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New York I By Bob Horwood Lady Provokes Thought on Names of Races r Our Great Horses of Past Are Overlooked Only Three Triple Crown Winners Honored HonoredBELMONT BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 14 Encouraged by the lovely weather the expanse of verdant green grass Jn the infield the pleasing back irop oi trees bravely attired in fresh young leaves and the invit ¬ inglandscaping of the train en ¬ trance we invited a young lady of our close acquaintance to come to Belmont Park today to see the Distaff Handicap which we thought an appropriate event be ¬ ing for fillies and mares Now this young lady though she is a successful gleaner of dollars in Madison Avenue circles is a fem inetype young lady which is the opposite of a feminist Nonetheless she declined the invitation on the ground that she detested the name of todays stakes and would not encourage its perpetu ¬ ation either by her attendance or by the investment of 2 on the chances of one of the fillies and mares A distaff she said with cool asperity is an ancient staff or stave used in spinning and has long been a symbol of womans subservience to man and at best circumscribes her authority to the socalled world of women If you dont mind sir I will spend the after ¬ noon watching Brigitte Bardot making men into sheep sheepFamed Famed Race Mares Neglected Too TooThis This attitude in addition to providing an opening paragraph provoked some thought on the names of races in general Had you realized that there is no stakes honoring Man o War Or that of the eight Triple Crown winners only Calumet Farms Citation and Gallant Fox and Omaha both owned and bred by the late William Woodward are honored by having stakes nametl for them Washington Park inaugurated the 25000 Citation Handicap a comparatively minor event at one mile in 1955 The Gallant Fox Handicap was inaugurated at Jamaica in 1939 only nine years after the son of Sir Gallahad in won the Triple Crown and its first running went to Woodwards Iso later The Omaha Handicap is run at AkSarBen and was inaugurated in 1952 possibly in honor of the city at which the track is located rather than the winner of Kentucky Derby Preakness and Belmont Stakes of 1935 s sThere There are no stakes anywhere in the United States honoring Sir Barton War Admiral Whirlaway Count Fleet or Assault We recently had a filly and mare stakes at Jamaica honoring Alfred G Vanderbilts Bed o Roses which is all well and good as Bed o Roses was a very nice filly But how about Busher who broke her maiden at Belmont Park or Twilight Tear who was also Horse of the Year Perhaps when the new Aqueduct opens its splendid gates sometime next year we can find a Man o War stakes on the opening pro ¬ gram What could be more appropriate than to thus honor Americas greatest race horse who was bred by August Belmont inspirer of Americas greatest race track up to that day dayIrishBred IrishBred Whats Ahead Aptly Named NamedMrs Mrs Grahams Whats Ahead who won yesterdays second race by 10 rapidly expanding lengths created the impression that he could be any kind of colt The chestnut son of NearcoTir anXDir by Tehran who was bred by the Irish National Stud left the gate alertly but was outrun for a quarter by Greentree Stables Medal of Honor who was making his debut Taking command with ease midway of the sweeping curve Whats Ahead raced extremely wide coming into the stretch but drew away from his maiden rivals with immense authority and could obviously have consider ¬ ably bettered his respectable 111 clocking Whats Ahead is not eligible to the classic Belmont Stakes at llz miles on June 7 and might not be that sort of animal but Mrs Graham can find out if she has a better one in the barn than Jewels Reward by payment of a moderate 5000 for a supplementary fee There are races in the interim such as the 9 furlongs Peter Pan Handicap on May 31 that can test Whats Ahead for class Whats Ahead hung a bit at the end of his only other start at Jamaica as though in need of the race Also he appeared to slip and slide a bit in the sloppy footing that afternoon afternoonPresident President John Hanes called our attention to a costly but invisible improvement to Belmont Park What used to be a sewer opening in the training track was diverted to the main sewer under Hempstead avenue and the hole filled in with 27000 yards of soil The cost of removing this menace to health which could well have been one of the causes of sickness in other years was 300000 Incidentally Hanes is far from being a lover of the Widener straightaway Says he hopes to get rid of it which would enable the build ¬ ing of a 7furlongs galloping track inside the training track and also a schooling area for hurdlers The new Turf and Field Club quarters really look like a club cozy comfortable and handsomely decorated Mrs Ogden Phipps is hopeful that many new owners will be attracted to the hurdle and steeplechase ranks in the near future pointing out that the opportunities for threeyearolds over hurdles make the sport more economically feasible than it has been in recent years
