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Maryland By Charles Hatton Iron Liege Deserving Ky. Derby Winner Sport Should Give Credit Where Its Due Gen. Duke 100-1 to Start in Preakness PIMLICO. Baltimore. Md.. May 9.— This will be an "Owed to Iron Liege." And it is high time, too, if you ask us, to give some credit where credit is due in last- Saturdays epic "Run for the Roses." Many of the countrys vast fraternity of the turfgoers — including this writer — have been so preoccupied with feeling sorry for Gen. Duke and Gallant Man. and with being understanding about Willie Shoemakers unfortunate aberration, that a truly brilliant performance by a colt who won "the toughest of all the Derbys" has received only passing notice. Indeed, when it is mentioned at all. the reference is likely to be a negative one, rather than anything complimentary. Say Iron Liege and someone is bound to reply. "Gallant Man should have won. He was lucky." Or that "He is only third best of the Calumet colts." It may be trite, but is is equally appropriate, to quote the epigrammatical John E. Maddens old wheeze here: "Opinions die, but records live forever." If somebody were ro ask if we thought Gallant Man would have beaten Iron Liege except for Shoemakers error, we would be bound to say "yes." At the same time, we are convinced that had Iron Liege not been pinched back on the rail at the turn out of the back-stretch, he would have been long gone. Not only did he lose a length and a half, at the most conservative estimate, when he came to that impasse, he was forced to check in the middle of a bold run. It is not every Derby winner who would have returned willingly to his task after that, to say nothing of meeting Gallant Mans bid. May Continue Championship Pace We were discussing Iron Liege in the present indicative with Jimmy Jones while admiring the friendly, approachable bay son of Bull Lea in barn J just now. "He may go right on being a championship performer," Jones said. "I do not think he has drifted a bit since the Derby. In fact, he is spreading out and developing all the time. I expect he will be something to see as a four-year-old. Even now he is the sort of colt I think of when somebody says Derby horse. At any rate, it looks as if he will have to go it alone again in the Preakness." In answer to a direct question concerning "Dukes" chances of starting, he replied they are at least 100 to 1. k During the morning, "the Iron Knight of Calumet" was grazed by his devoted groom. Wendell Griffin, in a grassy area beside the stable. Griffin was playing a hose on his left hind leg from the hock down. The hock had appeared to have just a suggestion of filling in it after standing on a swaying railroad car from 6 a.m. Tuesday until 11:00 a. m. yesterday. "It is all right." Griffin reassured. "He sort of strained it a little in a race in Florida. Usually we run him in bandages behind, but we pulled them off of him for the Derby. It is nothing." Jones said he will commute between Garden State and Pimlico. adding. "These are all good men. They carry out orders to the letter in my absence. Iron Liege probably will only gallop a few days. I am not sure we will even do that with Gen. Duke." While we were discussing the Derby, Griffin fidgeted as if he wanted to say something, finally declaring: "If Iron Liege had gotten through, he would have won off by himself. He has learned to run on the rail. He will give any horse a lot of trouble outrunning him when he is down there." They did not outrun him in any case. Even Willie Shoemaker says it is questionable if Gallant Man would have beaten him. for though he stopped riding for one stride, he did not actually check his -mount. Respect Due a Fierce Competitor So, when you go next to Churchill Downs, and see Iron Lieges name inscribed in gold letters alongside those of the 82 other Derby winners, respect it as that of a thoroughbred in all the apellation implies. He won the most fiercely competitive Derby of all. Turf ana: Chick Lang, the Dr. Johnson of the Pimlico Inn, says: "If I were on Bold Ruler in the Preakness, I would just open the throttle at the start and blow the whistle at all the crossings." ... Barbizon, who may reappear soon, reminds Calumet employes of a big, country boy. It still amuses Eddie Arcaro to recall that in a winning race at Belmont last fall the colt looked up in the stand and neighed loudly when he went to the front. The colts third dam. Noowa, produced stakes winners in England, India, Egypt. Traces to a sister to Miss Woodford, greatest all-time American race mare. . . . "Tulyar is a whole lot better," Hancock says. "Vets give me no cause for concern on the score of his potency. His resistance has been lowered, and he is eligible for a setback, but if he can escape it I think it is 4 to 1 he will be alright." Iron Liege, the plumed knight of the Derby, has a certain noblesse oblige. Posed for gag shots reading the Pimlico brochure, and carefully accepted a handful Continued on Page Forty Four I j j j j ! j I MARYLAND By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page Five of hay offered by a quite terrified but admiring little girl on arrival here. Amoret is pointing for two of Delawares "Distaff Big Three." Calumets Princess Turia, who almost died last summer, also is a candidate. . . . Most-likely-to-succeed of Msr. Markeys two-year-olds is Tim Tarn, a son of Tom Fool and Two Lea. . . . John Schapiro, who emceed a successful spring meet at Laurel, departs on the He de France Preakness Day for Plymouth. Dublin. London. Newmarket. Stockholm, Paris and, perhaps, Germany, to talent scout the German Bernardus for the falls Interna-j tional. Bernardus, a four-year-old, has won his three latest starts, from seven furlongs to two miles. They are still talking of "the Derby that had the Willies" down in Kentucky. A. B. Hancock was on the phone from Claiborne just now and observed that: "Gallant Man was the only one of the field who had anything left at the finish." Hancock had a rooting interest in Round Table, whom he sold to Travis Kerr last winter, and thought "he bobbled badly a couple of times." The- ATBA president has the dam of Round Table and Gallant Mans half sister. Masaka, among the broodmares at the Paris, Ky., farm. He imported Knights ! Daughter, the dam of the Kerr colt, from j the Queens stud. She comes of a family ! that has produced Aureole, Above Board. ! Angelola and other splendid stayers for , the royal house. John Phipps owns Masaka. for whom he I paid 05,000. though she had slipped a j foal by Tulyar and was empty. Actually, | Masaka is much more distinguished even j than is Gallant Man, as a winner of both J the Epsom and Irish Oaks. She has not had a foal for Phipps, but Hancock is knocking on wood; she now has gone 30 days to the cover of Ambiorix. Round Tables da mis rearing a corking filly foal by Hill Prince. Pat Farrell is a missionary from Thistle-Down and the MRA. where he is racing secretary-handicapper. . . . Iron Lieges substitution for Gen. Duke recalls that Exterminator was bought for a trial horse for Sun Briar, then himself won the Derby when Sun Briars ringbones stopped him. ... Joe Kelly flips that: "If Gen. Duke loses another one. he will be demoted to rank of sergeant." . . . The Black Eyed Susan eligible, Jota Jota, might have a brighter record except that she appears to have had a spot of trouble under one ankle, where the tendons cross. Has been fired, but did not appear to extend herself over the rather cuppy Downs surface in the Oaks Learning that Federal Hill is coming for the Preakness. a wag says: "Theyd better put a bell on him. or they wont be able to find him." Actually, he may better his Derby performance, at the sixteenth shorter route, and with the abbreviated stretch.
