Connors Corner: N Stamped Prominently in Record Book; Nashua, Needles Seek Further Conquests; Preakness, Belmont Next for D and H Colt, Daily Racing Form, 1956-05-08

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I Connors Corner By Chuck Connors- N Stamped Prominently in Record Book Nashua, Needles Seek Further Conquests Preakness, Belmont Next for D and H Colt JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 7.— The letter "N" was prominent on Saturday and two horses whose names started -with that letter pounded some racing history in the record books. They w ere Nashua and Needles and their feats A-ere accomplished a thousand miles apart but within 90 minutes of each other and they were acclaimed by the racing clans around the nation. Nomenclature of horses recurires time, thought and a strict adherence to the rules as laid down by The Jockey Club. The letter "N" which launched Nashua and Needles on * their racing careers was given but scant attention when registered by their respective owners. Saturday they made history. Nashua raced within the value of an overnight purse of dethroning Citation from his pedestal as the worlds greatest money winner. Needles has an opportunity of crashing that select company of Triple Crown winners and amassing an overall tidy sum as a two and three-year-old. His winnings at the moment are 62,055, which is not bad at all. Needles is on his way to Baltimore for the Preakness and following that will come on to Belmont Park for the Belmont Stakes. He is due here shortly after the Maryland offering. Needles is, as the boys say, well booked for the next month, but the starts for Nashua are at the moment undecided. Bonnie Heath and Jackson Dudley, who maintain the D and H Stable, in-discussing their colt last winter, had then, decided to race him as a four-year-old and then his retirement to the stud. Their plans for the colt call for him to stand at the newly acquired farm of Bonnie Heath in the Ocala area of Florida. Heath acquired the C-Y cattle ranch there last winter and a couple of hundred acres of this 2,900 acre farm will be given over to thoroughbred breeding and racing; The other acreage will remain as a cattle farm. Anyway, the two colts whose names start with the letter "N" raised a few ructions on Saturday, and no doubt, if both are at peak condition in the fall, some enterprising promoter will seek to ! match Needles, Nashua and Swaps in a special race for a purse of a quarter of a million or so. Whats the difference, it is only money. Vincent OBrien Returns to Ireland Jospeh M. Seider, who has a draft of horses with John Coburn, was among the week-end visitors. He recently returned fvom a trip to Japan. . . . Bob Pink-erton came out to give, the crowd the once-over, and reported everything quiet. . . . Carlton Palmer of Chicago was among those present. He has a couple of steeplechasers in Ireland with Vincent OBrien who has three scores in the Grand National at Aintree to his credit. OBrien planed back to Ireland on Sunday following a three week visit to these parts. . . . Mr. -and Mrs. Frank J. Heller came out to root for Nashua in the Grey Lag. . . . George Lewis who has a draft of horses in training here was present. . . Pat Farrell, who will serve as racing secretary at the MRA meeting in Detroit, came up from -Laurel for the afternoon. He was doing a little missionary work for that meeting and reported a couple of nibbles on the bait. . . . John S. Phipps was among the late varrivals to root for Nashua in the big one. Trainer Jim Fitzsimmons took time out over the N week end to study the conditions of ji couple of handicap offerings to be decided the latter part of. this month relative to starting Nashua. ... Ed Christmas came up from Maryland to saddle Lucie Manette in the filly offering. . . . Mrs. HrGr Phipps, who races under the nom de course of the Wheatley Stable, was a club-House visitor. . . . Frank "Red" Leatherbury""had to wait some time before he found out that his. starter in the Grey Lag, Cavort, failed to finish in the picture. He instructed trainer Al Pupino to phone him the result, but Pupino forgot the name of the yacht on which Leatherbury was cruising in the Gulf of Mexico,, Anyway a news broadcast was picked up later which supplied the answer. . . . First Aid, owned by the Brookmeade Stable, was returned to Belmont Park from Laurel. The colt finished second in his engagement. Report Brown Runners on the Mend Trainer Johnny Theall who has the Joe Brown horses in his care reported that his charges have recovered from a mild siege of coughing and bucked shins and are back in training. . . . Trainer Preston Burch of , the Brookmeade Stable is due back from Kentucky tomorrow. He witnessed the Derby and inspected the mare foals and other horses at the farm. . . . Ev Clay and Tommy Engelman, ye high powered tub thumpers at Hialeah and Gulfstream Park let it be -known that Needles raced at their respective tracks during the winter months. . . . Bill Brennan, part time actor, he was with Terry McGovern in a short lived opus many •years ago, one of the few Americans who saddled a horse for the Epsom Derby, foreman for many years with Rancocas, one time trainer for Greentree and now custodian of the receiving barn on New" York tracks is a firm believer in that old adage, no bet is a good bet until it is well hedged. .Anyway Bill lived up to the formula on Saturday. He dr,ew Needles in a Derby pool, and then turned around and sold his ticket at a profit. He did the identical same thing last year when he drew Swaps. What about next year, Willie?


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