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New Jersey By William Phillips 40934 Near OpeningDay Record Crowd Quality Competition in Colonial Handicap Mrs Grahams Instructions1 Bring Victory VictoryGARDEN GARDEN STATE PARX Camden N J April 30 Old man weather smiled upon Garden State Park last Saturday making the mortal weatherman appear all wet with his predictions of showerjs and the New Jersey sea ¬ son of 150 racing days started off with a bang The inaugural atten ¬ dance for this fifteenth year of sport at Garden State Park was 40934 just 865 persons short of the alltime record xopening crowd that turned out on a beautiful spring afternoon last year The wagering on the eight races to ¬ taled 2914516 just 56532 less than the record opening handle on Saturday a year ago The people of Jersey and the surrounding area are literally weatherweary of miser ¬ able conditions that prevailed throughout the winter and spring and they were easily influenced to credit the gloomy weather predictions Walter H Donovan the executive vicepresident took this into account beforehand He reported to us at the programs con ¬ clusion Naturally the big turnout was extremely appreciated The crowd was a bit higher than our ex ¬ pectations but one of the finest things of all was the excellent competition furnished n the track It re ¬ flected thefine handicapping of Ty Shea and the caliber of thoroughbreds in our barns barnsDonovan Donovan certainly is correct The Colonial Handicap was a truely good race Anybody who enjoys watching thoroughbreds in action appreciates watching a h orse of quality and the leaders at the finish in the Colonial Coloniallooked looked like quality all over We only are sorry that Hartack was not a little more judicious in setting the pace Brookmeade Stables fine filly Gandharva literally burned herself out running the first quarter mile in 21 and the halfmile in 445 But that is water over the dam After all she is primarily a speed runner and Hartack was undoubtedly following the orders of Elliot Burch who saddled Gandharva in the absence of Preston M Burch his father This was only the second start of her fouryearold season She showed speed and faltered to finish fourth in the Pau monok won two weeks ago by the colt Nances Lad The Brookmeade filly a daughter of Olympia ran as fast and far as she could Then she flagged her tail in protest when Hartack whipped her lefthanded in the last furlong and still was beaten only a neck We do not doubt that she will be harder to beat the next time timeMyrtles Myrtles Jet Was Fit and Ready Maine Chance Farms Myrtles Jet a fouryearold daughter of Jet Pilot had had four races this season and she was fit and ready She carried 122 pounds spotting Gandharva four and she won honestly Her speed was not good enough to match Gandharvas al ¬ though she is noted for early fleetness herself and jockey Blum was trying hard to have her right with the pace through the backstretch Mickey Mouse as they nicknamed Blum wisely eased off with Myrtles Jet a trifle on the stretch turn She actually could not come and get Gandharva in the final drive but she did manage to continue along courageously and Gand ¬ harva came back to her Clearwater Stables Betsann ran a surprisingly good race as a 109pound outsider She is a strong railrunner through the stretch and she fininshed only threequarters of a length off the top pair Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilts Sometime Thing simply was unable to keep up with Myrtles Jet and Gandlharva under her 124pound impost although she beat the Maine Chance Farm miss at Bowie this spring in the Barbara Frietehie Handicap HandicapMrs HandicapX X Mrs Elizabeth Graham mistress of the Maine Chance Farm took over from Merritt Buxton in the paddock and gave Blum the riding instructions Buxton saddled Myrtles Jet in the absence of trainer Ike K Mourar who remained in New York John B Kelly looking just like any father who has gone through the ordeal of marrying off a daughter headed the Atlantic City delegation for the opening Kelly returned from Morraco last week Mrs Kelly and younger daughter Peggy are due back the end of next week They are making a brief tour of the continent Lou Cunning ¬ ham arid attractive daughter Nancy were here direct ¬ ing public relations for Atlantic City Also of the Shore contingent were executive vicepresident Dr Leon Levy and his wife general manager Phil Baker and treas ¬ urer Griff Boardman BoardmanTrainers Trainers Arrive From Long Island by AirTaxi AirTaxiSaul Saul Silberman the Baltimorean who is prexy of Tropical and Randall parks was with a party of friends on Saturday The little man with big ideas had a good time knocking down the favorites Jock Barshak who directs the William G HeliS Jr horses who are in New York came down a couple of dayr ago to be here for the opening He made sure Al Pupino tightened the girth properly on Betsann Trainers Lucien Laurin and Bill Winfrey were pleased with the airtaxi service that brought them here from New York Satur ¬ day in a matter of minutes Laurin saddled R N Websters Navy Action as the first winner of the meet ¬ ing Winfrey tightened the girth on Sometime Thing Col Gobert H Martin the circus impresario was an opening day guest of Sylvester W Rich the thor ¬ oughbred owner from Bradford Pa The Monmouth Park representatives to be seen were Mr and Mrs Phil Jselin r d Townsend B Margin
