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s Weighing In — By Evan Shipman Breeding Will Tell, But Not Always Relationship No Guarantee of Quality Consider Hill Prince and Prince Hill BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 4.— When the full brother or sister to a brilliant horse comes to the races, he or she must live up to a high standard or else be quickly dubbed a failure. Compared with the general run of thoroughbreds, full brothers and sisters of outstanding horses have always done remarkably well, but so much is expected of them that they do not benefit from the sober realization that the proportion of success to failure must inevitably be relatively small. Native Dancer makes a vivid impression on horsemen and, public alike; then his full brother, Performance, comes along, and the younger horse — the second edition — soon shows that he can win an occasional overnight allowance event, but that is about his limit. So Performance is dismissed as a rank failure, critics forgetting perhaps that what we call the "sad average" never even competes in allowance company. The natural comparison with the champion does poor Performance no good at all. And we have Hill Princes little brother, Prince Hill. This one resembles his distinguished near relative a good deal more than Performance does Native Dancer, the latter pair sharing a gray coat and that is all, but the suggestion of Hill Prince, a mighty warrior in his day, ends with a similarity of. conformation, we fear. Hayes Thought Colt Might Develop Early in Prince Hills two-year-old season, he was pointed out to us by trainer Casey Hayes as one who might do well later on, but who, at the farm, had not come to his speed nearly as quickly as had Hill Prince. The colt was shorter coupled, chunkier than his brother, and altogether a less prepossessing model, but nevertheless the resemblance was there; they bore the same family stamp, the contributions of both the sire, Prihcequillo, and the dam, the Bubbling Over mare, Hildene, being easy to detect. As Hill Prince had always been a special favorite of ours, we were anxious to see Prince Hill in action, our hope being that he might follow in the footsteps of the older horse to the extent — say — that Count Speed had imitated the great Count Fleet. That, we were to learn before the end of the 1953 racing season, was a vain hope. Where racing quality was concerned, Prince Hill was but a pale shadow of his older brother. Well do we recall a stake race for two-year-olds late in the fall of that 53 season at Bowie, a race that found Prince Hill and a colt named Permian, now a jumper, named as the C. T. Chenery stable entry. Completely ignoring Permian, we advised readers of this column that here might be Prince Hills opportunity to demonstrate real quality, and we also remember pointing out that the mile and a sixeenth distance of this test might prove definitely to the Princequillo colts advantage. Since this stable promised to go to the post at fairly long odds, we felt a few qualms about going "overboard" to this extent, but we were still nursing the idea that Prince Hill was a first-rate prospect.-Well, those we had shamelessly touted cashed their bets, but no thanks to Prince Hill! Prince Hill showed a miserabel effort for some reason or other, and it was the despised Permian who saved the day. Disregarded Patrons in Recent Start Time has passed, and Prince Hill has yet to win a stake, although he did score in some races last season that lacked but little of stake caliber. Alfred Van-derbilt and trainer Bill Winfrey were content to see Native Dancers brother, Performance, pass to other hands, but Prince Hill did just enough to keep a flicker of hope burning at the Chenery barn, and he is still carrying his breeder and original owners colors. On Monday, for instance, this smoothly turned Princequillo four-year-old came out for a seven-furlong dash, the best offering on an "off day" program, and one that had attracted a quite respectable field of sprinters. So little were Prince Hills chances regarded by the public " that he was allowed to start at odds of better than 30 to 1, a neglect that, in spite of his modest record, is hard to justify in retrospect. Yes, Prince Hill won his dash, but that is not the whole story; for the first time perhaps, this often disappointing thoroubhred showed a trace of the ability we had all long ago learned to associate with his brother. Horsemen still speak reverently of Hill Princes great burst of speed during the running of the Jerome Stakes here at Belmont. On that afternoon, he made up a fantastic number of lengths racing on the outside of a large field, smothering his opposition at the end to win "going away," and with fractions that made those who timed him individually doubt the testimony of their watches. Now we are far from hinting that Prince Hill emulated his brothers notable Jerome on Monday, but we do say that the younger horse did some very glib running on his own account, and that he should receive due credit for it. *This complete outsider in the wagering was only leading a couple of trailers when the large field had reached the quarter pole in this recent dash. He was, in fact, some dozen or 13 lengths off the horse in front at that stage In the procpedings. , Between the head of the Belmont homestretch an«l trie wire, Prince Hill overcame that considerable disadvantage, just getting up to win, and the race clocker in 1:25%— not bad time when compared with the afternoons other races. How fast did Prince Hill run bis own last quarter? Call it 24 seconds, or even a shade faster and you will not be far off the truth. ■ • : « * » * * " 1 «
