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Maryland By 7 eddy Cox Fontaine States Needles in Fine Fettle Explains Withdrawal in Gulfstream Race Nothing Definite on Stars Retirement RetirementLAUREL LAUREL Md May 4 Among the notables being housed at Pimlico is the brilliant Floridabred star Needles who earned recognition as the leading sopho ¬ more of last season and who flashed scintillating form in cap ¬ turing the Fort Lauderdale Hand ¬ icap at Gulfstream Park where he was the subject of much discus ¬ sion after he was declared out of the 50000 Southern Cross Hand ¬ icap Our longtime friend Hughie Fontaine was a visitor here this week and it was natural that the Gulfstream incident and Needles condition and his plans for the future were topical Presently Fontaine does not entertain any ideas of starting his charge until possibly during the Monmouth Park meet but actually his main target is the 100000 added Washington Park Handicap at the expansive Chicago Theres nothing really wrong with Needles ex ¬ plained Fontaine But like most good horses he has little ailments that require attention If he were an ordinary horse and if his owners Mr Dudley and Mr Heath didnt have def inite plans pf retiring him to the stud next year wed be running him right now But he has a reputation to protect and this will be important to him when he is retired C6nsequently we dont want to risk injury nor do we fancy seeing him defeated by an ordinary horse He is what is called racing sound This means there is nothing serously wrong His ankles are strong and without heat and there are no signs of any tendon trouble Hes not the kind of horse that wants to be campaigned too hard so at the moment we are taking it easy easyDidnt Didnt Expect Such High Impost ImpostRegarding Regarding the highly controversial declaration of Needles from the Southern Cross Handicap Fontaine offers the following explanation explanationWhen When I entered the horse for weights in the Sou h ern Cross I did not expect to be assigned 130 pounds which was four more than he carried in the Fort Lauderdale Bardstown had raced three times with 130 and Needles had never carried that much and it seemed to me thatxmy horse would work his way up gradually to that weight Well anyway I talked it over with Horace Wade when I made the entry and he told me that he didnt think there would be more than five of six horses in the race So I told him I would run in spite of the heavy impost impostWhen When the entries were drawn however I found there was 14 entered and it was then that I decided to withdraw There were many thousands of Floridians anxious to see the horse run again and I did not want to risk getting him beat because of the large size of the field and most certainly I did not want to get him beat by one of the lightweights who did not belong on the same race track with him I telephoned one of the newspapermen that evening prior to the race and told him why I was not going to run the horse and the next morning I put in a scratch card with the ex ¬ planation Too much weight I would have run Nee ¬ dles with the weight had the field been smaller Fon ¬ taine will remain for the duration of the Pimlico meet ¬ ing and then head up Delaware way He says no defi ¬ nite deal has been made by a syndicate to retire Needles to the stud but that Messrs Heath and Dud ¬ ley have decided this is his last year on the track Where or when he will be retired Fontaine said he had no idea whatever whateverFqrrell Fqrrell Discusses ThistleDown and MRA Meets MeetsF F G Pat Farrell who is a much better racing of ¬ ficial than he was either a jockey or exercise boy by his own admission was on hand in the interest of ThistleDown and the Michigan Racing Association De ¬ troit Race Course where he serves as director of rac ¬ ing Of interest was the conditions for the Ohio Derby mile and onefurlong event that will be offered on Saturday June 22 at the Cleveland course The first item that caught the eye was the 26000 added money Pat explained this by stating that this year there will be prizes for fifth and sixth in the race and this was the reason for the odd amount of money It was also noted that the1 clauses for the race included Starters to be named through the entry box TWO days before the race raceThis This latter brought on some discussion among horse ¬ men in the group and it was the consensus that all stakes races should be drawn at least a day before the usual time of entry that there is really no valid reason unless there is a fee required for entry along with starting why whyIt It wouldnt make any difference to me said Lester G Buster JBedwell Wouldnt care if I had to enter in a stakes race three days in advance so long as there is no entry fee The rules allow us to scratch in stakes 45 minutes before post time so why not give the track and the publicity departments a break Parrel said no definite plans have been made for the MRA stakes or purse schedules Were going to let CmttinifW an Page FHty MARYLAND MARYLANDBy By TEDDY COX Continued from Page Seven SevenHazel Hazel Park run along for some time and then well be able to judge the trend said Farrell Detroit is very fluid these days and business at the track usually is re ¬ flected from the amount of work available to the automobile workers We hope to make the meeting attractive to horsemen however howeverW W C Mike Freeman is dividing his stable between Garden State and Pimlico and will shuffle back and forth during the confliction He has a good prospect in his care in the wellnamed Huff Puff a daughter of Coaltown Windmill The lat ¬ ter mare incidentally was recently pho nounced in foal to Nashua She was a brilliant sprinter Here at Laurel they have a wheeling window for the Daily Double You get one ticket instead of 10 or 12 when you want to combine a single horse with all others in the opposite race It was introduced I am told at Pimlico PimlicoMrs Mrs Margaret Travers Charlie McLen nans secretary will join the staff of Ben ¬ jamin F Lindheimer during the Balmoral Arlington and Washington meetings She served there many years ago when McLen ¬ nan was racing secretary at the fashionable Illinois track Ed Christmas is shipping his powerful stable at Belmont Park Among those in his stable are Four Fathoms who won the Chesapeake Trial Tick Tock who accounted for an edition of the Shevlin and Nasrina heroine of The Gardenia The Christmas stable owned by the Middleburg Va sportsman Howell E Jackson has been stabled a Laurel since last winter Christmas has educated many fine thoroughbreds at Laurel before they launched their campaigns not the least of whom was Gallorette
