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Maryland 1 By Charles Hatton Racings Antiquity in State of Maryland The Hot Corners Central Aye Tottenham Jockeys Give Impressions of Two Derbys DerbysLAUREL LAUREL Md May 2 Laurels meeting is coming to a successful conclusion and on next Tuesday Pimlico which has been in existence since 1870 will carry on in the Free State However it may be well to recall that a lot of turf history was written in this area before Pimlicos gates first were opened Most turf goers are dimly aware that in 1745 the first Mary ¬ land Jockey Club was formed at Annapolis and that during its ac ¬ tivity George Washington noted in his diary that he often dropped a few bob on the horses As early as 1749 there are reports that a match was held between the horses of Sam Ogle and Col Prater on a site which was close to the old Lexington market in Baltimore BaltimoreThe The old Central course on Frederick avenue was one of the first racing enclosures in Baltimore and it dated back to 1831 When it went out of operation Col John Campbell and his associates then built a track at Timonium where the state fair with its accompanying racing now is held Also there was a course at Herring Run on the east side of the city which later was changed into a trotting track Pimlico was built and opened in 1870 for the express purpose of staging the Dinner Party Stakes which had been arranged two years earlier by a group of sportsmen in a meeting at Saratoga The original Pimlico setup continued until 1885 when competition from other states and the entrance of unsavory characters into the sport called a temporary halt In the interim William P Riggs or ¬ ganized the Maryland Steeplechase Association and this was merged with the MJC in 1898 restoring the sport to the high rank it since has maintained maintainedArcaro Arcaro Recalls Some Runs for the Roses7 Derby Week is here and everyone is conjecturing what will happen at Louisville this Saturday As one who has covered more than 25 Derbys we can tell you that the most crucial point of the race is the stretch turn It is there that the scene may shift and often does Jockey Eddie Arcaro tells us that it is at this point the jams may occur when the speed horses sometimes run out of air and stop in front of the stretch runners He added that Citations Derby was very easy and that he feels that had Phalanx been where Faultless was in the stretch run he would cer ¬ tainly have won his Derby He had an awkward of going Arcaro recalls and was afraid that if I went inside and had to take him up I could not get him running again So I took the overland and just missed On Hill Prince he came to the top of the lane and studied Middleground knowing from past experiences that he was given to swerving It was that split second of hesitation that may have cost the Chenery colt the race for he finished like a house afire afireUsually Usually Arcaro says I have wished that the finish was at the quarter pole as in the instance of Hoop Jr I do not know if he was a mile and a quarter horse but everything worked out fine for him the muddy conditions and the fact he could take the track Whether or not he was the best horse he had all the luck Arcaro just now is hopeful that Head Man will run himself a big race on Saturday He estimates the calico colored Whitney colt is a nice horse and that he does not necessarily have to come from behind I had a pretty good hold of him early in the Wood but I think ha can bounce if he has to Apparently the other half of the Whitney entry Career Boy is rounding to form again after his bruised hoof was discovered He must have had this ailment for weeks for a pus sac to have formed and if there is no further infection he could be troublesome The only thing about Career Boy is that his knees seem a little second hand and he does not care for soft going The weather reports are en ¬ couraging however howeverArcaros Arcaros remarks on the hot corner in the Kentucky Derby reminds us of the comments of English jockeys on the focal points in the race at Epsom which is a mile and a half shaped roughly like a horseshoe There is a sharp rise of a half mile at the start a dip to Tatten ham atop the stretch and a gradual incline to the finish Gordori Richards who won this race on Pinza iaid I ride as hard as I can for the first seven furlongs uphill and around the turn As for the stretch turn he remarked I pray for a clear opening through when I am coming to Tattenham Corner and within a furlong of the finish from now on it is up to the horse Charlie Elliott says that once your horses head is turned for home that is when the real test of brain and muscle begins and he adds see that the stride does not change as the field sweeps into the straight straightPiggott Piggott Likes the High Road Lester Piggott discussing the drawing observes I like a big number Its worth a few lengths to be racing on higher ground Later on he added There is no beaten horse until you are in the straight Elliott who has ridden three Epsom Derby winners advised See that the other horses dont crowd you on the first turn and Wragg who also has ridden three winners of this event commented I dont care if it is Epsom I say you can ride a waiting race at Epsom as well as on any other course Cheeky Charlie Smirke is an ¬ other who has ridden three winners of the famed race on the Epsom chalk downs the first nearly 20 years ago Friends were amused after the 1952 running when he wired tJr m What did I Tulyar
