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Judge s Stand By Charles Hatton Needles Pro Tern Leader of Three-Year-Olds Due Momentarily on Hilltop for Preakness Pimlico All Prepared for Ensuing Meeting CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 7.— Needles must be regarded as the "pro tern" leader of the present generation of three-year-olds af ter supplement ing his successes in the Flamingo and Florida Derby with a stretch run of dazzling incandescence in the Kentucky Derby. He proved most authoritatively, as we conjectured after his Floiida races, that he never needed any homebred weight concessions. And he is due momentarily at Pimlico for the Preakness, along with the Derby second, Fabius. Pintor Lea * pulled up something the worse for wear and is going to Calumet Farm. Although Calumet could only be second in this eighty-second Derby, it may be some solace that the first two to finish were conceived at Mrs. Markeys farm and by her own stallions. Needles is not. a very generous work horse, but when the heat of battle is on him in the afternoons he can be pretty relentless through the stretch. There is a theory that he has no real dash, and yet he won his first race at four and one-half furlongs at Gulfstream as a .two-year-old, and in the six furlongs of the Sapling last summer ran over two undefeated colts in Decathlon and Pollys Jet, so w_e must thing this a shibboleth. In fine, we consider him a nice horse, though we are unconvinced he is meeting any such competition as Swaps and Nashua faced a year ago. The time for the Kentucky Derby was nothing to shout about over a course on which Delta and Delamar had just broken track records, Needles finishing out in 2:03%. Yet it is computed that the winner, who had only one horse beaten leaving the backstretch, was making more than a million an hour. Frankly, we could see no very valid excuse for any of those behind him, though some have been made. At 0,000 he was a rare bargain, for he now has amassed 62,055 and appears the only logical choice for the 00,000 Preakness two weeks hence. He is, incidentally, the fifth consecutive Derby winner of his male line, which traces back through Ponder to Pensive to Hyperion to borough. It is a remarkable .sequence and the D and H Stable people already have bought a Florida stud farm with a view of eventually retiring Needles there. First Triple Crown Prospect Since 48 Laurel today concludes a highly successful meeting and on the morrow Pimlico opens its meeting, which will be climaxed by the Preakness of 00,000 on May 19, two weeks away. No fewer than 12 of the Derby performers were nominated for all the Triple Crown events. This season, for the first time, it is possible that a Derby runner may compete for the Preakness and Belmont as well, even if he were not originally nominated for these stakes, because of the supplemental nominations for both events. Supplementary nominations for the Preakness close today. There has not been a Triple Crown winner since 1948, when Citation brought off this coup. Preceding him were Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, his son Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet and Assault. No fewer than 15 other colts have won two legs of the American Triple Crown. There appears to be a great deal of profound interest in Pimlicos meeting, in -which Bowie shares, this spring and Lou Pondfield et alii are much encouraged by response to Laurel. Pimlico is running seven stakes during its 23-day meeting this spring, /cur more than they ran last spring, and all of them have drawn representative nominations. Another factor in the large Pimlico nomination lists, according to Lou Pondfield, is that the closing dates were later than generally considered normal. This was in keeping with requests and suggestions made by horsemen and breeders at the TRA meeting this winter in Florida. The Pimlico nominations, except for the Preakness, closed Saturday, April 28. The first of these to be run is the Baltimore Spring Handicap on Tuesday, May 8, just 12 days later. Pimlicos two other major spring events, the 0000 Black-Eyed Susan and the 5,000 Dixie Handicap, are not run until May 30 and June 2, however, and this has prompted Pondfield to announce that he will consider two closing dates next year. The result of a late closing is a smaller nomination list, but one that contains a list of names of almost certain starters. Honor Mr. Fitz on Eye of Big Race A new stakes race at Pimlico this spring is the 0,-000 Mr. Fitz Handicap, in honor of Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. It will be run on Friday, May 18, which is the. eve of the Preakness that Mr. Fitz won for the third time last season with Nashua. Many times great figures in their respective lines of endeavor are not honored until after they have passed on. There is no question with racing people, however, that Mr. Fitz has etched on indelible niche for himself in racing history, and Pimlico has proceeded on the theory of "giving em flowers while they can. still smell em," If the Mr. Fitz is run true of the form of other Pimlico stakes,, it will produce a distinguished winner. It might be no less than a Frfczsimmons-trained horse since the old gent has made Misty- Morn, last years filly champion, eligible for the one and three -sixteenths miles event.
