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California By Oscar Otis J Vintage Year for Coast Two-Yea r-Olds Fascinating Background of Miss Todd Rukin Jelks Helped Create New Breed HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 1.-— "Its a peculiar thing about two-year-olds," remarks racing secretary Johnny Maluvius, "but the public seems to know pretty well what kind of a crop is racing, whether whether they they actually actually know know much much whether whether they they actually actually know know much much about breeding or not. Last year, for instance, interest in two-year-olds was not in any way comparable to that prevailing this sum-•mer. We have an exciting crop and some of our best stakes to date have been those for juveniles, and I fook for the remainder of our program to accentuate the trend already established." Maluvius has a point well taken. There There is is an an atmosphere atmosphere of of buoy- There There is is an an atmosphere atmosphere of of buoy- buoyancy surrounding the two-year-olds, and Lou Rowan, president of the California Breeders Association, chimes in with the observation that among the best uncovered to date are some running in California-breds, including many from the Del Mar sales of last, summer, a vendue which marked, we are certain, the true coming of age of the California breeding industry. One juvenile who has caught the public fancy in a hurry is Miss Todd, an impressive winner of the Junior League Stakes last week, and J. Rukin Jelks, the Tucson turfman, tells us, "I bought her at the Del Mar sales for ,700 on conformation alone, with the pedigree incidental. Miss Todd is the first thoroughbred I have ever acquired as a thoroughbred racing prospect. While I have owned many thoroughbreds in the past, and have bred more than 500 horses in Arizona which "have been at least part thoroughbred, all such thoroughbreds were acquired for the purpose of improving the breed of the quarter horse. While I have won a few races on thoroughbred tracks with some of these purchases, such victories were entirely incidental to the main purpose of infusing speed and still more speed into my short horse stock. Arizona Racing Leaning to Thoroughbred "Last year, I remember you commenting on the rising star of the thoroughbred in Arizona and New Mexico, and the decline of the quarter horse. That trend has gained momentum since you visited over there. Tucson, for instance, plans to cut its quarter horse racing program to two races an afternoon, and last winter, theyd refuse to card a five-horse -race with really good .quarter horses in favor of a larger field of say 00 claiming thoroughbreds. While it is obvious that Frank Vessels Los Alamitos quarter horse track down near Long Beach is doing very well indeed, the trend is just the other way in Arizona. Ive sold all my quarter horse breeding stock with the exception of one mare, Silouette, who is just like a member of our family. i "As for Miss Todd, you remember down at Del Mar last summer how I stall walked looking at her and I made up my mind I just had to have her if she went for under 5,000. Among those who bid against me that night was Rex Ellsworth, who went to ,500, and afterwards, I went over and asked him why he was bidding, and why he had stopped at ,500, and he told me, T stopped because I had a "limit. I was bidding for my trainer down at Caliente, Red Boice, who figures to make his real money by owning a few top mares and selling the foals every year, and this filly by Your Host fitted our standards of conformation just as well as they fitted yours. It goes without saying that Tm pleased that the first thoroughbred I ever bought to really run as a thoroughbred turned out so well. "Ive had to makevup my mind about selling her, for I nave turned down a bona fide offer of 5,000 and have an indefinite offer of more than that. At a time like this, you have to separate business from sport, and, to keep a filly with a price tag like that, you have to assume that she has no value, or like our family dog at home, is priceless and not for sale at any sum. Miss Todd is eligible for the Del Mar Debutante, a race I would rather ,win than any other in the svorld because Del Mar is the playground of a lot of us horse people from Arizona, and because of that, the race would mean more to us than all the 00,000 races in the East put together. Miss Todd is strictly a sprinter type, indeed, I might say almost perfection in this respect, but weve trained her against older horses and let her come from behind and on the basis of her morning showing against seasoned older horses, we have hopes that she might go on." Helped Develope Rillito Course Jelks is entitled to a niche in the turf hall of fame if there transpires such a thing because he and his neighbor in Tucson, Melville Haskell, Jr., between them they not only helped create a new breed of horse but lifted the standards of the saddle horse in the southwest from poor to excellent. They did it through a planned program of, infusing thoroughbred blood into cold stock and in so doing accomplished a great deal for their fellow men, and, we might add, for the thoroughbred. Jelks, a native of Arkansas, went to Arizona to "die" ever so many years ago, but he regained his health in the dry, sparkling air of the southwest, and, better than a green hand with mules in his native Arkansas, turned to upgrading the utility and short horse racing stock of his adopted state as an engrossing hobby. He also developed Tucsons Rillito race track as a proving ground for the stock so developed, although he sold this track a few years ago, and is now retired, including all his production stock, with the exception of the mentioned mare, Silouette.
