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Kentucky By Joe Thomas Ch inn Thinks Todays Horses Are Faster Rates Swaps Second Only to Man o War v Nine Yearling Imports in Keeneland Sale LEXINGTON, Ky., June 17. Horses are running faster today. The watch shows that. But many credit the increased speed to track superintendents. Haw- ever, Col. Phil T. Chinn, who has in the horse business more than half a century, demurs. The Colonel thinks the racers of today are both faster and better the breed is improving. The veteran owner, breeder and trainer bases his belief primarily on two factors more horses are raised under improved conditions; and they are given a better opportunity to develop their latent qualities. Chinn says todays trainers, in general. are better and their facilities vastly improved. In the old days the stables were podr and the tracks little more than "plowed fields." Too often a trainer was trying to win a bet, not a race. Colt Has Some of Big Reds Characteristics And Swaps, in the Colonels eyes "is one of the greatest horses I have ever seen. Who knows what kind o a race horse he is?" As a matter of fact, the only horse that the Colonel will rate above the Swaps he saw win the Kentucky Derby is Man o War. "I guess Man o War was the greatest horse I ever saw," the Colonel remarks, "or ever will see." However, he adds, Swaps has some characteristics which remind him of "Big Red" his free, wild-running style; his blazing speed. In recalling Man o War, Colonel Chinn says that one afternoon at Saratoga Sam Hildreth told him that he had clocked Man o War in a three-furlong workout in :31. And that he had been with Hildreth on other occasions when the famous trainer had timed the great horses furlongs in :10 in races. The Colonel says that Man o War would smother his opposition with one blistering eighth. Swaps seems also to have some of this same quality. Nine yearlings conceived abroad are included in the entries for next months sales at Keeneland. Two of them were imported themselves, three were foaled here from imported mares, the other four were foaled abroad and brought here alongside their dams. The two which came over on their own are Bwamazon Farms colt by Big Game Feu Follet, and Crown Crests son of Arctic Prince and Bray Melody. The latter subse- . quently came here after being bred to Tulyar. She "now is in foal to Native Dancer. Bwamazons colt by Owen Tudor was foaled after the. arrival here of his dam, Windsor Slipper, as were Maine Chances filly by Tehran, out of Dona Dolce, and Stoner Creeks colt by Migoli, out of Dantes sister, Drama n. Brought here with their dams were James E. Clays colt by Mieuxce and the young Nasrullah matron Ceol Srulla, and a trio consigned by Elmendorf a colt by Kings-way Cow Girl II.; the only Royal Charger in the ;sale, a filly out of Emma Hart; and a son of Colonist n., Winston Churchills best racer, and Fair Clarissa. An Unheralded Match in the Blue Grass They held a match race at Keeneland the other morning. It was the culmination of a lot of debate between a couple of horsemen. But unfortunately it failed to settle the argument. For several weeks these two had been bragging and joshing over the relative merits of their two racers. As time passed, the discussion grew warmer, until the stage was reached where a showdown was necessary. A match was proposed and immediately each accepted the challenge. A date was set. But then came a period of rain, rain, rain. It has been many years since the Blue Grass has experienced so much spring precipitation as during the past two weeks. The match was postponed again and again. At length, it was agreed to test the racers regardless of the weather. The appointed day dawned raining and murky. By the time the two participants reached the gate, the downpour had reached almost cloudburst proportions. The spirits on neithenside, however, were dampened. Each strode forth with supreme confidence. The gate swung open. A murky shadow soon appeared moving .swiftly around the turn for home. They were neck and neck, stride for stride. Their handlers, standing on the grandstand lawn were soaked, but gleeful. Each knew the others charge soon would crack. The shadow came into the stretch. It began to take form. Suddenly, about the eighth pole, came a stark realization. There was only one horse and he, was riderless. The match was a farce. One horse had refused to break the other had lost its rider after only a few strides. Hold HBPA Executive Meeting Sunday WASHINGTON PARK, Homewood, HI., June 17. Heads of the various divisions of the Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association will be present for a conference to be held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago, on Sunday. The time for the session is being held in abeyance pending the arrival of president Irving Gushen from New York. However, hotel reservations have been made for the great majority of the more important officials in the organization who are expected to attend.
