDown close on June 8. These are headed by the Ohio Derby and the ThistleDown Cup, both of which carry an added value of 5,000. With such races as these and the 0,000 Marathon and 0,000 Championship to be decided at River Downs, and a series of specials headed by the 5,000 Buckeye Handicap at Randall Park, it is readily seen that the quality of racing in Ohio is definitely on the uptrend Dr. Robert E. Bardwell is planning a trip to Peru in August. Dr. Humberto Herlera, who has been studying American veterinary practice with Dr. Bardwell, will return to his home in Peru at that time. AAA Breeders who have been inclined to complain of the difficulty of getting their horses into the summer sales at Keeneland will be pleased to note that 96 yearlings, or about 25 per cent of the entire stock, are" from consignors who have not sold in the summer sales in the past two years.. . .Tom Eicher, a member of the publicity staff of Tony Webnor of River Downs, has been tub-thumping throughout Central Kentucky in the interest of thai track. Eicher distributed passes for Kentucky Day, June 15.... Harold Snowden, manager of the Stallion Station, reports that he has had visitors this spring from many foreign countries where thoroughbreds are raced, including Australia, Africa, Canada, England, Eire, France, Mexico and several Cen-
