view raw text
Weighing. In By Evan Shipman • Bold, Ruler Looks Like Best of Newcomers Mr. Fitz Nasrullah Colt Green at Start Fillies Eyen Less Impressive Than Colts JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 9.— Early in the meeting when Mr. Fitz was saddling Bold Ruler for his debut, we asked the veteran trainer whether he considered the husky, dark bay son of Nasrullah, from the stakes-winning Discovery mare, Miss Disco, a really good colt. With a twinkle in his eye, he replied: "This fellow better be a good colt, because if he isnt, I havent got a good one in the whole barn. Look him over; hes the best Ive got this year." A few minutes later, Bold Ruler broke his maiden, and that without undue strain, although we did fancy that jockey Ted Atkin son had his work cut out keeping his young mounts attention on the task at hand. Ten days later, out he . came again, this time to tangle with a really quick rival, the Model Cadet colt, Red Cadet. In spite of still being very green, and of meeting determined resistance from the swift Red Cadet, Bold Ruler won, but it was no easy score, while the time for the five furlongs, over a strip .that may have been a trifle "dead" that afternoon, was not at all impressive. The truth was that Bold Ruler was still very immature, and had a lot to learn about his new trade, but there was a look about him that could not fail to please horsemen, and the word soon spread that, with this promising newcomer, Mr. Fitz luck was still running strong. Between Bold Rulers second score and the running of last weeks Youthful Stakes, the local two-year-old situation was complicated by the excellent showing of another couple of youngsters, their race, in fact, more impressive than anything as yet revealed by Mr. Fitz charge. This pair was the Hasteville — Spanish Point, by Deil colt, Spanish San, and a son of Double Jay named Double X. Their encounter merits attention. Running the fastest five furlongs of the meeting, clocked in :59 flat, Spanish San and Double X. hooked up leaving the quarter pole and continued on as a team right to the wire, no more than a head ever separating them during the drive, and the Hasteville colt eventually getting the verdict by just that margin. The winners race was particularly praiseworthy since he, unlike Double X., who was away on his toes, lagged at the start and" had many lengths to make up before reaching contention. Spariish San is obscurely bred, tracing on his dams side to a noted family jpf French* and English steeplechasers, and he would never attract the connoisseurs eye on the walking ring, .but make no mistake, this fellow, described to us as "weedy and stunty," can really run, and he clings like a burdock when he fastens to an antagonist in the drive. Promising Spanish San Not a Starter Had the Youthful brought together Bold Ruler and Spanish San, it might well have turned out the most, interesting juvenile race of -the young season, but at the last moment Spanish San "bucked," leaving the previously defeated Red Cadet and Brookmeades Encore as the Nasrullah colts most serious rivals. Actually, Bold Ruler had things all his own way. Red Cadet again sprinted to an early lead, but he was caught and disposed of this time with less effort than at then- first meeting, Bold Ruler more racewise than he had been. Through the final furlong, Atkinson, completely un-worried, had a lot of colt under him, while the fact that he had zipped the distance in :594/5 was no measure at all of Bold Rulers capacity. He has yet to meet anything approaching his class, nor is it premature to say that he looks all over a stake colt, an ideal candidate for Belmont Park and Saratoga competition. If the colts so far revealed have inspired only tempered enthusiasm, the fillies frankly are impossible to praise. On the occasion of the Rosedale running, we told you that they looked a/inediocre lot, and in the interval, none of the overnight dashes devoted to them have caused a revision of that opinion. A timid reservation, however, may be in order for the likely looking Marullah, who made her first trip to the post yesterday, this a smooth and svelte daughter of Nasrullah— that fashionable importation seems on his way to establishing something like a monopoly — from the Sir Galla-had HI. dam, Marguery. Reputed remarkably fast in morning hours, this debutante had no difficulty showing her heels to a group that included the Rosedale runner-up, Dotty Bishop, winning literally as Willie Boland pleased. She took a little time finding her stride when the doors opened, but Boland set sail on the outside of the bunched field, Marullah running the others dizzy in less than a half mile. Horsemen who have watched this misss smart works are understandably high on her, although they do point, to her knees as a possible source of future trouble. Some Alert, Intelligent Horsemanship Getting the jump on many of their fellow horsemen, a small group of trainers are sending every member of their barns to the post in winning condition, compiling really enviable records during the past five weeks of local competition. No, this is not just a matter of a winter-raced stable shipping in and profiting from the extra late spring hereabouts; some of the "combinations" to which we refer wintered here in the North and we believe the answer is simply alert, intelligent horsemanship. To name names, we -give you John Continued on Page Fifty-One I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHirMAN Continued from Page Fifty-Two Nerud, H. A. Jerkens, Lucien Laurin, Monte Park and Tom Weller. Monte Park, an old friend of ours from California, has sent four horses to the post during the meeting; all four were winners. Laurin has a band of young stock, all of them trained to the minute. Jerkens charges consistently earn brackets, day after day. Nerud is a newcomer in these parts, but his Florida-raced stable is formidable, and will continue so at Belmont. Waller, who scored a good double just yesterday afternoon with Octagonal and the particularly sharp Midafternoon, has his usual large string, the top, such as Midafternoon and the gray French colt, Le Beau Prince, looking now to be ready for our most important stakes.
