view raw text
■ inr"»l r *i I New Jersey By Charles Hatton I Spooky Saratoga Logical Jersey Choice Racing Secretaries Take Negative Approach Henry Block Wins One for First Employer GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 13.— The 0,000 added Jersey Stakes here this week end has drawn a likely field, placing Saratoga versus the ■ indefatigable indefatigable Mandil, Mandil, the the dash- indefatigable indefatigable Mandil, Mandil, the the dash- dashing Simmy, best of all the Mi-noians for the past decade, the Louisiana Derby runner-up Speed Rouser and others of that calibre. In all probability Saratoga, an intense and imaginative son of the patriachal Blenheim n., will be the public choice, despite top-weight of 118 pounds, and his inherent "washiness." The Jerseys date falls between that of the Kentucky Kentucky Derby Derby and and the the Preak- inr"»l r *i I Kentucky Kentucky Derby Derby and and the the Preak- Preak-ness, but it is the richest event during this extraordinarily successful meeting, and it promises what is known as "a good betting race." Garden States patronage seems to feel that essentially this is the true sense of values. The club has contributed to the development of many "name" horses and annually attracts dozens of them from neighboring New York, and yet we have never known another course where wagering is so diffused, with many of the patrons apparently backing three or four horses to the race at the "win" windows. They are "investors," which probably accounts for the floor-of-the-stock-exchange atmosphere, and the large per capita wagering. Returning to Saratoga, he has trained most satisfactorily for "Downey" Bonsai and appears ready to reproduce his form of the Chesapeake back at Laurel. Before that he gave some of the insouciant Nashuas backers a bit of a turn in the Flamingo, though in the Florida Derby he anticlimaxed this race when he became excitable in the lost post parade. Indeed the erudite Ted Atkinson, who rode him, thuoght this was solely responsible for his pallid performance on that occasion. With all his equivocal form, Mrs. M. duPont Scotts attractive brown is probably the last animal of authentic class the elderly Blenheim H. is going to send to the races. Bad Horse Situation Key to Problem We were chatting just now with racing secretary and handicapper "TY" Shea of the Camden club, and he has some provocative thoughts concerning his little known profession. He agrees that here in America we write races from a negative rather than a positive approach, and that if this could be transposed the "bad horse situation" would right itself in short order. Most of our races are written for horses who have not won races of a value of "X" number of dollars in a given time. We like to think ouselves much more advanced than the "decadent" French, and yet they have races in which a horse must have won the equivalent of 00,000 to qualify for eligibility. It is true also in baseball, boxing, football and other sports in this country that the teams, games and matches are not organized on the basis of losses, or because one has been "kayoed" so many times, but upon their achievements. In other words it is a selection. The present system of our overnight events at race courses over the country contributes to the maintenance of the inferior. A few secretaries, like Horace Wade at Hazel Park, have been venturesome enough, and have had the imagination and initiative, to write races for horses who were winners earlier in the meeting. These events invariably have produced large handles, for virtually everyone on the grounds has won on one or another of the entrants and is prepared to back him again. There also are a scattering of races in which winners are, preferred. But by and large it is a competition among the demonstrably mediocre. Shea doubts if this could be corrected short of all the TRA tracks agreeing to simultaneously take the same approach. Fields naturally would be foreshortened to an extent in taking this tack, and the policy could be disastrous to any individual club who attempted it without the cooperation of other associations. Home Town Boy on a Long Shot One of racings fascinations is the anecdotage it develops and one of the most delightful is going the rounds here at Garden State Park. The other day jockey Henry Block won a race on the 0.10 to shot Flapper for the Vine-Lin Farm, which is trained by one Albert Caccese. This was the first horse Block ever rode for Caccese, though it was the latter who first employed him about the tracks. Block, now 21, is a native of Camden, N. J., and in his school days used to gaze wistfully over the Garden State Park fence at the boys galloping horses past mornings. Finally he determined to apply and perhaps one day become a jockey. He slipped over the fence and went from tack room to tack room. It seemed utterly hopeless after the first 15 or 20 stables, but at length he came upon Caccese, whom he persuaded to employ him as a "hot walker." Block was engaged in this rather mundane capacity for six months before he had an opportunity to actually climb aboard a thoroughbred. Eventually Phil Goodwin put him in silks and gave him the mount on an otherwise anonymous animal called Yellow Dot on April 29, 1953, here at Garden State. The very next day Goodwin gave him the leg up on a horse called Peleieu and he was a winner on the second mount of his career. Block since has experienced his share of ups and downs. Last season he was involved in a spill in which he sustained a broken vertebrae in his neck. Recovered from this mishap at long last he is back in action and we are happy to report riding his share of winners-:
