view raw text
— 1 Maryland Racing Going to Pimlico Nominations to Dixie and Black-Eyed Susan Greater; Preakness Closes Meeting PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 7.— This historic racing plant, opened in 1870, will play host to the thoroughbreds for the final phase of the Maryland spring season starting Tuesday. The Maryland Jockey Clubs first meeting consists of 18 days and will conclude on Monday, May 30. Successful meetings at Bowie and Laurel, preceding the local session, augur well for a continuance of excellent attendance and mutuel figures, although Pimlico will be faced with considerable more opposition than was encountered by the other two state tracks. The entire Pimlico meet is being conducted while Garden State Park is in operation. Also in the Washington, D. C, area the Rosecroft Association will be presenting harness racing nightly and the Baltimore Orioles will engage in a long home stand during the Pimlico racing dates. And the final two days of the meeting also will find nearby Delaware Park in action. Despite these apparent obstacles, the Messrs. Herman and Ben Cohen, owners of Pimlico, and Lou Pondfield, executive director of the association, believe that the Maryland Jockey Club will more than hold its own. They point to the fact that this will be the first spring meeting during which the new clubhouse facilities will be available. Opened last fall, this structure proved a real asset in the way of providing easier movements of patrons, and there was a corresponding increase in the daily handles. Important Stakes Each Saturday As for the racing itself, Pimlico again will renew such important events as the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for three-year-old fillies, the Dixie Handicap and, of i course, the Preakness, which will have its seventy-ninth running on Saturday, May 28. The Susan will be presented on May 14 and the Dixie on May 21. Other features dotting the 18-day span of sport include the ,000 Spring Handicap at five and one-half furlongs on open- j ing day, the Preakness Prep, another ,000 event on Monday, May 23 and the revival j of the Riggs Handicap as a 0,000 overnight grass race on Monday, May 30. Nominations to the three stakes were considerably above last years totals. The Black-Eyed Susan, formerly the Pimlico Oaks, drew 54 eligibles. Among them were nine entered in the Acorn Stakes at Belmont last Wednesday and who may use the Black-Eyed Susan, at the mile and a sixteenth distance, as a stepping stone between the mile of the Acorn and the mile and three-eighths of the Coaching Club American Oaks, scheduled for May 28 at Belmont. This group of nine include High Voltage, top juvenile filly of 1954, In Reserve, Minnie Moocher, Sorceress, Sometime Thing, Villa, Courtesy, Java Belle and Plat Side. Other prospects include Reddy Ro, Marzipan. Wagon Drill, Rare Treat and Far Pacific. One change in the normal stakes procedure at Pimlico is the moving of the Dixie Handicap to the grass after its many seasons as a main course attraction. Instead of the mile and three-sixteenths of other years, the route this season is a mile and three furlongs. The race carries 5,-000 added while the Black-Eyed Susan will be worth 0,000. Many of the nations better grass runners are among the 46 nominees to the Dixie, plus a select group of top handicap stars who, if they go, will be seeking their first important score on the turf. The best known grass winners are St. Vincent, Cas-canuez, Iceberg II., Mister Black, Kaster, Brush Burn, Parnassus, News Again, Royal Governor and Fisherman. And arrayed against them may be such stalwarts as Social Outcast, Joe Jones, Maharajah and Capeador. Expect Several Derby Starters As usual, the Preakness represents the climax of the Pimlico spring meeting and it will be presented with all the pomp and ceremony which has made it Marylands outstanding racing spectacle over the years. From the Kentucky Derby field, it is expected that some four to six may seek victory in the second leg of the Triple Crown. And this season, at least half a dozen possibilities remain to face the Derby survivors after passing up the "Run for the Roses" themselves. This batch of fresh material for the three-year-old classics may include Boston Doge, Saratoga, Nances Lad, Chuck Thompson, Sailor and Dedicate. Outside prospects for the Preakness must also in- Contmuea on Page Fifty Maryland Racing Moves To Pimlico on Tuesday Continued from Page Seven elude Olympia Wiz, Traffic Judge, Beau Busher and Fleet Path. Any colt or filly deemed good enough for a Preakness opportunity and who was not named at the time of the original closing on February 15, may be made eligible through payment of a supplementary fee of ,500. Supplementary nominations close Saturday, May 14.
