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..... Burke Belies Poets— Quiet Irishman Who Loves Horses Shares Enthusiasm With Wiiei Jan; Fleet Dedicate Darling . Of Combined 77 -Head String By TOM OREILLY BELMONT PARK, Elmont, N. Y., June 8. — Ruth McKenney once wrote a charming book about her father called "The , — _ Loud Red Patrick." E. r B. WTiite, referring to New Yorks famed St. Patrick pay parade, said, "The Irish are a hard race to tune out." And Doctor . Johnson ■ pontificated that the Celts were "a fair people — they never speak There are, however, quiet Irishmen in this world, just as classy as their brother extroverts. Such a one is Edward George Burke, known to his friends as "Eddie." a devoted horseman, a champion athlete in his younger days and a business man who knows the value of many things besides money. Stockily built, of medium height, with snappy brown eyes and iron grey hair, parted in the middle, Eddie Burke is a gentle two words, Mr. Printer, please man, whom golf and the horses have kept young. Most people mistake him for a fellow in his forties but, when you realize that he played basketball for the worlds champion Celtics, over 35 years ago, it becomes apparent that he has long since passed the "dangerous age." Moreover, it is possible to sit with him for a charming hour of conversation and come away feeling that while he is undoubtedly a great guy, he has told you very little about Eddie Burke. He is not a man to be drawn out about his. own accomplishments. Hes much rather talk about the horses. Have Different Racing Colors As you know, his wife, Mrs. Jan Winfrey Burke, owns and bred ah exceptionally fine thoroughbred named Dedicate, winner of his last five three-year-old races. I dont know if the horse blankets in the Burke stables are marked "his" and "hers," although they do have different racing colors Mrs. Burkes are ice blue and yellow; Eddies are green with white diamonds, but you can bet they both have a deep proprietary interest in Dedicate. There are 17 horses in the combined Burke strings. There are also nine more broodmares down at Bull Hancocks Claiborne Farm and .Joe Metzs Mares Rest Farm in the Kentucky Blue Grass country. Dedicate, however, is the darling of the lot. Moreover, he really does belong to Mrs. Burke. Her brother, Bill Winfrey, trainer of the great Native Dancer, gave a mare named Dini to Mrs. Burke, when he went off to the Pacific with the United States Marines in War H. She bred him to Prince-quillo and Dedicate was the result. Eddie Burkes sincere love of horses comes out when you get him talking about Dedicate. As you know, after setting a terrific three-year-old pace, the horse was suddenly scratched out of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Eddie shakes his" head in deep gratitude when he says, in hushed tones : Tracks Seem Too Hard "Boy! Am I glad we scratched that horse! Tracks today seem just too hard for a horses feet. Thoroughbreds, doggone em. have hearts so big theyll run until their legs break off. Ive actually seen it happen. Remember Dark Secret and Chase Me? Its remarkable how hard a thoroughbred will try for a man. "Well, we were worried about Dedicate. He had given us everything in five fine races. Hed had plenty of work. We knew that in a race like the Preakness he would do his best all over again and we "were afraid hed hurt himself. So we scratched him and then we took off his shoes for a look at those feet. It was murder. They were all beaten up. If we had run him in the Preakness, it would have been the end. Now he is taking it easy. We work him, of course, but his feet are well- padded and fixed up so that he cant hurt himself. Hell be back to the races when he has fully recovered from those hard poundings. Tracks today, in my opinion, are just too hard for the average thoroughbreds feet." When Eddie says "we took his shoes off," he means Mrs. Burke, himself and Carey Winfrey, her father, who trains the Burke string. Joe Williams once wrote that if you were to poll ail the trainers on the thoroughbred tracks as to which conditioner they admired most, you would be surprised Continued aaPage Forty-Four Burke Belies Poets — Quiet Irishman Who Loyes Horses Continued from Page Threa at the answer youd get. He found that Mr. Carey Winfrey is the trainers trainer. "If he was a single man," said Eddie, "hed live with his horses." I have a notion that Mr. Winfrey prefers horses to humans because the former dont talk so much. Mr. Winfrey is kind, charming and mostly non-commital. He believes in action rather than words. When Eddie quit Boys- High in Brooklyn, he joined a brokerage house on the old Curb Market. Exceptionally fast at figures, he was a specialist who worked both up in a window and down on the curb. He also made a good dollar playing on the Celtics with Nat Holman, Johnny Beckman, Joe Lapchik, Dutch Dehnert, Chris Leonard and Pete Barry. After the war, when his son came home from Okinawa, where he served as senior lieutenant in the Coast Guard, Eddie set him up in a San Antonio oil office. As they brought in a nice field, the Burke stable began to grow. Now they live most of the year at Miami Beach, spending the month of August at — where else? — Saratoga. Is there a happier combination on the turf? I doubt it. As far as .they are concerned, the ranking member of Burkes peerage is Dedicate!
