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Maryland I By Teddy Cox Lilly Biding His Time With Blue Choir Thinks IrishBred Will Regain Top Form Goes in Laurel Turf Handicap Saturday SaturdayLAUREL LAUREL Md April 30 You happened to be on hand a couple of seasons ago when Blue Choir found himself as a turf specialist around Arlington and Wash ¬ ington Parks and you marvelec at the good fortune of Mr and Mrs Harry L Nathensbn for the Irish bred colt had suddenly transformed himself as a virtual nonentity into one of the nations smartest daisy cutters The hand ¬ some dark brown stallion went on to capture the Balmoral Turf Handicap the Grassland Foreign Bred Stakes and the United Na ¬ tions Handicap 73600 to the winner no less 1956 was to have been his big year but he went wrong throwing a stifle and for a time very little hope was entertained that he would ever return to his best form Saturday you saw the handsome son of Menetrier Pleur by Deux pour Cent bred by Lady Ainsworth in Ireland com ¬ pete in a prep race called the Berwyn for Saturdays Laurel Spring Handicap and you minutely inspect him in the paddock and you center your 10x50 Zeiss on his action from start to finish R W Buster Lilly has him in fine trim for all practical purposes of the student of conditioning and conformation but his rather light Florida campaign and only one major morning trial since he arrived at Laurel several weeks ago obviously is not enough to have him to his peak and he is badly beaten beatenLilly Lilly says Blue Choir has fully recovered from the stifle ailment but hes somewhat reluctant to predict a bright season for his grassrunning stud After the race he says he thinks his charge was short but that he is fairly well satisfied although not beaming with enthusiasm I dont like to make excuses for horses the towering angular trainer explains But Culmone came back and he told me the horse was bothered badly when making his challenge around the turn Culmone said a horse continually drifted out in front of him and that the effort required in finally forging ahead of that one possibly cost him the race Conse ¬ quently I guess I am not too unhappy about the race Ill tell you more about Blue Choir Saturday One of Few to Outrun Swaps SwapsBlue Blue Choir is among the few who holds a recent decision over Swaps The Nathenson standardbearer accomplished this in the Arch Ward Memorial at Washington Park last summer Lilly who knows his horse well has been careful in bringing his star along since the injury and possibly could be guilty of apply ¬ ing the proverbial kid gloves to his training program This is not an unusual treatment particularly when a man is attempting to reach a perfection point in bringing such a horse back to top form without risking further infirmities Lilly has earned respect and adula ¬ tion among fellow horsemen by the manner in which he has developed Blue Choir This has been the big horse of his training career and we are wishing him luck which of course he will require in this exasperat ¬ ing profession that tries the nerve tissue and chal ¬ lenges perseverance perseveranceBlue Blue Choir is another of the many bargains imported from Ireland in recent years Nathenson obtained him for 15000 sight unseen He acted on the recommendation of Ray Bell and a veterinary report He had won an edition of the Irish free handicap but apparently the victory did not create an impression otherwise the asking price would have been much greater Lilly who hails from Lexington was not at all certain that the horse was worth the money when he arrived arrivedHe He was poor and run down says Lilly and frankly his appearance did not jibe with the advance report we had obtained However it did not take him long to pick up weight and he started to show some speed on the main track but not enough to indicate that he would be much more than a good campaigner in claiming company One day on the turf though he came up with an astonishing race and since then he has been a fine horse horseChicagoland Chicagoland Campaign Will Follow FollowAfter After his engagement in the Laurel Spring Turf Handicap Blue Choir will start in the Dixie at Pimlico and then will move out to Washington Park for the Balmoral Arlington and Washington meetings Lilly says Blue Choir is a remarkable thoroughbred in that at the rather advanced age of six he does not have a pimple on him that he has never bucked his shins and other than throwing a stifle has never had any type of muscular or bone infirmity He adds too that it is unusual for a full horse to race so kindly as they get along in years yearsJoe Joe Culmone now riding in the best form of his career wont be on hand for the Laurel Spring Turf Handicap He has engagements at Garden State Park Incidentally we had the pleasure of accompanying Joe along with Dave Feldman of the Chicago American to Oriental Park when he tied Willie Shoemaker for the riding title on the last day of 1950 Joe had eight MARYLAND MARYLANDBy By TEDDY COX Continued from Page Seven Sevenhopeful hopeful that he would enjoy a big day You can imagine our concern when lie fell from his mount during the post parade of the first race and he lay there for a minute or two as if seriously injured How ¬ ever he rode out the program and man ¬ aged to win only one race enough to gain the deadlock with Shoemaker who rode at Caliente the same day v
