Nashua Will Not be Sent to Coast; Coded Message Lasts for Nose Win: Hollywood Match Proposal is Off, Daily Racing Form, 1955-06-14

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Nashua Nashua Will Will Not Not Be Be Sent Sent to to Coast; Coast; Coded Coded Message Message Lasts Lasts for for Nose Nose Win Win Hollywood Match Proposal Is Off Woodward Says It Is Unfair . To Colt to Ship Him 3,000 Miles to Duel With Swaps NEW YORK, N. Y., June 13.— William Woodward, Jr., owner of Nashua, said here today that his colt "positively will not be shipped to California," for a proposed 00,000 winner-take-all match race with , Swaps. Woodward said that he appreciated the demand for a meeting between the two great colts but felt that it "would be unfair to Nashua and the public if we shipped Tiim 3,000 miles at this time." Woodwards statement thus at least temporarily halted the match race talk, which began last weekvith an unverified report to the effect that he and Rex Ellsworth, owner of Swaps, had agreed to race their colts in a special event at Washington Park, and was climaxed by an announcement from Hollywood Park Saturday night to the effect that the operators" of the coast track were willing to put up 00,000 .for a meeting between the two horses in California. Woodwards Statement-Woodward had discussed the possibility of a match with Ellsworth in a phone conversation Friday night but said today that his views obviously were "misinterpreted." The text of Woodwards statement regarding the proposed match follows: "Nashua positively will not be shipped to California for a match race with Swaps. Continued on Page Six Nashua Will Not Be Sent to California To Meet Swaps in Match at Hollywood Woodward Says It Would Be* Unfair to Ship Colt 3,000 Miles Cross Country Now Continued from Page One Although I am very much in favor of a meeting between the two horses, which the public demands, it is my belief that it would be unfair to Nashua and the public if we shipped him 3,000 miles at this time. "In my opinion it would be wrong to make any firm commitment right now concerning when the two horse should meet. You will recall that several years ago the same kind of interest was -generated over the respective merits of Assault and Armed and it led to a match race because the public demand was so great. When the two horses finally met, Assault was unfit and the race was a race in name only. It proved nothing. "I would prefer not to consider a meeting between the two horses until approximately August 1. If at that time both horses are fit to run, the race should take place within a few weeks after both owners accept. "I regret that statements I made in my conversation with Rex Ellsworth, owner of Swaps, over the telephone on Friday were misinterpreted. I had no intention of indicating we would ship Nashua to California." The proposed match at Hollywood Park was to be at one mile and a quarter, with each horse carrying 126 pounds. Hollywoods vice-president and general manager, James D. Stewart, said over the week end that he had conferred with Woodward in New . York last week, and that while Nashuas owner "did not commit himself in any way to a match race at Hollywood Park or any other place, as a thoroughbred owner and sportsman he feels that when a horse becomes as famous as Nashua and develops such a following, in a sense he belongs to the public. Ellsworth feels the same way about Swaps and the public." Campaigns for both colts have already been mapped, making the possibility of a match anywhere in the near future exceedingly remote. Nashua, who romped to vie- ► . ■ tory in the Belmont Stakes Saturday, is slated to start in the 0,000 added Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct on July 2 and then is to be shipped to Chicago for the 00,000 added Arlington Classic on July 16. He is not eligible for the 00,000 added American Derby at Washington Park on August 20, so is likely to be sent to Saratoga for several of the rich fixtures there. Swaps definitely will go postward in the 0,000 added Westerner at Hollywood Park on July 9 and is considered a possibility for the 00,000 added Sunset Handicap, at one mile and five-eighths, also at Hollywood on July 23. Present plans call for him to be shipped to Chicago with other members of ±he Ellsworth string early in August. He is to be pointed for the American Derby at Washington Park on August 20. Nashua and Swaps literally set the turf world afire in the Kentucky Derby when the invader from the West Coast took the measure of the Easts outstanding three-year-old. Nashua then captured the Preak-ness at Pimlico before trouncing his foes in the Belmont Stakes. Swaps, not eligible for the Belmont, was returned to California, where he registered with ridiculous ease in the Will Rogers Stakes before -he conquered Determine, Rejected, Mister Gus and other older horses in Saturdays renewal of the Californian, running one mile and a sixteenth in 1:40%, a new world record.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1955061401/drf1955061401_1_3
Local Identifier: drf1955061401_1_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800