New 00,000 Atlantic City Handicap Under Invitational Conditions Carded: Gives New Jersey Track Its Second Hundred Grand Race With International Flavor, Daily Racing Form, 1956-05-12

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JOHN B. KELLY— President, Atlantic City Racing Association, announced the carding of a second" 00,000 race at the Seashore course. New 00,000 Atlantic City Handicap Under Invitational Conditions Carded Gives New Jersey Track Its Second Hundred Grand Race With International Flavor ATLANTIC CITY,. N. J., May 11.— The Atlantic City Racing Association announced today it has scheduled a new 00,000 event for the 50-day session here opening August 9. Scheduled for the first Saturday of the meeting, on August 11, the new raoe — named the Atlantic City Handicap — will be by invitation only. It will, have an international flavor, the conditions specifying that horses from all over the world be considered for bids. The Atlantic City Handicap is the second invitation race in the "hundred grand" category slated for the shore track this yeai It will serve as a companion piece for the 00,000 United Nations Handicap, an event on the turf course to be renewed under its new invitation conditions in September. The Atlantic City Handicap, at a mile and an eighth for three-year-olds Continued on Page Forty-Six Atlantic City Now Has Two 00,000 Handicaps Invitational Events on Dirt, Turf Ovals Carry Internationa! Flavor Continued from Page One and up, will be run on dirt over the main track. In making its original announcement of the new format for the United Nations, Atlantic City became the first track to schedule an invitation event, other than a match race for a purse of 00,000. Now the track has two-such races, with no entrance or starting fees. As in the United Nations, the worlds top race horses will be invited to participate in the Atlantic City Handicap. Racing secretary James Ross will weight the leading horses in the world, grading down from 130 to 115 pounds, with a three-pound allowance for three-year-olds. He will prepare two lists, one for the UN and one for the Atlantic City. Weights for the Atlantic City will be announced July 16 and the United Nations list will be released August 13. The same procedure will be followed in extending invitations for both stakes. Following the announcement of weights, the top 12 horses will be invited to participate. If any of the first 12 do not accept or are forced to the-sidelines after acceptance, the association will continue on down the list with the invitations, until a field of 12- has been assembled. If an equality in weights creates a situation whereby more than 12 horses are eligible jfor the invitations, there will be a drawing for the last place, although some foreign horses are expected to participate. The mechanical gate will be used for both races. Since he will be required to prepare two sets of weights for the leading horses of the world, one for gi-ass and one for a dirt track, Ross faces one of the toughest handicapping jobs of the year, and he has already started some of the preliminary work. "I have established contacts with thoroughbred racing authorities in several European countries South America and Australia," Ross said. "They are furnishing me with the information I will need on the foreign runners to supplement by own files on the horses running on tracks in this country and Canada. "Members of my own staff and myself are now busy assembling our basic information and facts. Of course, well have to burn the midnight oil for the week prior to the two announcements, as well want to take full advantage of all last minute information in preparing the weights, but thats part of eveiy racing secretarys job." John B. Kelly, president of the track, said he hoped the two races would bring together the worlds leading thoroughbreds. "With these 00,000 invitation, events we hope to produce not one but two rare treats for the racing public," he added. "While there are quite a few 00,000 stakes in this country, there are no established invitation races for that amount of money. In scheduling these two events we are trying to do something different, provide attractions that racing fans will not see elsewhere."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1956051201/drf1956051201_1_7
Local Identifier: drf1956051201_1_7
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800