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I, „M Tlil New York By Bob Horwood Nineteen Tracks Offer Race Cards Today But Churchill Downs Will Be Focal Point Jamaica Featuring Bed o Roses Renewal JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y.. May 2.— Believe it or not, there will be thoroughbred racing at Jamaica Saturday. One would think, reading the newspapers and listen-. ing ing to to radio radio and and television, television, that that ing ing to to radio radio and and television, television, that that the only racing Saturday would be at Churchill Downs, but we have secret information to the effect that the sport will be conducted, and by no means privately, at Jamaica, Garden State Park, Laurel, Lincoln Downs, Golden Gate Fields, Sportsmans Park, Beufan Park, Wheeling Downs, Maumee Downs, Fort Erie, Cahokia Downs, Fonner Park and Ascot Ascot Park. Park. Our Our spies spies also also tell tell us us I, „M Tlil Ascot Ascot Park. Park. Our Our spies spies also also tell tell us us that there are rumors of thoroughbred racing to be held at Mexico City, Agua Caliente, Havana, Cuba. Phoenix, Ariz., Portland, Ore., and Warrenton, Va. Yessiree Bob, there will be racing at 18 tracks, besides Churchill Downs Saturday. On May 3 a year ago, there was also thoroughbred racing at 18 tracks other than Bill Corums sprawling antiquity and attendances .at 15 of them totaled a mere 201,994. Figures were not available from Havana and Mexico City, or detailing the thousands crowding the rolling hillsides at Warrenton. A throng of 36,115 admirers of the thoroughbred attended Jamaica last year on Derby day and at Teast a comparable number are expected Saturday. Attendance locally is up approximately 6 per cent this year for a variety of reasons and the weather is predicted to be somewhat more favorable than last May 3. The main attraction is the second running of the Bed o* Roses Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1-16 miles, and this_ event promises to be a more exciting contest than last years inaugural. A year ago, Ellis Farms Little Pache, who was enjoying a comparatively brief flash of brilliance, was the odds-on choice- over six rivals and performed to expectations, scoring by four lengths under Conn McCreary with Morty Freedmans Gay Life her closest pursuer. Little Pache is not in the field of eight named for Saturdays first renewal but Gay Life, who has since won the Firenze Handicap and finished second in the rich Ladies Handicap, is one of the lightweights. Searching Heads Distaff Field Mrs. Ethel D. Jacoands Searching, who to these somewhat eccentric eyes is just as glamorous as Silky Sullivan, heads the Bed o Roses with a moderate 123 pounds. This six-year-old daughter of War Admiral — Big Hurry, by Black Toney, doesnt turn in the fabulous stretch runs that have made the California colt the greatest thing since penicillin, but she does come . from off the pace and has done it so successfully that "she has earned 63,899, all but about 0,000 of it since she was purchased from Ogden Phipps. for a paltry 5,000 on June 1, 1955. Her triumph in the 6 furlongs Correction Handicap here on April 16 was Searchings ninth stakes victory. Bobby Ussery will ride the hard-hitting bay mare Saturday in place of Ismael Valenzuela, who will be otherwise occupied astride Tim Tam at Churchill Downs, but the Jacobs matron doesnt seem to care too much who is guiding her on her good days. However, this edition of the Bed o Roses shapes up as a keen contest with Michael Sotos recent winner. Lori-El, Harry LaMontagnes Plotter, Mrs. Gerard S. Smiths Outer Space, King Ranchs Dotted Line, Joe W. Browns Fanciful Miss and Roy R. Hunts Hoosier Honey, not to mention Gay Life, all having credentials giving them a reasonably solid chance. None of the eight are likely to make anyone forget the achievements of the Bed o Roses for whom the stakes is named, but they should provide a race as exciting to watch as any of those engaged in by the Alfred G. Vanderbilt filly. Stretch-Running Surgeon Reminisces Recalling touches he had cut up in the past, Dr. Alexander Kaye, the Jockeys Guild physician and surgeon to the racing fraternity in general, recently remembered Eddie Arcaros appendectomy. Some years ago, The Master was stricken suddenly at Belmont Park. Arcaro and Dr. Kaye left Belmont after the second race for Physicians hospital in Queens, a distance of some 15 miles. While Dr. Kaye was- removing the inflamed appendix, Arcaro remarked that he was to have ridden a horse in the fifth race that "couldnt lose" and asked the good doctor if there was any way he could bet 00 on the animal. Dr. Kayes deft hands moved a little faster and he succeeded in completing the operation, applying the necessary clamps and stitches, doffing his surgical white, arid making his way to Belmont Park in time to place Arcaros wager. Arcaro lost both his appendix and 00 that day as the horse was unplaced. At about the same period, Dr. Kaye performed a similar emergency slicing on this writer, removing the appendix one Withers day. While we were being given a spinal -anaesthetic. Dr. Kaye listened to the radio broadcast of the stakes, then came into the operating room announcing that Olympia had won in 1:36*5 for the mile. A few minutes later, he displayed the offending item, which looked something like a half-cooked country sausage, to pur dismayed j. Continued oPage forty-Jnfo NEW YORK BY BOB HORWOOD: ■- Continued from Page Fire gaze, then gestured with it toward a clock on the wall, remarking, "I beat Olympia by two-fifths." Capt. Harry F. Guggenheim, who was in England with his colt. Bald Eagle, the beaten favorite for the 2,000 guineas at Newmarket, on his return reaffirmed his amply demonstrated sportsmanship with a statement that can be summarized as "No excuses, well try again." Though, quite naturally, disappointed, "Guggy" expressed his delight that the race was won by the queens Pall Mall, who was also trained by Capt. Cecil Boyd-Rochfort. English bookmakers quoted 20 to 1 on Pall Mall, who was coupled with the favored Bald Eagle in the pari-mutuel wagering* Though declaring that he had "no excuse whatsoever" for Bald Eagle, Capt. Guggenheim made it clear that he has riot given up hope for his American-bred colt, who had won his only other two starts, last year and this, and would give him another chance before deciding whether or not to run in the Epsom Derby. Bald Eagle is a full-brother to One-Eyed King, who recently won theJJncoln Special and occasionally comes up with a smashing race despite his infirmity. Though One-Eyed King was foaled with one blind eye. Bald Eagle has normal vision. Bald Eagles poor race in the Guineas was evidently just one more illustration of the uncertainty of three-year-olds as he had pleased the discriminating and hypercritical Boyd-Rochfort, who sent Red God back to this country with the remark that he "doesnt seem genuine," and in his owners words "has fine conformation and exceptionally vigorous and smooth action, looks the part of a good horse, is absolutely sound, and has a perfect racing temperament." Yet jockey Harry Carr said that wherf he was called on to make a move after being-well placed in the Newmarket Stakes, he "died in a few strides." If one thing may be said safely, it is that one colt, and we dont profess to know which one, will do exactly the same thing in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, disillusioning his followers at the precise moment when victory seemed in his grasp. Horses do those things and no one will ever know why. Sometimes they come back with races that make one forget that inexplicable lapse. Round Table did it in the Trenton Handicap at the end of his three-year-old season, has not been beaten since, or even threatened. Round Table finished third to Bold Ruler and Gallant Man, but • was so badly beaten that had there been 10 colts in the race, he could just as well have been 10th.
