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" Maryland I L By Hugh J. McGuire 1| Marylanders Looking Ahead to Preakness f Doubt Derby Result Will Change Picture Some Skip Downs Test for Pimlico Event LAUREL, Md., May 6.— The Kentucky Derby holds the spotlight in American racing Saturday and a sizable delegation of Marylanders will be at Churchill Downs to witness the historic classic. The stay-at-homes are talking Derby but there is a definite trend .in the conversations that links the Louisville contest with Pimlicos Preakness to be decided Saturday, May 28. Nashua and Summer Tan dominate the three-year-old division to such an extent that local horsemen are reluctantly compelled to believe that only a totally unexpected upset in the Derby will alter the Preakness picture to any material degree. This must not be taken to mean that, win or lose the Derby, the top pair in the sophomore division will not meet competition in the second leg of the Triple Crown. The reasoning is that if either Nashua or Summer Tan make a showing of their rivals at Churchill Downs, local followers will have to seek rivals for this pair -from among those who did not oppose them in the Derby. There are quite a number of such rivals who have the Preakness as their main objective. Brookmeade Stables Sailor, fresh from a score over older horses in the -Toboggan, was named for the Preakness but » not the Derby. While the Toboggan was at six furlongs, Sailor came from back of the pace of some of the nations best sprinters and left the impression that he would be able to get a longer distance. The speedy tally of Montpeliers Saratoga in the Chesapeake puts that son of Blenheim II. into the Preakness picture although his showing in the Jersey Stakes likely will determine the stables strategy on. May 28. Hilton Dabsons Swift Stakes winner Nances Lad will try for the Withers a week before the Preakness and unless that test proves too exacting he may be found in the Preakness lineup. Golden Land May Be Supplementary Consideration is being given to making Golden Land, winner of the Golden Gate Derby, a supplementary entry to the Pimlico classic. Gee M. Cohens Chuck Thompson, second in the Chesapeake, is a possibility for the "Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" as is Dedicate, who has been quite successful in New York. Again there is a remote possibility that one of trainer Harry Trotseks Hasty House Farms five nominees might develop into Preakness calibre. Prior to the running of the Derby it must be from these or other absentees from the Kentucky race that Marylanders must find a conqueror of Nashua and Summer Tan is one is to be found in the Preakness. Another lively topic here, in addition to the Laurel Handicap that features the closing-day program at this Anne Arundel County course Saturday, is the upcoming Dinner Party Purse that will be run during the Pimlico meeting. Fashioned after the famed race of the same name contested at Keeneland for many years and also adopted at Gulfstream, the Pimlico version will have its third running this year. These races and the dinner which follows have been found to be excellent mediums of creating camaraderie among horse folks and interested patrons. The Dinner Party Purse at Pimlico is for two-year-olds, maidens at time of entry, and if sufficient entries are received it will be divided into separate races for colts and fillies. Subscribers pay 5, which entitles them to four places at the table, and non-owners may lease* a starter for the five-furlong dash. A sterling silver ash tray engraved with pertinent data of the Maryland Jockey Club will be presented to the owner of every starter. Eddie Smith Gets Singer String In Brief: Trainer Eddie Smith took over the training of the horses of Duke Singer, Detroit poultry dealer. The seven-horse string here is headed by Hangover, winner of six of eight starts in Florida: The stable will be raced through the Maryland season and then campaigned at Detroit. . . . There will be no racing Monday, May 9, at Pimlico. The 18-day session gets under way Tuesday. ... A colt foal by High Bandit — Sunday Love arrived at Art Rooneys Shamrock Farm. The mare goes back to Alibhais three-quarter brother Shahpoor, who stands at the Fulton, Md., farm of Mrs. George L. Howe. . . . Dr. E. K. Doll of the University of Kentucky will address the Virginia Breeders Association on May 25 on the subject of jvirus abortion. Charles Cohen, formerly associated with the Maryland Racing Commission and presently assistant city solicitor for the City of Baltimore, has been released from the hospital following an eight-week confinement with a heart ailment. . . . Turf writers from this sector covering the Kentucky Derby include Walter Haight of the Washington Post, Bill Boniface, Baltimore Sun, and Raleigh Burroughs and Milford Dinker of the Turf and Sports Direst. . . . There is a misunderstanding regarding the eligibility of Harvey Fruehauf s Blue Lem for the Preakness. The track records show Fruehauf s Paradbr named for the classic while the owner maintains the entry was for his Blue Lem. The Maryland Racing Commission, the Jockey Club or some* other neutral body "may be called upon to straighten the matter out.
