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. _— 1 " * ■■-*■ Jamaica By Bob Horwood Jamaicas Stakes Schedule Below Standard Two Sprints Highlight Sixth Week of Meet Fans, Horsemen, Breeders Short Changed JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 14.— Like so many of the stakes presented at Jamaica this spring, tomorrows Champlain Handicap promises to be a considerably better better race race than than its its 0,000 0,000 in in . _— better better race race than than its its 0,000 0,000 in in added money would normally produce. However, though it has attracted such stars as Ellis Farms Little Pache, who would appear to be offered a gift at 126 pounds, Mrs. Vernon G. Cardys Oaks-winning Levee, and such useful fillies and mares as First Asking, Myrtles Jet, Scansion and the occasionally startling Glamour, it remains a six-furlong dash of no significance significance whatever. whatever. On On Satur- significance significance whatever. whatever. On On Satur- 1 " * ■■-*■ Saturday, when Pimlico fs offering the 00,000 Preakness, the Long Island track is presenting the Wilson Handicap, also at six furlongs, in which the probable top-weight will be Edward Seinfelds Decimal atr 122 pounds. Now, Decimal is a consistent and popular sprinter, but he is hardly a champion and not too long ago was running with a claiming tag. One is permitted to wonder why New York racing, which is more often than not the best in the land simply because the owners of the best horses prefer to race in their own backyard, is permitted to take a back seat, not only this week, but through much of the Jamaica meeting. The fact is. Jamaica is the most popular track on Long Island, draws from a larger population area than any other racecourse in the United States, yet here we are past the middle of May and the two stakes offered this week are six-furlong dashes which can very well be good betting races though it would seem foolhardy to try to profit by a possible defeat of Little Pache tomorrow* but are hardly the type of races calculated to "improve the breed." Pimlico Has the Big One Saturday On the same afternoon as the Wilson, Garden State Park is offering 5,000 for the Betsy Ross Stakes, which is also at six furlongs, but for three-year-old fillies, not mature horses; Hollywood Park is presenting the 0,000 Los Angeles Handicap at seven furlongs, a distance that is understandable so early in a meeting; Pimlico. of course, has its Preakness. and Balmoral, which is also in the early phase of its meeting, is offering the 0,000 La Salle Handicap at six furlongs. The only major race track with a stake next Saturday of less value and at a shorter distance than the Wilson is Churchill Downs, which is presenting the 0,000 Bash-ford Manor for juvenile colts and geldings. And everyone knows that the Kentucky course has neither the horses nor the public to offer anything more ambitious at the end of its meeting. But for New York to be offering two 0,000 stakes at six furlongs for mature horses in the sixth week of its season comes very close to short changing the Metropolitan racing fans, not to mention the owners and breeders. Turf writers are supposed to avoid prejudice as though it were a social disease. However, it is difficult to -resemble a human and not like some persons more than others. Thus we confess to a more than ordinary pleasure at the emergence in the last few days of potential champion fillies owned by such dissimilar, but likeable, persons as Harry La Montagne and Charlie Cohen. Though as different in background and way of life as any two individuals could be, La Montagne and Cohen share a devotion to the thoroughbred horse as owners and breeders and both are signal examples of the healthful benefits to be gained from thoroughbred racing. Fillies Make an Impression The fillies we speak of are La Montagnes Plotter and Charfran Stables Our Kretchen. both bred by their owners. The four-year-old Plotter is a daughter of Double Jay from Conniver, who carried La Montagnes internationally known white silks, to many notable triumphs over masculine rivals nine years ago when she was the same age as her daughter. Our Kretchen is a juvenile daughter of Crafty Admiral from Adjournment, by Court Martial. Crafty Admiral literally brought Cohen into racing when acquired from Hugh A. Grant in a package deal during the winter of 1950-51. went on to become a handicap champion and now seems to be sending out nothing but winners. While La Montagne could conceivably be gratified at this writers admiration for the style of Plotters 1957 debut last Thursday, he is probably also happy that we are not a racing secretary. Though this debut was in a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares in the classified division who had not won a race of ,250 since July 7 or two such races in 1956, it impressed us to such a degree that she would have to be topweight in any handicap for those of her-sex at any distance we were called upon to write. And more than a few horsemen agree with this estimate. Ordinarily, you dont take a six-furlong event too seriously. But Plotter, like her brilliant dam, has never suggested that she could sprint. Also, she now looks like a race mare, not like parts of three different horses stuck together, M Continued on Page Forty On* JAMAICA By BOB HORWOOD Continued from Page Seven she did much of last year. It might also be remembered that Conniver, herself, "got good at four. The younger Our Kretchen, a chestnut filly with four pronounced white stockings, came out for her debut yesterday with a suspicious shin and was considerably greener than the Jamaica infield, but she was backed into favoritism and -won with the authority of a stakes filly, despite trying to bear out from the start until the final sixteenth. At that point, she settled down to running, pulling away from her field and negotiating the five furlongs in :594s, which is excellent time at this track. She also looks like a runner.
