view raw text
Connors Corner By Chuck Connors Tradition Goes Out the Window in New York Tim Mara Upset Oyer Holiday Stakes Shift Changes Made Necessary Due to New Setup JAMAICA, Li. I., N. Y., May 9. — "They cant do that to us," said Tim Mara, the football impressario, yesterday as he studied the stakes agenda for the Belmont Park meeting. "Cant do what?" queried Tom Shaw, one of the astute students of racing. "Why, move the Suburban Handicap to Independence Day and then run the Brooklyn Handicap at Jamaica on Saturday, August 4," countered Mara. "Well, they did and what can you do about it?" was Shaws rebuttal. "Its all wrong," continued Mara. "Why, Ill be in Monmouth Park in August and, furthermore, I havent missed a Brooklyn Handicap in years and years." Maras observation on the change of dates and the upsetting of a tradition that had prevailed for years and years was true. Memorial Day at Belmont Park was the setting of the time honored Suburban Handicap but this year the Metropolitan moves into that spot. The Suburban takes over the July 4 date, which in the past was reserved by Aqueduct for its time honored feature. Anyway, the Brooklyn is now part of the stakes agenda of the Saratoga-at-Jamaica meeting and will be contested the final day of the meeting, Saturday, Aug. 4. The distance of the Brooklyn at Jamaica "will be one and three-sixteenth miles and the endowment will as usual be fifty grand in added money. The Metropolitan carries a similar value, while the Suburban will have a purse of 5,000. The Greater New York Association in the allotment of stakes, handicaps and overnight races, was faced with a perplexing problem when it was announced that Aqueduct would remain dark this sujnmer, a situation that was brought on by a number of contingencies, a change over from the Long Island railroad to the New York subway system and earlier proposed building plans. The stakes and handicaps that were long part of the Aqueduct meeting posed a problem and their distribution to Jamaica and Belmont for a while appeared to bring out a top heavy situation. Hence the changes in the stakes agenda that in a way upset the racing calendar and tossed tradition out of the nearest window. Well, anyway, we are faced with the Metropolitan on Decoration Day, the Suburban on Independence Day and the Brooklyn, a Saturday in August. Mara is right. It just doesnt seem the same. Hold Kaster for Belmont Grass Events Trainer Morris Dixon will bring up Kaster, the seven-year-old owned by C. Mahlon Kline. Kaster has finished second nine times of late and in four of these outings the winner was forced to either set or equal a track record to prevail. Kaster will be reserved for the turf races at Belmont Park this summer. . . . Trainer Harris Brown shipped a draft of horses to New Jersey for overnight racing. ... I. J. Collins, the Lancaster, Ohio patron who probably has logged more air miles than half the pilots who guide planes, was a Belmont Park visitor. He came on from Louisville, where he witnessed the Derby and then hopped a plane for St. Louis, Mo., on business. He hopes to be at Belmont Park for the opening. . . . Alec Hilton returned from Louisville, where he witnessed the Derby. E. P. Taylor, the Toronto, Ont., patron, was present yesterday. He arrived from a Nassau holiday and reported that the mare York Heart foaled a colt by High Bandit. The mare was shipped from Toronto to be bred to the Irish importation and then returned to the farm of her owner. Bill Markey planed up from Miami for a few days racing and reported that the weather was good in that metropolis. . . . Trainer Bob Robertson stated that Eiffel Blue, owned by Danny Arnstein, would fulfill his engagement in Saturdays Withers Stakes over the mile and one-sixteenth distance. His Preakness status will be determined by his showing in this offering. . . . Harry Heisman, who has a draft of horses with Kay Jensen, is on the ailing list, a victim of the virus. . . . Humphrey Finney dropped in yesterday to measure the reaction to the forthcoming vendue of the A. C. Vanderbilt horses. Cohen Inspects Get of Crafty Admiral G. H. Schneider, the Texan, is among the recent arrivals. . . . Charles Cohen, who maintains Charfan Stable, is at present at Joe Metz Lexington, Ky., farm inspecting the yearlings and foals that he has there. He has seven sucklings and six yearlings of which all but one are by his good handicap performer Crafty Admiral. Cohen is due here oyer the week-end to remain for the Belmont Park meeting. . . . Hirsch Jacobs was scouting around recently seeking additional broodmares for his Maryland farm and took a fancy to the mare Glorious Emma, which raced for Fred Cook. Glorious Emma was a fair to middling campaigner but a wilful sort with bossy tendencies and a one-track mind, the predominant trait was not to make friends. Anyway, a deal between Jacobs and Cook was arrived at and Jacobs took possession. Then the fireworks really started. Efforts to load the mare on a van for Maryland went out of the window. Glorious Emma just refused to be loaded with other horses, and that was -hat. * The shipment was delayed 24 hours and a repetition of the antics was again in evidence. The third fry proved more successful, for Glorious Emma was loaded on a big van all by herself. The stalls were removed and the floor well bedded in straw. The trip was com- pleted without incident. Jacobs decided that Glorious Emma was "to go to the court of Our John Wm, a one time popular member of his menage, Glorious Emma was turned out in a large roomy paddock at the form for a few hours rest and relaxation. Then Our John Wm. was brought over. Glorious Emma got one look at the stranger, leaped the paddock fence and it took the farm attendants several hours to locate her. The maternal instinct, according to the farm attaches, had not developed to date.
