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ON THEWIRE By HUGH J. McGUIREl DETROIT RACE COURSE, Livonia, Mich., June 8. Breeders throughout the country will be disappointed to learn that the Florida Oaks ana the Orchid Stakes will be dropped from the roster of added money events at Gulfstream Park. The Orchid had .its first running last year and was looked upon as a prep, for the Oaks. It was a six-furlong dash for three-year-old fillies and carried an added value nf tm nnn Tho noVc also had its first running this year and was at a mile and 70 yards for a prize of 5,000. These are th types of races that breeders and owners of top fillies have been campaigning to get on the programs of various tracks, and it may prove provocative to learn that the two stakes are being abandoned because of lack of interest on the part of filly owners in nominating their charges AAA Horace Wade, who holds the triple posts Of director of racing, director of publicity and racing secretary at Gulfstream Park, was a Detroit visitor, and he said it was with reluctance that the two stakes were being eliminated and that the door was always open to revive them if the management was convinced that they would receive more support. The 5,000 Oaks received only nine nominations, of whom seven started. Only five started in the Orchid. Queen Hopeful won both races, and it may be argued by the breeders that such a good one as Cherokee Rose was chasing Queen Hopeful in the Oaks and that Queen Caroline and Fascinator were in the beaten field and that such a field merited the carding of the race. Wade admitted that the Oaks field was a good one, but pointed out that from only nine nominations the track could have no assurance of similar representative fields in the future. It has been decided that it would be more equitable to distribute the money elsewhere and to program some sort of substitute races for the two stakes and if the response to these warranted a return to the stakes, this would be given consideration. Wade pointed out that the three-year-olds at Gulfstream were a good group as shown, by the contestants in the Florida Derby, but that this situation did not apply to fillies.. He agreed that owners of top sophomore fillies thought of them as more precious than uranium and conceded that the March dates of the Oaks and the Orchid may be too early in the year for most good fillies. mwo.frnT brri tirM worS I so aisbartfor Gulfstream Drops Two Filly Stakesi Lack of Interest in Oaks, Orchid Racing Shows Influence in Livonia If an example were needed to prove that racing does not detract from business in a community, the city of Livonia can be cited. Prior to the erection of the Detroit Race Course, the city was only a township consisting mostly of farms. Now, business ventures line the streets and while racing can hardly be credited with the importation of the many major industries to this area, the publicity attendant to the operation of the track may have focused attention on the locality. More directly, the influence of the track is seen in the community through the results of the direct income the city receives from racing under the Michigan law. Our understanding is that the city receives 20 per cent of the states share of taxes up to a maximum of 00,000, which limit has always been reached each year. Schools, roads and other municipal projects are materially assisted here as they are at Hazel Park. Legislation of the sort that permits the results of the taxation of the sport to appear in tangible form is one of the best methods of gaining friends for racing. AAA Among the jockey colony here, we ran across Jack Robertson, a saddlesmith we had often seen in action a few years ago and were somewhat surprised to find that he was getting only a few mounts each day. We recalled that Robertson had been riding with the best company in the nation only a few years ago and had been holding his own. He had won the Chesapeake Stakes astride Sunglow and then finished fourth on the same horse in the Kentucky Derby. He won the venerable Phoenix Handicap at Keeneland aboard Calumets Coaltown and Ben Jones has always been particular about the riders he engages. When Tea-Maker, the converted steeplechaser who captured the Vosburgh Handicap at Belmont for his first stakes success, Robertson was up. He had also been leading rider at several tracks in Maryland. Robertson believes that local trainers either do not know of his past record, or are confusing him with other riders with similar names. His two brothers, William and Melvin, both former riders, are now training horses in California. AAA In Brief: Starter John Morrissey returned from a visit to his Lexington, Ky., home where he attended the graduation exercises of his daughter, Patricia, from the. University of Kentucky. During his absence, the fields were, sent away by Eddie Anthony, 3 J -79v -v 1 ?ii8tnj;J zs ?stc;f xr, uo q-io i who serves as Morrisseys foreman and is a starter in his own right at several tracks throughout the country. Morrissey brought his teen-age son, Mike, back with him for a short vacation... G and G Stables Money Broker was returned here from Lincoln Fields where he had been shipped for the. Fleming Memorial on Saturday. He did not start in the Chicago feature because of track, conditions. He has been named for the Wolverine Handicap, 0,000 feature on the Saturday program ..Morse telegraphers, with their merry staccato of dots and dashes, is a rarity in todays press press boxes, but here the Morse news distributors are in operation. The track crew consists of the companys president, R. C. Hann, and vice-president Al Olsen. The veteran Morse telegraphers are under constant goading from Otto Smith, the "youthful" teletype operator with built-in needling attachments, undreamed of by sewing machine manufacturers. The two outriders here have adopted a system new to us where there are two outriders to forestall possible runaway horses. When the fields enter the track from the paddock, the lead pony goes along with them past the grandstand, but the trail pony gallops off to the seven-furlong pole to be alert for many horses who get away from their riders in a warm-up. . .The film patrol is again in operation here.. Sidney S. Brown, assistant racing secretary to Charles McLennan, has been released from a Detroit hospital and will be back at his desk as soon as his physician permits . . Maintenance superintendent Whitey Misener finds that the excessive heat generated by the recent disastrous fire in a stable here has affected the roofs and windows of nearby stables. A A A A dozen horses are started here in the races embracing the Daily Double, two more in all other races that fill to that number. . .AH track equipment including tractors, ambulances and starting gates here have been painted white . A change! in rule Number One of the track rules in j the condition book has been effected to permit horses that have not started prior to the opening of this meeting, or May 20, ! to be eligible under the rule that excludes those who have not finished first, second or third for a claiming price of ,000 or over. Such three-year-old horses as Grand Level and Hay Market, who had made the first starts of their careers at this meeting, had to be withdrawn from the Saturday pro- gram, but will be eligible under the revised rule. ,4 I rdaO rnoromfi duO gnir oo "d ni lia
