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— — ; New England * By Fred Galiani ■ Providence Will Draw Good Field Gansett Introduces New Stables Suffolk Closes in Blaze of Glory NARRAGANSETT PARK, Paw tucket, R. I., June 6. — The third phase of New England racing begins at this mile track today as as the the sport sport returns returns to to as as the the sport sport returns returns to to Rhode Island for a four-week stand. Highlight of the meet will be the Providence Stakes, a 5,000 event for three-year-olds at a mile and an eighth, which will be run on June 22. With the nomination of such horses as Montpeliers Saratoga, who gave . . Nashua Nashua a a stern stern battle battle . . Nashua Nashua a a stern stern battle battle in the Preakhess; Dedicate, winner of the Jersey and Delaware Valley Stakes; Nances Lad, the Peter Pan winner; Traffic Judge, RacingFool and others, the Gansett management has high hopes for an interesting race come June 22. Apart from the four stakes, Narragansetts main contribution to racing in the New England area is the introduction of new stables, varying the daily menu offered to patrons over the previous 76 days of racing in the sector. A number of new faces, from New Jersey, Pimlico and Chicago will inject a touch of interest in the competition. Everything augurs well for a banner session. Suffolk Downs, wound up its spring meeting in the proverbial blaze, featured "by a rousing victory by Greentree Stables Maharajah in the John -R. Macomber Memorial on the turf course. It was the first time that Maharajh had won on the grass, although he had shown his ability over it in three previous races, in Florida and in Maryland. The fact that he beat horses, including the South American-bred Cascanuez, who certainly is one of the best of the division, should serve as a boost for the home-brcds in future grass races. Heretofore much talk has been bantered about anent the advantage foreign-breds have when it comes to racing on the grass. Victories by horses as Maharajah tend to explode such thoughts, and as more American lbreds are tried on the grass, the more the percentage of homebred winners will rise. Maharajah not only won convincingly but established a new track rec-Drd in so doing. He shaved three full seconds off the previous standard, covering the about one mile and a half in 2:31%. Incidentally," it was the fourth new record of the session, Decathlon setting two and Heliscope a mile and a quarter mark. There — were none equalled or tied at the Lincoln session. Stake racing was of the highest at the meeting, and the concentrated number of them in the closing weeks helped the track to close out practically even with 1954. The total attendance for the meeting was 595,-669, a gain of 1.5 per cent over the corresponding period of last year. Handle for the 41 days amounted to a total of 6,-568,182, which represented an average of 91,906. The average for the corresponding period of 1954 was 91,940, a mere 6 being the difference. So on all counts it can be said that the Suffolk Downs spring session was an unqualified success. A youngster who will make his debut at the Gansett meeting is Eddie Harri--son, a 19-year-old chap from nearby Pawtucket. He has been with trainer Bill Lara at B. A. Darios farm for two years, galloping horses and breaking yearlings. In a way, you can say Eddie, who weighs 95 pounds, has been around horses all of his life, since his grandfather owns a pony ring in Pawtucket. Being of slight build it was natural hed move from ponies to thoroughbreds. He has ridden in one race, at Suffolk, but his home town debut will be made in the next four weeks. Eddie wasnt particularly unnerved in his first ride and doesnt figure to be in his next. Hes confident that hell make the grade. J. J. Nash came up from New York to watch his Dominave perform on the closing day of the Suffolk meeting. . . . Dominic Spina, the Boston tomato tycoon who has been among the missing at. the tracks the past year or so, has returned to the fold and has been a fairly frequent patron of late. . . . Jockey John E. Smith, who wound up the leading apprentice rider at the Boston meeting, had to cancel his mounts for the last day when he was floored with an attack of pleurisy. Smith and George Gibb are expected to wage a bitter battle for "bug" rider honors here at Gansett. Smith recently prode 4his twentieth winner and lost his twd-p6urid "bUg". .X r. James T. OConnor reports that the pins have been taken out of Cononyms jaw and the horse is about ready to resume training. Cononym fractured her jaw in the gate at Suffolk Downs. . . . Add well-named horses: Vain Puritan, a son of Pensive — False Modesty. Though he is now down in the ,000 claiming class, the 10-year-old Traveler, a son of Golden Voyage — Jury Gal, is still as effective as he was in his younger days when he was winning stakes. Saturday he finished second in a sprint, which brought his record for the year to six victories and four seconds in 11 starts. . . . Phil Benni, the ever-grinning handicapper, did not have .much trouble shipping his clothes from Suffolk to Gansett, since he lost all of his effects when his hotel in Lowell, Mass., burned down. Down to what clothes he had in the cleaners, he is more concerned over the loss of his chart books and figures. . . . Gerry Burke, who was patrol judge at Suffolk, has resumed officiating in New York until Rockingham opens, when he will return to the New England area. ... A horseman asked an agent how his jockey rode and was told, "Like Don Meade on one side and Paul Revere on the other." Bob Levey, of the publicity staff at Suffolk, will return to his chores of writing for trade magazines with the close of the Boston meeting. His subjects range from tropical diseases to the, Peruvian wine industry, and he is s. member of the Society1 of r TecrinicaT Writers.
