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Master Ace, in Receipt of Thirty Pounds, Lowers White Skies Colors in Oceanport Gerry Homebred Sets New Track Record in Beating Topweight Length and Half By FRED GALIANI MONMOUTH PARK, Oceanport, N. J., June 12. Getting 30 pounds the best, of it, Mrs. Robert L. Gerrys Master Ace handed William Wickmans White Skies his first defeat this year, but had to streak the six furlongs in 1:09, a new track record to turn the trick. With the largest opening day crowd in history 23,476 in attendance Master Ace, the lightweight of the field with 106 pounds, scored by two and a half lengths over the topweighted White Skies, burdened with 136 pounds. Third in the field of nine came Alfred Roberts Eatontown, who was a length and three-quarters away and three lengths before R. C. Hannas Candle Wood. With the veteran Joey Renick letting Master Ace roll along, the pair stopped the clock at :21 and :44 for the quarter and a half. With White Skies bet down to odds on, Continued on Page Five : , Master Ace Turns Back Topweighted White Skies Gerry Homebred, With 30 Pounds Less to Carry, Leads Throughout Continued from Page One Master Ace, coupled with Jet Master, returned 7.40. Victory in the Oceanport was worth 3,-000 net of the gross purse of 8,500 and Homer Harris, assistant trainer, acting for Mrs. R. L. Gerry, was presented with a trophy by Mrs. Edwin C. Wilson, wife of the mayor of the town for which the race is named. Master Ace, a homebred son of Case Ace Mistress Mary, is a five-year-old chestnut gelding who was making his fourth start of the year after being out of action since 1952. His only previous score this year was in his return to action, when he won a claiming affair with a 2,500 tag. He was second in two successive races before toppling the 3-to-5 favorite, White Skies, today. White Skies had won nine of his 10 previous starts and had a run of five straight before today. This season he had triumphed in an overnight handicap at Gulfstfeam and then taken the Paumonok, Toboggan and Roseben Handicaps. His one defeat in that 10-race skein was in the Princeton Handicap last fall at Garden State Park. The five-year-old Golden chestnut ran his race today, but he was unable to spot the winner 30 pounds. .White Skies, Skipper Bill and Jet Master flashed out of the gate at once at the start of the Oceanport, but after a few strides, Master Ace was winging well in front, before Skipper .Bill, while White Skies, for a brief moment, dropped back to fourth. Stout rushed the favorite after the leaders and, going down the backstretch, soon j moved into second place, displacing Skipper Bill, who dropped back. Going around the turn, Master Ace maintained a two-length advantage as White Skies doggedly tried to close the gap between them. Eaton-town had moved into third place another couple of lengths to the rear. Coming down the stretch, Renick hand urged Master Ace, while Stout gave the favorite a couple of belts left handed. White Skies tried his valiant and usual best, but the weight was beginning to take its toll and at the finish was losing ground slightly to the winner; Master Ace was Renicks only mount of the afternoon but it proved to be a profit- able wait for him in the new jockeys room. The attendance was well over last years opening crowd figure of 21,726 and wagering kept pace, setting a new standard for an inaugural session. Following the running of the fifth race, Amory L. Haskell, president of Monmouth Park, was presented with a certificate of award by Bill McDonald, assistant national director of the U. S. Savings Bond drive of the United States Treasury. McDonald represented secretary of the treasury George M. Humphrey. Haskell was- honored for his outstanding performance in promoting the sale of savings bonds.
