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Weighing In By Evan Shipman ■ Levees Game Score Good Omen for Oaks. Mr. Fitz Well-Bred Colts Win Split Dash Withers Once Americas 2,000 Guineas JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 11.— Giving fair warning that she is the most serious sort of candidate for this years Coaching Club American Oaks, Mrs. Vernon Cardys rangy chestnut filly. Levee, won the featured Floral Park Purse yesterday in a long drive, just getting up under Hed-ley Woodhouses urging to snatch * a heads advantage from the stubborn Mabe Cee right at the wire. This pair really had the mile and a sixteenth race to themselves, but Levee was conceding her runner-up seven pounds, a difference in weight that brought them as closely together as if this had been a well arranged handicap instead of an allowance affair. Bob Ussery elected to cut out the pace with Mabe Cee, a daughter of Fighting Step, who compiled an honorable record last season, but who fell just short of stakes caliber. Levee followed in the pacemakers wake, a length or so back, and the clip was well sustained as they gradually drew well in advance of the others, half in :48, and three-quarters in 1:12 flat. In the stretch, Woodhouse brought Levee out to challenge Mabe Cee, but Ussery had saved something for this emergency, the chestnut daughter, of Fighting Step refusing to yield. This was as pretty a scrimmage as you could wish to see, a good omen for the imminent stakes races at Belmont for which this pair are eligible. I ; Levee, a most attractive individual, is a Claiborne-bred daughter of the Princequillo horse, Hill Prince, from the Stimulus dam, Bourtai, that matron already firmly established at the Kentucky establishment as a source of speed. Last spring, in a deal that sent a fine imported English mare of Cardys to Claiborne, Levee joined the Canadian sportsmans racing stable, and, before the end of the season, this interesting acquisition had captured the coveted Selima Stakes, defeating among others the highly considered Nasrina. Levee was unquestionably good as a two-year-old, but, to our eye, she looks a type that should definitely improve with maturity, and we could almost wish that so much — she started 16 times- had not been done with her last season. However -that may be, yesterdays performance was auspicious; she covered the distance in a spanking 1:45%, initial mile in 1:38%, while she impresses the observes as a filly who ought to be quite at home over a real distance of ground. Bureaucracy and Merry Self Graduate Mr. Fitz, whose Bold Ruler looks like the best two-year-olds colt so far uncovered, showed us yesterday that the husky son of Nasrullah is far from the only arrow in his quiver when he captured both divisions of a split dash for maidens with a pair of juveniles that may well lack but very little of Bold Rulers class. Bureaucracy, a son of Polynesian from the Suburban winner Busanda, scored in the initial dash, tripping his five furlongs in exactly 1:01, the fractions :23ys and :47%. An hour later, Merry- Self, a bay son of the young King Ranch sire, Better Self, from the good producer Laughter, by Johnstown — she already the dam of several stakes winners for this stable — duplicated Bureaucracys earlier effort right down to the last fraction, though it may be said that Eddie Arcaro had a somewhat easier, trip with Merry Self than with Bureaucracy. These winners, the first carrying Ogden Phipps colors and the second representing the Wheat-ley Stable, already had some experience, experience that was put to good profit. Several first-time starters in these" dashes also made a certain impression, even if awkwardness did compromise their chances, and we especially noted Greentrees English-bred gelding, Thin Ice, in the first dash and Tommy Roots Conduct Code in the second, neither one far off brackets if we are a judge. When the Withers was inaugurated at Jerome Park in the Bronx, way back in 1874, the mile race for three -year-olds was intended as an American equivalent to Newmarkets Two Thousand Guineas. Although the Withers, in contrast to the English classic, was never a rich stake, the parrallel held good for a long time, and the early winners included such nationally known colts as Aristides, Duke of magenta, Hanover, „ Sir Dixon, Tammany, Domino and Colin. Eventually, - when Kentucky and Maryland stakes interfered with a strictly Metropolitan circuit, the Withers declined in importance, but this decline was gradual, almost imperceptible until, this spring, the once-famous feature has reached its low watermark with the shift from Belmont Park to Jamaica. Such a dramatic comedown cannot be glossed over, and we can only tell you that the race featuring Saturdays program will have little in common with its honorable progenitor, save only the name. Eiffel Blue Should Rule Favorite Eiffel Blue, a romping winner of a start here through the slop earlier in the week, should be the Withers choice Saturday, no matter what the state of the strip. Danny Arnsteins trim son of Eiffel Tower scored the same kind of easy victory last winter in Hialeah!s Bahamas Stakes, the track also "off" on that occasion, but we fail, to see why as sound a colt as this appears to be must have soft, wet footing to show well. Most of the others due to start Saturday finished far to the rear of Eiffel Blue in the race referred to, Brookmeades Lawless being one of the few exceptions. This rather frail full brother to the Preakness winner, Bold, is another who moves up in case of mud. We have not seen the Brookmeade colt as yet this season; our impression of him as a juvenile was that he possessed real quality; but would require waiting on. Will of Allah, one we have often recommended, has repeatedly let us down; probably, we were too high" on this well-bred gray. As for Golf Ace, his trick of running out has now assumed such proportions that it is only fair to warn you in his regard. Should he reform, however, Golf Ace has a world of speed and could well show the way from flagfall to wire. Summing up, Eiffel Blue looks like the solid colt.
