Weighing In: Cough Keeps Many Juveniles from Action Time Records in Sprints Are Discounted, Daily Racing Form, 1955-06-09

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Weighing In By Evan Shipman ; Cough Keeps Many Juveniles From Action Time Records in Sprints AreDiscounted Dulat Returns to Action in Hurdle Race BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 8.— When the Widener chute dashes for two-year-olds bring out only seven or eight youngsters, you may be ! * . snrp that trainers are havine their troubles over on the backstretch. Ordinarily, these sprints at Belmont Park attract limit fields, but throughout this meeting a quantity of juveniles — good, bad and indifferent — :have remained .idle in their stalls because of the prevailing "cough." We write the name of this recurrent spring malady within quotation marks because it is a cover-all or laymans term for a resmratnrv I ! disease" roughly resembling influenza, and marked by fever, nasal discharge and general loss of physical tone. "Shipping fever" that you will hear about a little later in the season is a related equine sickness, particularly common among young horses, and, despite years of intelligent, directed effort, veterinary science has so far been able to accomplish little toward the elimination or cure of either scourge, the situation in this respect resembling what we humans have to put up with in regard to the common cold or the various types of influenza. Change of Equipment May Be Credited Meeting one of these unusually restricted fields yesterday, the Woodley Lane Farms bay Revoked colt, Reneged, not only won as the majority of the off day crowd had anticipated but equalled The Pimpernels world and track mark for the four and a half furlongs distance in the process. This was Renegeds third local outing. He had shown speed on previous occasions, and was known to be highly regarded by his connections, but it may have been the addition of blinkers to his equipment that transformed just another smart juvenife into a record-breaker. Stepping the initial quarter away from the gate in :22%, Reneged and Darby Dans Wild Chorus were on almost equal terms at the half in 44 seconds flat, Reneged thereafter pulling away for jockey Paul Bailey to win by three full lengths in :49%. What price track records? If it were not that his name headed the programs list of starters for the last four years when it was a question of this particular distance, what could you tell us concerning The Pimpernel? And how about the Pavot filly, Vestment, who, with Hurricane Hazel pushing her; ran six furlongs down this same chute last October in -an extraordinary 1:07%? What has she done since? Records are not eYen, a "seven days wonder" any more, or at least records at the sprinting distances are accepted casually . enough. Records at the mile, nine furlongs, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half are something else again, and if the day ever comes when Count Fleets 1:34% for the Belmont mile is equalled or lowered, we can assure you that it will be the occasion for a great deal of local excitement. See Pollys Jet Top Juvenile With small fields prevailing in both stakes and the ordinarily crowded overnight events for juveniles, many of the important stables that usually cut such a swathe in this type of event have either been scantily represented this spring or not represented at all. Perhaps we will not see the "big guns" in action until the opening of the Saratoga meeting up-state, but, in the meanwhile, the fine Polynesian colt, Pollys Jet, winner of both the National Stallion and the Juvenile at this meeting as well as the Cherry Hill Stakes at Garden State, is definitely the best of the newcomers. This is a colt who does not have to break records in order to call attention to himself; Pollys Jet may not be the most impressive sort of youngster when viewed on the walking ring at close range, but he makes up for any lack of maturity in conformation with his admirable precocity in competition, doing everything right, showing every instinct of a genuine race tool. Welcoming the Four -Way Ranchs once formidable flat horse, Dulat,~back to competition, the crowd made the handsome chestnut a stout choice in yesterdays hurdle race, ignoring the fact that the veteran had never performed perviously in public over obstacles and also that he had been out of action for two full years. As prudence might have suggested, Dulat finished up. the course, in the large field, Pete Bostwicks excellent French importation, Hyrcan, winning in a tight finish from Mrs. "Mickey" Walshs Basilia, while Ring O Roses, saddled and ridden by members of the Smith- wick tribe, garnered third money. Before summarily dismissing old Dulat, we would say that he jumped safely but "very big," his style better adapted to the steeplechase course than to the little obstacles. He was either leading or with the leaders for nearly a turn of the field, tiring badly thereafter. It should not have been forgotten that the winner was a stake horse in his native France, and he is one of the most promising selected last year by that keen judge, the Maryland horseman, Joseph F. Flanagan. Hyrcan had to answer two claims of foul before "his victory was made official, both Kenny Field on Basilia and Charley Harr on the other half of the Walsh entry, Avindo, protesting interference. The Basilia incident jvas during the drive and right in front of our eyes; "we thought that Dooley Adams on the winner was riding the runner-up a little close, maybe more than a little close, but it definitely did not seem to be deliberate, and we agreed with the stewards in allowing the order of finish to stand.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800