view raw text
Renew Hurdle Stakes at Arlington ... " ... „ . * , s „ , Ginny Bug Has Six * Straight to Credit * Nichols Fencer Rules Strong Choice Oyer Open Bid, Nine Others; Abbe Sting in Ranger ARLINGTON PARK, Arlington Heights, 111., June 24. — The accent will be on grass racing Friday afternoon at Arlington Park. Co-features of the nine-race card will be the fourth annual Arlington Hurdle Stakes and the Ranger Purse. The ,500 hurdle event, presented annually in cooperation with the Midwest Hunts Association, is for four-year-olds and upward. It is the only jump event run at a major track in this area. Eleven starters have been named for the race, which will be contested at about two miles. With the Stars and Stripes Handicap close at hand, the Ranger will serve as a prep to the traditional July fifth holiday feature. Nine will gpi in the mile and a sixteenth grass affair, which carries a ,000 purse. Nominations to the Arlington Hurdle Stakes closed in April with 22 timber and brush runners being named. If all 11 start, the race will carry a gross value of ,160. Only two of last years starters, Storm Hour and Ginny Bug, are in Fridays field. Horses will go twice around Arlingtons mile grass oval, negotiating eight jumps in all. Leader in Hunts Competition Much of the class in the race appears to be carried by Harry S. Nichols Ginny Bug, Thomas W. Bullitts Open Bid, Harry M. Rhett. Jr.s, Princess Bug and Guilford Dudleys Lady Roxana. Ginny Bug, spirited little seven-year-old mare, currently leads in hunt competition. Her recent victory in the Oxmoor Steeplechase brought to five the number of wins in major competition. Ginny Bug is by Red Bug— Virginia Viva. Open Bid, four-year-old filly by Psychic Bid— Opeea, is highly regarded because of her consistent performances. Princess Bug _ a product of the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, and Lady Roxana have raced well at Fridays distance. Familiar names cover the entries for the mile and one-sixteenth Ranger. Abbe Sting, Stan, The Eagle and Force of Arms all figured prominently in grass racing here last year. Others in the field are Loridale, Dance Nsing, Olympic, Lotasmoke and Blue Dare. The Eagle and Abbe Sting hold Arlington grass records. Abbee Sting, owned by Mrs. J. P. Keezek, of Louisville, Ky., and trained by her husband, captured both Arlington grass features last year. The son of Abbe Pierre— Stingaree took the Stars and Stripes in an impressive fashion, setting a new mark of 1:58% for the mile and one-eighth event, and made it a clean sweep in the Laurance Armour Memorial Handicap. In 10 starts this year, Abbe Sting has not come through with a win at any time. He started the year with a couple of thirds in turf competition at Hialeah. His best effort of late was good for second in a race at Lincoln Fields, and since then he has finished sixth in another outing. Ronnie Baldwin, who has had much success with the six-year-old horse, will be in the saddle. Hasty House Farms Enblish-bred Stan winner of the 1953 Grassland Handicap at Washington Park, will be ridden by Johnny Adams. The four-year-old Kingsway— Final Sweep gelding last started in the Bougain-villea Handicap in which he ran sixth.