Judges Stand: Polly Drummond May Show Filly Leader Club is Impelled to Split Todays Feature Lupin Time Revelatory to Americans, Daily Racing Form, 1954-06-09

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JUDGES STAND CHARU$ HATT0N DELAWARE PARK, Stanton, Del., June 8. The Polly Drummond here this Wednesday drew such a quantity of fillies having more or less quality that the club perforce split it, assuring the mid-week patronage two attractive races. This is the season when turfmen universally like to trunK sneir nines nave staKes potentialities you know, and there were 21 entered for the local five furlongs, including several who are demonstrably of that classification. "The breadth of Delawares course will accommodate fields of 20, allowing the legal minimum of five feet per horse, but such races can tie conducive to carnage, and we would suggest bull fighting for those whose sporting instincts are tinged with morbidity. One end of the Polly Drummond brings together again the clever Menolene, Courtesy and Fantine Busher, who were first, second and third, in that order, in the recent Ran-cocas back at Garden State Park. AAA The Rancocas was free of any serious interference, so that the form would seem fairly trustworthy, and we expect that Menolene will have extensive backing to repeat. Despite the circumstance there is a weight shift of four pounds against her and she must carry 122, conceding nine each to Courtesy and Fantine Busher. Sly Vixen has earned an impost of 116 pounds and also will have some support. It should be added that weight is a somewhat less important consideration in dealing with two-year-olds at five furlongs. than in attempting an appraisal of older horses going more searching distances. In the second and less demanding division of the Polly Drummond there are Sorceress and En Rapport, each a winner of two consecutive races, along with Louie Haggins Smart Devil. Up to now the Devil Diver filly has seemed unable Polly Drummond May Show Filly Leader Club Is Impelled to Split Todays Feature Lupin Time Revelatory to Americans Lindheimer Program J s Very Encouraging to quite reproduce her keen Kentucky form here in the East, but she has some speed. It is entirely possible that the Wednesday feature will serve to show Delawarians the filly destined to prove the leader of the division. You may recall when our Parisian friend "Darley" was here for the Kentucky Derby we were wondering what he would make of the races reckless pace. He replied be- x tween the lines of his recent very readable account of the Prix Lupin, which is a mile and five-sixteenths at Long-champ, a course that rises perhaps 30 feet in three furlongs up the backstretch. The field breasted this hill at the lively rate of :48.10, negotiating the final mile and a quarter of the distance in 2:03.10, a "tick" behind Determines time in the Derby. So much for the long cherished little conceit that just because we make much of sheer speed, it follows we must have developed the worlds most dashing race horses. One of our reasons for advocating international competition is a feeling it may have an edifying and beneficial effect in certain rather stagnant quarters of Americas bloodstock breeding industry. For all too many years we have gone on breeding horses from the same line in the smug delusion the native" product is plenty good enough, if not the best in the universe. Blenheim n., Mahmoud, Nasrullah, Royal Serenade, Worden Tl., Noor and Wilwyn now have even the diehards "clucking to themselves." The notion here is that our mistake has been and still is that we do not, under our system of racing, subject our horses to enough really severe tests. A preponderance of events under a mile on cramped courses flat as billiard tables is a comparatively inexacting crucible. The higher the requirements, the better the selection of breeding stock. Perhaps we cannot do much about the courses, but we do think some clubs might fill more races at distances be- yona a mne oy aaopung ueiaware s poncy oi unering an attractive premium for them. There are voluminous and convincing statistics to show the longer races are the most popular with the patrons. Thus they have a certain public relations value as well as a tendency to actually improve the breed. AAA It is encouraging, in view of the trend of racing at many points, that Arlington and Washington will offer a gross distribution of about ,700,000 this summer, a sum representing a tidy increase over that of a year ago. We cannot think Ben Lindheimers confidence is misplaced that this program and the extensive improvements "expressly designed for the publics comfort and convenience, will result in an increased acceptance ef our racing." Many strings which have not raced at Arlington in years, including those of Mrs. Hertz and Mrs. Graham, are expected to be on the scene this season, along with the Calumets and the formidable Hasty House performers. One of the fascinations of the meeting is the prospect that Hasty Road and Determine will renew their intense rivalry of the Derby and Derby Trial. This would give the Classic nationwide interest and more than unusal significance, for one or the other of these colts could conceivably emerge from the morass of three-year-old form as Continued on Page Thirty-Eight JUDGES STAND I By CHARLES HATTON . Continued from Page Forty-Eight the years leader. Another of the higher lights of the meet on Chicagos picturesque North Side is the 00,000 Arlington Handicap, which this summer is to be presented on the mile turf course. AAA Turf ana: Among the mares the Aga Khan may have for sale is Rivaz, a sister to Nasrullah. There was a price on her last winter. Curiously in view of her breeding she excelled at five furlongs. . .. . Belmont, Saratoga, Atlantic City and this park have the only courses measuring 100 feet on both the front and backstretches. . . . Powder Flash likes to be ridden with a hold long as a steeplechase jockeys, perhaps because a former chase rider gallops him. . . . Dixie Mitchell is pacing the apprentices at this meet. . . . Fully 66 per cent of Delaware Parks patronage is from out-of-state. . . . The rapid Wreck Master looks fetch-ingly like his sire, Bolero. . . . Don Ross runs some five-horse races "pour le sport." . . . There is a suggestion the breed of horses now is "hotter" than it was two decades ago in the fact one rarely sees an entrant warmed up going to the paddock. The problem now seems to be one of keeping them composed until reaching the gate, thus the increase in lead ponies. . . . Walter M. Jeffords is a frequent visitor, and has won a share of races. . . . Hon. George Humphrey, Amory Haskell and Jouett Shouse were in the Kent attendance.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1954060901/drf1954060901_49_1
Local Identifier: drf1954060901_49_1
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800