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New York By Bob Norwood J JGrey Grey Lag Among Best Handicaps Thus Far Kingmaker Ben Lomond Had Rough Trips Guerin Saved Admiral Vee for Final Dash DashBELMONT BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 12 The 59000 Grey Lag Handicap that brought Jamaicas 38 days of miserable weather increased attendance small fields and enthusiastic wagering to a close fully lived up to its advance billing as the best race of its kind thus far in the New York season and one of the best handicaps of the year A few days ago racing secretary Jimmy Kil roe remarked that the Grey Lag looked so good on paper that it would probably result in some ¬ thing winning by five but it hap ily didnt work out that way The first two finished heads apart and a couple of lengths back two more were separated by a nose and the first six being saparated by less than two lengths at the end of a mile and a furlong But for a couple of unfortunate incidents there might have been one or two others in the picture that was necessary to determine the winner Eddie Arcaro was unable to get the lead with the frontrunning King ¬ maker then sent Mr and Mrs Courtwright Wetherills fiveyearold into a blind switch trying to get inside of Pylades near the halfmile pole and that eliminated that nottoostubborn son of Princequillo Arcaro prob ¬ ably was well aware of the danger of trying to go inside of Raul Sterling on Pylades but General Arthur was still going well outside of him and Oligarchy was surg ¬ ing up with a rush still farther out making it seem doubtful that he would have any chance of going around the two leaders leadersBen Ben Lomond might also have been in the picture one will never know but Mrs J R JH Thourons im ¬ ported colt went to his knees coming out of the gate sprawling badly and was so unsettled that he was never able to reach contention Cain Hoy Stables One Eyed King coming out of the number one stall in the gate attempted to wheel making it appear that Conn McCreary was trying to take back with him when he was actually swinging on the oneeyed colt to try to keep him from running his race clockwise as his brother Bald Eagle has to do in England Paper Tiger who finished fifth might also have been closer but for having to go around too many horses turning for home in the stretch One of those he had to go around was his stablemate Promised Land who also had none the best of the traffic conditions near the quarter pole poleOh Oh Johnny a Courageous Winner WinnerNone None of these excuses for the losers are to be con ¬ strued to take any credit away from Mrs Wallace Gilroys Oh Johnny the courageous winner who had to overcome his own share of trembles as the Grey Lag entered its final phase or from Edward Seinfelds Admiral Vee who came within a desperate head of bringing off a major upset by leading all the way Incidentally Admiral Vee has far too many good races to his credit including a triumph in the Paumonok on openingday for him to have been anything but inflationary at almpst 47 to 1 True his two races following the Paumonok had been poor but as we remarked before the Grey Lag the War Admiral stal ¬ lion is always eligible to come up with a big race His cause was aided vastly on Saturday when Kingmaker was unable or unwilling to profit by his number two post and take the early lead away from him Oh Johnny who showed last winter in the Widener that he has become very sharp actually broke in front in the Grey Lag and Bill Boland was thus able to obtain a good position while allowing the son of Johns Joy to settle into stride rather than scuffle with him The comparatively long run to the clubhouse turn allowed Pylades who seems essentially a sprinter and Admiral Vee to overcome their outside post positions and they turned into the backstretch lapped on each other and daylight before Kingmaker KingmakerIn In the run down the far side Kingmaker had these two in front of him with General Arthur on his flank The pace for the second quarter had been a moderate 24 so he was full of run runArcaro Arcaro Had Little to Choose Between BetweenHowever However Atkinson on General Arthur gave no indication that he was going to ease out and let King ¬ maker try to go around Pylades and Admiral Vee It appears that Eddie was forced with the choice of wait ¬ ing for Pylades to stop and possibly give him the courtesy o the road when beaten or take the chance that Sterling would let him through He tried to go inside Vas sawed off abruptly and Kingmaker called it an afternoon Just a few strides farther on Pylades did stop badly dropping from second place back to ninth in a quarter mile mileAt At the same time Oligarchy moved up with a rush on the outside that looked extremely menacing and which carried him into second place a little more than a length back of Admiral Vee and a couple of lengths before General Arthur and Oh Johnny who was going along evenly Oligarchy made up about four lengths in the backstretch when the pace was moderate but was unable to gain on Admiral Vee in the slightly slower quarter that followed though moving into sec ¬ ond place as Pylades yielded ground His race was re ¬ markably like his disappointing effort in the McLen McLenContinued Continued on Page FortyTwo NEW YORK YORKBY BY BOB HORWOOD Continued from Page Seven Sevennan nan which was run on a good track In that event he made a similar strong run on the outside rounding the far turn at Hialeah then fell back abruptly It may be that yesterdays track which was fast but somewhat dull s it always is at Jamaica when it is dry tired this colt who likes to hear his feet rattle rattleWhile While all this was going on Boland was sitting chilly on Oh Johnny waiting for the final quarter to launch his bid He had just a little trouble going around General Arthur who drifted out as he tired but lost less ground than Promised Land Third Brother and Paper Tiger who were all be ¬ hind him Once straightened away in the stretch Oh Johnny really began to barrel and at the quarter pole though Admiral Vee was still three lengths in the van it appeared that Yorkie McLeods charge would roll over the leader and triumph go ¬ ing away However Eric Guerin had done a shrewd job of rating Admiral Vee on the lead with quarters of 24 24 and 25 after the opening quarter had been run in 23 and still had plenty of horse under him Admiral Vee held on tenaci ¬ ously fighting right down to the wire while Oh Johnny came on relentlessly Though the margin at the finish was only a head it was very sure and Oh Johnny was going away from the pacemaker though not from Promised Land who was gaining on both of them The 1 a tt e r though ran out of ground Third Brother who literally makes his own trouble fin ¬ ished still faster But the Grey Lag was at 1 miles and Boland timed things to have Oh Johnny there at that distance Horse and rider collaborated perfectly perfectlyAssuming Assuming that the stretch calls in the chart are accurate and though the horses are coming straight at the chart caller at this point he is enabled by vast experi ¬ ence to make allowances when horses are spread across the track which prove un ¬ cannily accurate when compared with the patrol films Oh Johnny ran the final fur ¬ long in l2Ys Admiral Vee required 12 Promised Land did it in 12 while Third Brother finished with a flat 12 All but one of these times was faster than that for the same horses preceding quarter Considering that the sandy Ja ¬ maica strip is tiring when it is dry these are creditable fractions for all four horses and though they may not be the best group of handicap horses we have had and are somewhat below Gallant Man Bold Ruler Round Table and possibly Iron Liege they are at least a respectable lot Good enough perhaps so that when we come to such handicaps as the Metropoli ¬ tan Mile and Suburban at 1J4 miles Jimmy Kilroe will be able to assemble excellent fields without having to pile the grand ¬ stand on either Bold Ruler or Gallant Man to have keenly contested races And we think that Oligarchy Ben Lomond and Kingmaker are all capable of vastly better things at Belmont Park particularly in the Metropolitan Mile which looms one of the best races in many years with both Bold Ruler and Gallant Man among the prob ¬ able candidates
