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Weighing In By Evan Shipman Popular Racer Lost With Imbros Retirement Fine Miler Was to Have Come East This Fall Combined Ideal Disposition With Speed Courage AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 25. Imbros just announced retirement deprives the racing public of one of the most popular performers of recent years. Local ! fans have never had a chance to ; applaud this strikingly handsome i chestnut son of Polynesian, but if all had gone well, the plan had been for Imbros to invade Long Island this coming fall, his objectives being such fixtures as the six furlongs Fall Highweight Handicap, the mite Sysonby and the mile William Woodward Stakes. Toward the end of his Santa Anita campaign last spring, Imbros never too sound showed unmistakable signs of "wear and tear," and he was sent to his owner, Andy Crevolins nearby San Demas Ranch to recuperate after drastic remedies had been applied to both front legs. We paid him a visit there immediately before our return East the end of March, and at that time the big fellow looked to be coming along splendidly. We watched him cantering in a circle at the end of a rope a form of exercise that he always enjoyed and from the way Imbros handled himself, we thought it. would not be long before he could resume full training as a member of Willie Molters combination at Hollywood Park. Calumet Trainers Among Loyal Admirers Before we ever laid eyes on Imbros unfortunately, we made his acquaintance late we had heard tales of his prowess from Ben and Jimmy Jones of Calumet, two of his warm and most loyal admirers. When, two summers ago, we went to Hollywood Park, trailing along on Royal Vales ill-fated expedition, Jimmy at once told us of a three-year-old who, in his words, could hold his own against anything in the country at weight-for-age at a mile." At that time, Jimmy had never seen Native Dancer, but even after listeping to our reports concerning Alfred Vanderbilts gray champion, he persisted in maintaining that Imbros, at sprint distances and at a mile, could meet any thoroughbred in training on equal terms. Later, when we returned to California the following January, we were to see graphic illustrations of the quality that had inspired this enthusiasm in as severe and perceptive a critic as Jimmy Jones. We were soon ready to admit that Imbros fully lived up to all that praise; he was superb. Unlike many noted "speed artists," Imbros has a heart as big as he is; his competitive instinct is one of his most marked characteristics, and as we become familiar with the little quirks and turns of his very I definite equine "personality," we saw that he relished J nothing more than the -approach, during the heat of a race, of a serious antagonist. His duels with Berseem are now legendary in California. Berseem good as he has always has been out there could never engage Imbros at even weight, butwhen the conditions or the handicapper gave the Bernborough horse a seven or eight-pound pull, you could get set for a honey of a contest. Imbros and it looked as if he would do it intentionally allowed Berseem almost to draw level, even to rea,ch his throat-latch. And then the war was on. In most of their vivid encounters, Berseem would give it about as much as any big brown horse could, but the trouble was that a big chestnut horse had just a little bit more to offer, and Imbros dealt out that that extra winning effort like a Mississippi river gambler nursing his ace in the hole. Mile and One-Quarter Route Jusf Too Much There were some things, mind you, that Imbros could not do, nature having intended him to dothem. He could race with, the best and win a good share of the time, or when the handicapper was not "outrageously flattering" at six, seven, eight or nine furlongs. All that Imbros could do and did, but a mile and a quarter was just too far for him to travel. All who witnessed his noble effort to get that classic distance in the Santa Handicap of 1954, a race in which he led the pack until well inside the final sixteenth, setting records at every pole, will never erase the glorious spectacle of speed and courage from their memory. True enough, Rejected a real "stayer" caught Imbros in the final strides of the great winter fixture, but Imbros had already gone well beyond his distance, and he was sustained by nothing at the end except his incomparable fighting heart. It requires legs and lungs fitted for "the middle distance" to win 10 furlong stakes in addition to heart, and Imbros physical equipment, we repeat, was that of the ideal "miler." No description of Imbros, no matter how cursory and brief, can omit mention of his sweet, placid disposition. All dash and fire on the strip, the big horse was the gentlest imaginable in his home quarters or on the walking ring. Many horses tolerate human attention, but Imbros courts it. Willie Molter, who trained him; Ray York, who rode him in most of his races, and Jane and Andy Crevolin, who own him all have reason to love Imbros, but even were he not the champion that he is, his endearing ways would have earned him their affection. In appearance, he is a majestic animal, but although both his sire, Polynesian, and his dams sire, Bull Dog, were remarkably handsome thoroughbreds, transmitting beauty to their get, Imbros is definitely not of the pattern of either. Instead, as we view him, this horse has bred back to the Pennant family. Pennant being the sire of Imbros second dam.
