view raw text
On the Wire By Hugh J. McGuire- -J Calumet Farm Colorbearers on the March Mark-Ye-Well Returns to Old-Time Form Suggest Gwathmey Chase Be Rotated ARLINGTON PARK, Arlington Heights, HI., June 27. The driving score Saturday of Calument Farms Mark-Ye-Well .in the Laurance Armour Memorial Handicap served riotifce that the Jonses, Ben and Jimmy, are on the march and that the famed devils red silks of Mrs. Gene Markeys establishment" win not be strangers to the winners circle in this area during the summer. Prior to the Armour, ,Calumet had won allowance races on successive days with Bubbley and Eds Day, but the tally of Mark-Ye-Well was the first stake success in the areafor Calumet since Real De light took the Arlington "Matron" in 1953, All three Calumet winners last week are by the farms famous Bull Lea, who is now reserved exclusively for that farms matrons. Bubbley and Eds Day are from Blue Larkspur mares, while Mark-Ye-Wells dam, Mar-Kell, is by Blenheim n.. Calumet has found both of these crosses eminently successful. First Victory in 12 Starts This Year Mark-Ye-Well, now six, went into the Armour scoreless in 11 tries this season. In fact, he had not been as close as third in any of these essays. Saturday he showed fight to whip Wise Margin by the shortest of margins and while he was favored by carrying only 111 pounds, his time of 1:49 for the nine panels was only three-fifths of a second slower than the track standard set by his stablemate, Coaltown, in 1949. . . . While it is true that the Calumet coffers have not been enriched lately in the manner to which they have been accustomed in recent years, they have held up remarkably well, and the drop only serves to emphasize the spectacular successes of the past. Such sustained results could not have been obtained without talent in conditioning. We do not know whether Ben and Jimmy Jones feel that v the best ones are still in the barn, or if they consider they are doing the best they can with what they have. In either case their best is mighty formidable. Here to supervise the running last Friday of the Arlington Park Hurdle Stakes was Chris Wood, Jr., field director of the United Hunts Racing Association and director of hurdle racing at Amory L. Haskells Monmouth Park. Wood also did missionary work here in the interest of the Midsummer Hurdle Handicap at Monmouth on July 22. This test is endowed with a prize of 5,000, which makes it the richest of the hurdlers on "the spring and summer agenda. Wood found considerable enthusiasm among the crowd for the local hurdle race, and it was suggested here to him j that further interest in that branch of the sport in this and other sectors might be roused if the famed Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase was rotated around favorable spots on the curcuft. The United Hunts Association sponsors this 0,000 classic, and it is expected that international participation will be found in its -running at Belmont Park. Wood admitted that with such equipment as the new portable hurdles now available from Monmouth, such a plan was feasible and that it would move up local enthusiam if the leapers were sent over the hurdles rather than brush. Wood is a veteran of more than two decades with the jumpers and is co-author of Steeplechasing in America, the valuable book for enthusiasts of racing between the flags. Bassett Favors Mandatory 10-Day Suspension It comes somewhat in the nature of a stfrpriseto Ike Bassett, manager of the central division of the Jockeys Guild, that the suggestion of the Guild itself that rough riding carry a mandatory suspension for 10 days, is not adhered to by all stewards in his district. The severe penalty was recommended by the jockeys themselves primarily as a deterrent to the more reckless riders, who endanger life and limb of their f ellows,Jut it also makes for better racing. Some stewards prefer to refer to such offenses as careless or negligent riding, but Bassett holds that any deviation from clean riding amounts to rough riding because any form, of it could cause the same injuries or fatalities. Bassett states that the 10-day suspension has been adopted in - most states, including Illinois, and has proved satisfactory in cleaning up riding tactics and he believes that uniformity in the enforcement would aid in its value. Another point in this uniformity is the interpretation of whether the 10 days is to mean racing or calendar days, and most states adopt the latter meaning. It can readily be seen that interpretation could be very important in areas where theje is less racing than six days weekly. In regular sectors with full racing each week, if the stewards feel that the presence of Sundays in the suspension lessens the intent of their ruling, they are at liberty to make the suspension for 12 or more days. Bassett accepts the term rough riding as it is generally accepted to mean, involuntary or thoughtless deviation from the rules. He is of the opinion that deliberate roughness should bring a much stiffer penalty.
