view raw text
1 i California By Oscar Otis r-J March Says Pearson TV Standout Pennsy Rules Altered for Needles Debonair at Hollywood Park Today HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 11. — Spencer Draston of the TRA and TRPB is a visitor for the opening and tells us that member track executives pretty much agree that the appearance of jockey Bill Pearson on "The 4,-000 Question" and his masterful handling of his chosen subject, "Great Arts and Artists* was perhaps the best public relations the turf has had in some years. But it may come as a suprise to turf followers to learn that Hal March also considers Pearson as his best "subject" to date on the program, for March told this writer, "I think perhaps the two standout programs to date have been Pearsons and the Marine captain who chose cooking as his topic. They were both terrific shows, | but Pearson made his show perhaps the top of the two-when he injected a personal note into it by saying to his wife, in the audience, Honey, I lied to you, and Im going to try for the 4,000." March, of course, was at the Kentucky Derby, and to read the local papers the next morning, youd have thought he had never been to a race track before. Not so. "It was -my first Derby," March told us, "but when I was working on KYA in San Francisco, I frequently went to Tanforan and Bay Meadows." And a bit belatedly, we can reveal there was a bit of story behind the shipment of Needles from Louisville to Baltimore and the case of Needles and just how he was to go went all the way to the top brass of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Philadelphia. It seems that trainer Hush Fontaine wished to keep yard layovers at a minimum, and requested that his car be hooked onto the Spirit of St. Louis at Indianapolis. This train docs not haul horse cars because of operational problems, the number of passenger cars just fitting: the dicsel power units, and an extra car poses a problem of putting on additional power. But Fontaine was insistent, and the" Louisville-Pennsy people went to work on it and it came to pass that permission finally was granted. We dont know the exact wording of the wire from Philadelphia, but we do know it was to the effect that "I suppose we should make an exception in the case of a Kentucky Derby winner." It was a nice gesture from a railroad that long has taken a personal interest in horse folks and horses. Hollywoods first three-year-old stakes of the season, the Debonair, is on tap Saturday and its starting field will lure several sophs who could, before the season is over, become claimants for "best of the year" honors in the Far West. The Debonair at six furlongs, is comparatively new on the Hollywood schedule, this being but its fifth running. But it has a rather flossy record, notwithstanding, Calumet Farms very worthwhile A Gleam winning the inaugural in 1952 and thereby establishing a class trend in the stakes which has prevailed ever since. The next year, the stakes was changed to its present format, limited to colts and geldings, and in successive years, Imbros, Determine, and Bequeath flashed in front at the wire. Of this quartet, only Bequeath failed to train on at four as a really top horse. The Debonair, by the way, is the only stakes of the Hollywood season for three -year-olds at six furlongs. The sophomore program will not be climaxed until July 21 with the running of the Westerner, elevated in value to 5,000, and which, at a mile and a quarter, is generally accepted as being the decisive test of the season for this age group in the West. Saturday will be an extremely active day, turf-wise, in the West because in addition to the Debonair at Hollywood, Tanforan will bring its 55-day meeting to a close in the San Francisco area, and to the south Caliente, which enjoyed one of its biggest week ends in history with its Kentucky Derby fiesta, will launch its long summer season with replenished stables" boasting a considerable amount of quality. Tanforans meeting must be tabbed as successful even though its daily average was down from the only fair comparison that can be Continued on Page Forty-Six » CALIFORNIA I By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Five made, with its last spring: meeting three years ago, or with the spring at Golden i Gate last year. Still, by running: its full ! 55 days, its total volume of play was up ■ but the daily average will be down. The [• purse schedule was set up on an esti- ■ mated business of 00,000 per day, and it will come out, perhaps, to about §692,- ; 000. "The most encouraging thing has been that our daily average attendance has been ; up," vice-president and general manager : Fred Ryan tells us, "but the average play has been down. I dont know how to ac-; count for this, but you know weve always 1 felt that a strong attendance always ■■ showed a healthier condition than a small i gate and a high per capita." We shall have i more to say about the north and its current ■ racing problems in a later column. But the I spring in the north was good enough to . be rated a success, but not so strong as to i be called anything near sensational. ! Caliente is so pleased with its prospects : that it will, in addition to the regular ■ Saturday and Sunday programs, offer two ! Wednesday cards this summer, Memorial ■ Day and the Fourth of July. More than 1 7,000 people stormed the place Saturday last, a lot of them early comers who said flatly they wanted to make sure they got their share of julep glass souvenirs. They did. No figures were released on the pari-mutuel Derby wagering the track paying off to Churchill odds but we understand it was "big." The heaviest Caliente tote action was on Needles and Terrang. When first tried last year, the border course took a loss because of Swaps, who was odds on in the Caliente pool, but vho paid, at Churchill and at Caliente, a substantial .60 straight. Caliente also recouped its future book losses of the Swaps year when its three worst horses, Terrang, Count Chic and Come On Red, failed to finish in the first two. Lack of a solid favorite in the Derby made for sluggish early action, but the last 10 days, the futures book was in high gear . The next series of callovers from the border, of course, will be on the Garden State, and Tony "Alessio will make his first forecasts in mid-July.
