Weighing In: Shevlin and Egemere Cap Will Feature Week Porterhouse Striving to Regain Lost Prestige, Daily Racing Form, 1954-06-21

article


view raw text

■HyUK j f W E I G H I N G IN By EVAN shpman AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 19.— Both the three-year-old and handicap division are now entering on a period of readjustment. Since the modern American turf is conducted on a "around the calendar" basis, the season attains a number of successive climaxes, climaxes, none none of of them them necessarily necessarily ■HyUK j climaxes, climaxes, none none of of them them necessarily necessarily final. When Belmont Park closed its gates, High Gun, thanks to his victory over Fisherman, Limelight and the others in the Belmont Stakes, and Straight Face, because of his smashing score in the Suburban Handicap, were acknowledged as the leaders of those on hand and in training in their respective groups, but neither Greentrees impressive Count Fleet gelding nor King Ranchs stout-finishing Heliopolis colt will be allowed to rest on their laurels. The Dwyer Stakes will now offer an opportunity for reappraisal as far as the three-year-olds are concerned, while older thoroughbreds can count on the Brooklyn and Carter for their chance to measure the pre-eminence of such outstanding leaders as Straight Face and the remarkable sprinter, White Skies. Next weeks sport will see the seven-furlong Shevlin on Monday and the mile and a sixteenth Edgemere Handicap on the week end as important stepping-stones on the road leading to the Dwyer and Brooklyn. AAA After disputing a torrid mile and a half, as they did in the recent Belmont renewal, it is quite understandable that neither High Gun nor Fisherman has been named for the seven-furlong Shevlin. Starters in this dash however will include Porterhouse, Limelight and Buttevant, all of whom went to the post for the grueling 12-furlong JgUMiULls Porterhouse will rule Shevlin and Edgemere Cap Will Feature Week Porterhouse Striving to Regain Lost Prestige Limelights First Local Starts Were Deceptive Veteran Jumper Will Be Pointed for Delaware the public choice here on Monday. Buttevant bolted, running off the course at the intersection of strips in "the big one," while Casitas Ranchs recent acquisition, Limelight, finished well to the fore of Mrs. Elizabeth Persons colt, but few if any of Porterhouses many friends are accepting his Belmont defeat as true. Their opinion, with which we are in complete agreement, is that this consistent, beautifully gaited son of Endeavour n. was dead short for a mile and a half effort. For the sake of his eventual reputation, they would have much preferred that he remain on the sidelines that afternoon instead of offering a performance that, they feel, was many pounds below his real ability. AAA Since the running of the Belmont, Porterhouse has trained well. He was on the track yesterday for a public trial between races, and the way in which trainer Charley Whittinghams charge was moving gave no hint of any muscular trouble in the back, the probably legitimate excuse for his bad showing in the Peter Pan Handicap and also the reason why he was not thoroughly fit and legged up in the Belmont. In the imminent Shevlin, he will meet, in addition to Limelight and Buttevant, such accomplished specialists at the distance as Due de Fer, Gigantic, Revolt and Quick Lunch. Always with the reservation that he be himself, Porterhouse should handle the field without much trouble. A victory in the Shevlin will not, of course, bring about his rehabilitation, but it will help, and will be a welcome sign that this fine little fellow is on the road back. Good luck to him! AAA In the customary press of turf matters this season, we have so far overlooked Limelights surprising performance in the Belmont.although the chestnut Nas-rullah colts race certainly merits attention. When "Bull" Hancock brought this fashionably-bred son of Nasrul-lah— Nova Puppis, by Hyperion, to Long Island in mid-May, he was coming off three straight victories in Kentucky, thus attracting some attention. Limelights first start here was in a nine-furlong allowance race that, brought Qut a good field of seven contemporaries. Jack Westrope had the mount. We had our glasses fastened on Limelight, and we saw the English-bred colt, trailing at the three-eighth pole, make a sudden move along the rail at that point, Westrope bringing him from last to first in a furlong, and entering the homestretch as if he had matters thoroughly in hand. Once straightened for the drive however, Limelight folded completely, finishing far out of it.* Discussing that effort later with Hancock, we gained the erroneous impression that he dismissed Limelight as "a mere sprinter." The Kentucky horseman spoke enthusiastically of the colts admirable, free-moving style, but added, if we recall, that seven or eight furlongs were likely to be his limit. Well, that was not the kind of race Mrs. W. H. Hoffmans "purchase showed us in the Belmont Stakes. There, he never looked like catching the first two, but his was a sterling performance, the last quarter in which he actually made up some ground on the leaders being particularly praiseworthy. Limelight was a for- Continued on Page forty-Eight WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIP MAN Continued from Page Sixty tunate purchase for California, and his immediate future will be watched with interest. AAA After Extra Points had been scratched from the Hitchcock on Thursday because of the relatively hard going on the steeplechase course, we hardly expected Oedipus to accept the issue yesterday in his hurdle engagement, tender feet having interfered with this ones training all spring. Nevertheless, trainer George Bostwick saddled Mrs. Ogden Phipps* admirable veteran for his re-entry, and he went to the post a public choice in what turned out to be a losing performance, although one that definitely held promise for the geldings immediate future. For a turn of the field, Oedipus, now a nine-year-old, was in the vicinity of the pace-setting importation, Cammell Laird, but he tired and fell back before reaching the homestretch, Cammell Laird going on to score with consumate ease from his stablemate, Curly Joe. Bostwick was satisfied with Oedipus showing, and said that the blacks next outing over brush will be at Delaware, and then, if all goes well on to Saratoga.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1954062101/drf1954062101_60_2
Local Identifier: drf1954062101_60_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800