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Fifteen Entered in 5,000 Distaff Sunshine Nell to Match Speed With Brazen Brat at Aqueduct Former Gives Her Rival One Pound Under Impost of 126; On Your Own Seen Danger By BOB HORWOOD Staff Correspondent AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 26. Mondays first running of the 5,000 Distaff Handicap, an extended dash for fillies and mares at seven furlongs, proved immensely popular with owners and trainers, who have entered 15 of the best distaff runners in training in the East. Meyer J. Kaplans popular, consistent and courageous Sunshine Nell heads the list with 126 pounds, one more than she carried to a gallant .victory in the longer Top Flight Handicap at Belmont Park on June 9. Eddie Arcaro will ride the daughter of Sun Again, who will probably be favored. The principal opposition to Sunshine Nell is expected to come from Mrs. Samuel M. Pistorios Brazen Brat, 125 King Ranchs On Your Own, 112, and the Maine Chance Farm pair of Fascinator, 115, and Incidentally, 108 pounds. Brazen Brat, who is quite as consistent as "Nellie," comes from a sparkling score in the six-furlong Regret Handicap at Monmouth Park, in which she snapped an impressive winning streak compiled by Cinda. Before that, she had finished unplaced in the Colonial Handicap, a race in which several first-class fillies and mares ran inexplicably bad races. The Sky Raider mare is no stranger to Long Island fans, having won a sprint at Jamaica on April 2, with Nick Shuk, who will ride Monday, in the saddle. Shuk has been particularly successful in his New York invasions the past few years. On Year Own Gazelle Winner On Your Own, who turned in a dull effort in the Colonial, came back to finish a stout second to Evening Out in an overnight seven furlongs, then scored one of the major upsets of recent years when she beat that filly at level weights in the Gazelle Stakes, leading all the way in that mile and a sixteenth. Bill Boland will again be in the saddle. Fascinator finished third in the Gazelle, beaten only two lengths while trying to. concede eight pounds to the winner and runner-up, and having some trouble in the race. No rider has been named for the Kentucky Oaks winner, or for Incidentally, who finished well back of Brazen Brat in the Regret, but is capable of better things. Four of the Distaff field finished behind Sunshine Nell in the Top Flight. R. S. Howards Mabs Choice was a respectable fourth, Shawmut Stables Gainsboro Girl was a weary sixth, Mrs. Wallace Gilroys Emardee finished ninth and Alfred G. Van-derbilts Home-Made was twelfth. The latter, who carries 116 pounds and Eric Guerin Monday will be coupled with Outsmart, 112. Three of the Distaff field appeared in the seven-furlong Melissa Purse here last Tuesday. C. V. Whitneys Carry the News, 112, won that race by two and a half lengths over Mabs Choice, who carries 108 Monday, while Bee Gee Farms Petal, 107, was a distant fifth. Ray Broussard will again ride Carry the News, Angel Valen-zuela -wilr be on Mabs Choice and Joe Renick will ride Petal. Mabs Choice, a filly who will only run willingly on the outside, has drawn the number one position. The Distaff field is completed by Mrs. Ben. F. Whitakers 1953 filjy champion, Grecian Queen, 113; T.F.Whites improved Miss Weesie, 112, and Brookmeade Stables Tritium, 108 pounds. Grecian Queen has not been even a visible shadow of herself this season and finished more than a dozen lengths behind Crash Dive at a mile and a sixteenth on Tuesday. Miss Weesie, who will be ridden by George Glassner, won her last two sprints at Belmont Park, beating Mabs Choice and Carry the News in the most recent on June 1. Tritium, a lightly raced filly with considerable intrinsic class, finished second, beaten a half-dozen lengths by Crash Dive on June 11, but nothing has been getting much closer to that Vanderbilt revelation in recent weeks. Ted Atkinson will ride Mrs. Sloanes filly, who may me the "dark lady" of the Distaff. Two other important stakes are on the. agenda at Aqueduct next week, with juveniles meeting in the sixty-fourth edition of the 5,000 Great American at six furongs on Wednesday, while Saturdays feature is the thirty-seventh running of the 0,-000 Dwyer for three-year-olds at a mile and a quarter. The Peter Pan and Belmont Stakes winner, King Ranchs High Gun, is pointing for the Dwyer. He will probably renew his feud with C. V. Whitneys Fisherman, who finished second in both the Peter Pan and Belmont. The little Continued on Page Forty-Nine Canadian Topics By FRANK ARMSTRONG Continued from Page Six tory in the Victoria Stakes which will be renewed on Wednesday. Inasmuch as she will tangle with Benroman, Queen Maple and a few other highly regarded youngsters, she faces a tough task, but this sort of competition adds interest. There will be other good juveniles in the Victoria Stakes field, shifty Amerks included, but at the red hot moment it seems that theyll have to beat Benroman and Fleet Brenda, though we shouldnt neglect mention of Bill Beasleys Circus Parade, a good colt by Pictor. We imagine the yearling sales of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society will derive a "lift" from the juvenile performances of the precocious babes who were sold at auction last year. Admittedly there are a lot to be heard from in competition this season, but if many have been delayed by the minor ailments which set back tyros in their first year, trainers insist it is only a matter of time before they go to racing. And there are any number of promising prospects, apart from those which have already indicated class and quality. In the opinion of this department two-year-olds have increased general interest in Woodbine racing, and if it means anything, the interest it reflected in the tote totals. The customers like the babes; the breeders like them; and the prospective buyers f yearlings view them with thoughts of the sales to come.
