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™ ™ m™ California By Oscar Otis 1 Fillies, Mares Center Coast Interest An Unusual Twist to Tiny Naylor Sale Ferke Driving Winner of Westchester HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 3. — Fillies and mares have one of their rare opportunities to earn important money money in in the the far far west west money money in in the the far far west west Saturday with the renewal of the 5,000 added Milady Handicap at six furlongs. The older distaff ers have but one other opportunity this season, the Vanity, also 5,000 added, on July 2, at a distance of a mile and a furlong. While Hollywoods two-year-old filly filly stakes stakes program program is is ™ ™ m™ filly filly stakes stakes program program is is acceptable, and its three-year-old roster fair, some breeders have questioned if it might not be advisable to put more emphasis upon type of races like the Milady, In theory, it probably would be, and the time will come, no doubt, when such emphasis will become almost mandatory. But as ydt, the happy day has not arrived when there are enough fillies and mares of top quality as to warrant any real emphasis upon this division. In the past, one or two mares have been dominant in any given season and have elected to race against the colts rather than pack fair, but top-weights against horses of their own sex. One of the more unusual sales stories of the year has developed around the complete dispersal Vendue on Monday, the 27th, of the stock of W. W. "Tiny" Naylor at his showplace farm near Riverside. An indispensable undertone to anything: in racing these days is a tax expert, and Tiny, through a quirk in the law governing his particular setup, .has discovered that if he sells the 25 sucklings, the last of whom hit the ground only a few days ago, he would lose money all around. His tax advisors have come up with the suggestion that these 25 foals, many of them from . among Californias upper echelon of broodmares, be given away rather than sold. Of course, if it transpired that Naylor chose as donees the buyers of the broodmares, and presented each one with the mares own foal jrratis, no one would be overly surprised. In this manner, everyone would be completely satisfied, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue. If the sucklings were sold as a unit with the broodmares, as twosomes, nobody would b§ abkyf/gurp.uwhpqcent of the price was allottable to the mare, and what to the foal. It is superfluous to add ! for the record that nobody has been able, as yet, to separate mare and unborn foal, for tax purposes, so we can state definitely -that mare and unborn . foal will absolutely be sold as a unit. Starter Sid Swanson has been doing an able job of getting the Hollypark fields away in smart fashion from an improved gate provided by the Puett people, but is outspoken against the theory, which bobbed up in official circles just the other day, that loading by order of post position would be of any help. "Problem horses take special attention," Swanson tells us, "and I believe it is better for everyone to see an even break rather than ar strict post position loading routineTregardless, Actually, there is a lot of misconception about the premise that a horse loaded last has any advantage. I get more requests to load horses first than last, usually from the jockey. The horse loaded first has something of a theoretical advantage in being able to get settled and at ease in the gate while others are fidgeting about waiting "their turn to enter. More people think it is Continued on Page Forty-Seven California By OSCAR OTIS ~ Continued from Page Six advantageous to load early than there are who favor late loading." Swansons statement that there were jockeys, and trainers, who preferred their hors.es in the gate first came as a distinct surprise to us, for we had never heard of such a theory before. We checked around, and found out he was giving us the straight dope. This whole subject would be somewhat trivial had not a rule requiring the loading of horses in post order come up for consideration by the California Horse Racing Board. As far as the public is concerned, we dont think it makes any difference as long as the man gets the field out of the starting mechanism abreast, which is the only important thing. Ferke, the first and to date the only horse ever owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bert Martin, became one of the top rated juvenile prospects of the meeting when he won the important Westchester Stakes here Thursday in a furious drive from the fast and favored, smallish but game, Mobile. Given a strong ride by Ismmael Valenzuela, Ferke wore down the flying* Mobile in the closing strides and turned the five furlongs in :58%, very commendable time for the track, which isnt as fast as it was a week or so ago. Ferke is a colt byFair Truckle, had shown to good advantage before in worthwhile company, but in the Westchester, indicated enough gameness to hint that, coupled with some other evidence already assembled, that the Fair Truckles will sustain their speed over at least reasonable middle distances. The best the own brother of Swaps, Like Magic, could do was a fast finishing fourth after being forced to race wide, indeed, almost to the middle of the track, for most of the journey. Insofar as an appraisal of this colt is concerned, we are not willing to take the result of the Westchester as being in any way final. A sensational and spectacular spill just after the finish of the sixth on Thursday, in which Willie Shoemaker miraculously escaped injury, led to a quick revision of some technical procedure. The stewards figured that Shoemakers mount, Llangollen Farms Feast, leaped at the beam of light thrown over the track by the tall, narrow infield mirror of the photo finish set-up, a mirror which provides a look at both sides of a finish pix. On sunny days, this light beam has caused other horses to shy, but none to fall. The mirror was quickly covered over, and it was announced that in the future, on all sunny afternoons, meaning most of the time, the pix will be taken without benefit of mirror.
