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W E I G H I N G I N By EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 12. Aqueduct, reputedly the most successful financially of New York racing associations, possesses undeniable charms for its stockholders, and, judging from the patronage it has always enjoyed, a goodly portion of the fans feel themselves quite at home in the coldly materialistic surroundings they find at the Queens County course, but for the rest of us the come-down from the gracious amenities of Belmont Park each spring always comes as a rude shock. Even before its transformation some 15 years ago, when pari-mutuel wagering replaced the familiar "ring" and attendance at all our local courses was multiplied to previously unheard of figures, Aqueduct was hardly "a thing of beauty." Nevertheless, its strictly utilitarian aspect was not unpleasing to horsemen, many of whom had a distinct fondness for the unique 10-fur-long strip they found there, as well as for the "elbowed" chute from which most of the juvenile events were contested. Exigencies of space doomed the old racing strip, locale for many a famous renewal of the time-honored Brooklyn Handicap and Dwyer Stakes, while renovation for present-day needs also condemned the oddly-shaped chute. Aqueduct thus became another perfectly conventional mile track, the extreme length of its homestretch being the only feature differentiatiing this course after its face-lifting from a quantity of other tracks. Putting it mildly, the change did not improve matters. A A While the Queens County Handicap will be the feature of the opening days card at Aqueducts spring meeting, a major portion of the interest in this initial program, we feel, will necessarily be concentrated in a seven-furlong Reduction of Aqueducts Strip Hurt Course Filly Leader Returns to Action in Regal Lily Evening Out Forced to Pass Up Acorn and Oaks Severe Bit Fails to Control Unruly Hurdler dash for fillies, an allowance af af ir entitled the Regal Lily that marks the return to action of George D. Wideners fine Evening Out. Victim of an accident at the barn, this homebred amazon, far and away the mistress of her division last season, was forced to pass up her classic engagements in Belmonts Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks, races that, if juvenile form held true, would have been literally at her mercy. As we yet it, Evening Out lashed out one-morning in an exuberant mood, putting a hind leg through a screen door and sustaining such scratches about the hock that trainer Bert Mulholland was compelled to let up on her just as she was completing the preparation for her major spring engagements. The Regal Lily that will see Evening Out conceding considerable weight to numerous fast three-year-olds is intended as her final sharpener for the important Gazelle, the mile and a sixteenth test for this division that features Aqueducts first week end. AAA Never beaten by any of her own sex, Evening Out should keep that distinguished record clean on Monday. Mulholland has made sure that she is thoroughly fit for. this engagement, her last three good works having been at seven furlongs, a mile and again at a mile. In the Regal Lily, she is in at an even 121 pounds with Mrs. John Hertz Happy Mood, the chestnut Mahmoud miss who dead-heated with King Ranchs Riverina in the mile Acorn, but this pair will be conceding chunks of weight to the 11 other expected starters. The group includes such capable names as Trisong, Small Favor, On Your Own, Talora and OAlison. Happy Mood unfortunately was not nominated for the Oaks, but her Acorn effort was distinctly praiseworthy, while she will feel perfectly at home at the distance to be asked of her Monday. By Greentrees sire Shut Out from an Eight Thirty dam, Evening Out is bred to a pattern that looks well over a distance of ground, but from the time of her. stake-winning debut at Belmont last spring, the strapping Widener filly has always been "a gun from the gate," few if any of her generation, colts or fillies, capable of running with her for the first quarter or half mile of a race. When you couple that intense speed with the resolution so well adapted to Aqueducts long stretch, it is evident that Happy Mood and the others will have their work cut out if they are to remain long in Evening Outs vicinity. A AA Alfred Vanderbilts Discovery gelding, Find, tops the 14 nominations for the mile and a sixteenth Queens County, handicapper vJohn Blanks" Campbell assigning this capable campaigner 122 pounds. Descending the list, we encounter C. V. Whitneys somewhat contradictory Cold Command here with 118, Brookmeades more consistent stretch running Capeador with 119, and Invigoratpr, now just approaching top form, with 114, but, among the lightweights, our eye is caught and held by Ogden Phipps Bassanio. Winner of a good overnight test during the week, Bassanio was an excellent runner-up to Greentrees fine Straight Face in the Suburban. He also lias the advantage of being on home grounds at Aqueduct. Other possibilities in what looms as a wide open contest are Cain Hoys Armageddon and Joe E. Browns Matagorda, Continued on Page Fifteen WEIGHING IN I By EVAN SHIFMAN Continued from Page Fifty-Six the latter coming off a pleasing score here at Belmont. AAA If the imported French horse, Templier, is to play any prominent part in the hurdle events at the Aqueduct meeting, trainer Holly Hughes must first devise some manner of controlling this unruly specialist. Templier has now started twice in "Laddy" Sanfords colors, and we have reason to believe that his trainer was confident of a good performance on each occasion, but, on the course, Templier has proven a problem for jockey J. Eabey getting no part of either purse.- Last Thursday in the Jolly Roger Handicap, Templier was equipped with about the most elaborate runout bit we have ever looked at, but this paraphernalia did not keep the seven-year-old from bolting on the backstretch after he had rushed to the lead, immediately sacrificing any chance he may have had. In the early stages of that race, Eaby wisely decided to let his mount travel right with the pace. When he did go to the front, he might have stayed there, but, as it was, the capable rider had every bit he could do to restrain Templier from leaving the course. He was a very high class performer in his native land, judging from the record, and we would be curious to know just how Parisian trainers and jockeys coped with Templiers headstrong behavior.
