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Churchill Downs l By Joe Hrscfc Drake Has Caught Lightning Twice Bred and Owns Swoons Son Dogoon Wilson Tells Plans for His Speedsters SpeedstersCHURCmLL CHURCmLL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 3 Speed Inc E Gay Drake is a man who caught light ¬ ning in a bottle not once but twice and in successive years Were speaking of course about Dogoon the swift four yearold son of The Doge Swoon and his full brother the threeyearold Swoons Son Drake bred and raised both horses at his 200acre Mineola Stock Farm outside of Lexington Ky Both won seven races last year but Dogoon earned about 47000 while Swoons Son brought back 236705 which is a lot of money even in Texas Both colts made their 195 debuts here last week end going threequarters of a mile Dogoon was a little short while Swoons Son was little short of sensational He opened up a threelength lead at the head of the stretch on such bright Derby prospects as Terrang Ben A Jones and Count Chic and Dave Erb had plenty of horse left when he crossed the wire in 110 just a fifth of a second off a track record of five years standing and this mind you in his first start of the year Wow WowCanadianBorn CanadianBorn Trainer Once Rode Jumpers JumpersIn In yesterday mornings downpour Lex Wilson who trains Dogoon and Swoons Son came slowly under the shedrow from an adjoining barn leaned on his Chamberlain umbrella as he walked to a corner tack box and sat down A touch of the gout he told a man with collar up huddled against the rairi as he offered a seat Wilson who makes his home in St Marys Ont rode on the flats many years and many fewer pounds ago recalls that he broke his maiden on a horse called Garden of Allah at Juarez in 1912 He continued until 1915 switched to jumping races when the weight began to get him then from 1920 to 1934 trained and rode at eastern hunt meetings for John Sweeney and Walter O Briggs of Detroit He began to train running horses in 1935 and brought Fred Algers Auzar up to win the first running of the 100000 Santa Anita Handicap in 1935 beating Ladysman a head the best horse that Hughie Fontaine had before Needles Wilson who has 19 horses on the grounds still trains for Alger and T D Buhl and of course Drake with whom hes been associated for the past 15 seasons seasonsSwoons Swoons Son and Dogoon wintered at Gays farm Wilson said and Strother Griffin picked them up for training about February 1 I got down from Ontario on March 15 and have been bringing them along since Swoons Son had a good work before Saturdays race 11andchange and ft was enough to mike him a tight horse The best that Dogoon did was 13 He ran to the eighth pole which was as far as he was ready to go From Churchill Downs Wilson is shipping the stable to the Balmoral meeting at Washington Park in Chicago He plans to start Dogoon in the 15000 La Salle Handicap on May 14 opening day with Swoons Son scheduled for the 15000 Domino Stakes oh May 26 and the 50000 Chicagoan on June 9 The Chi cagoan is a mile race while Swoons Son has never won at over six furlongs Did Wilson think he could go that far Hell be tried Lex replied evenly and if he shows well hell go in the Classic at Arlington The way things look this year he could stand a pretty fair chance Actually Wilson was a little disappointed that Swoons Son didnt win twoyearold championship honors last year despite his huge earnings which few juveniles have ever equaled but realizes that his fail ¬ ure to win over a distance of ground was one of the deciding factors factorsCreditable Creditable ThreeYearOld Campaigner CampaignerDogoon Dogoon may also be stretched out this summer He won easily at a mile and a sixteenth at Hawthorne last September Wilson noted and dont forget that he was a strong fourth in the Classic behind Nashua Traffic Judge and Impromptu I kind of blame my ¬ self for not having the colt a little closer to the pace in that race He might have gotten the whole thing Of course he still had his blazing speed too He shat ¬ tered the sevenfurlong record at Washington in Sep ¬ tember won by six lengths under 124 pounds in 121 and Erb was easing him up almost the last sixteenth Well try to find some handicap spots for him maybe as far as a mile nad threesixteenths or something like that where he wont have to hook no Nashuas and I think hell do all right
