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New York By Bob Horwood Crafty Skippers Performance Is Brilliant Could Have Bettered Record If Pressed Max Hirsch Relates Tale About Tick On JAMAICA, L. I.. N. Y., April 30.— Crafty Skipper looked something like the colt who scored a sensational victory in last years Cowdin Stakes when he ripped off 6 furlongs in 1:09%, just a tick off Sheilas Rewards track record, in winning yesterdays Jamaica Handicap. Though the track has probably never been faster, with a thin sheet of loose, sandy mud over a hard bottom. Crafty Skippers race was "big" and gave the impression that it could have been bigger had Bob Ussery gotten into the colt the least bit through the stretch. With many important engagements ahead, Ussery wisely contented himself with the mildest of hand rides. In the handicap, Crafty Skipper carried 124 pounds to 126 on the Wood Memorial winner, Manassa Mauler, who turned in an excellent race, considering that he nad won at a mile and a furlong on April 18 and done nothing but a half mile in :49 on Monday since then. Approximately five lengths and Jet Fuel separated the two colts at the finish and we doubt if there is quite that margin of superiority between them. After the Jamaica, Ussery said that trainer Lucien Laurin had told him to get to the front as soon as possible and stay there. Those tactics worked to perfection, but we wonder just how far the son of Crafty Admiral will be able to carry his speed without being rated. Not much more than a mile, we suspect, unless he should prove to be another Count Fleet. Theres an outside chance that Crafty Skipper will start in the Preakness, but the Withers mile a week later is more likely. The veteran Max Hirsch, who may be laying in ambush for the Kentucky Derby horses when they head east for the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with a colt named Black Hills, was recently reminiscing about a colt who "shoulda" won the first -two of the Triple Crown races for him. This was back in 1932 and the colt was Tick On, who raced for the Loma Stable, owned by a Mrs. Kaufman, and who eventually was purchased by Ne"l McCarthy and stood in California. Tick On was favorite for that Derby, but finished unplaced behind Burgoo King, and thereby lies the Texans tale. It seems that Tick On was a rogue at the post, but would behave perfectly when handled with a small hand twitch. New Fangled Gadget Banned "It got so he would stick out his head for you to put that little twitch on. and handle as kind as you please," Hirsch said, "but without it he was a wild horse. Well, Bill Hamilton was starting the Derby that year and when we started to use the twitch, he said, you easterners are always coming up with some newfangled gadget, and he wouldnt let it be used. The result was Tick On lunged and kicked and acted like a crazy horse. There wasnt any gate in those days and he got off very bad and finished out of the money. But that wasnt the end of it." Hirsch continued. "While he was lunging around at the gate before the Derby he bruised a shoulder. It didnt seem too bad and I treated it and he seemed to be coming up to the Preakness all right. That morning there wasnt any swelling on the shoulder, but I had put ice on it anyway. When he got over to the paddock, that bruise had swelled up as big as your fist. Just in the space of a couple of hours, all that pus had formed and made a big lump there on his shoulder. "I had a penknife in my pocket," Hirsch went on, "and I just itched to cut that lump and let the pus out, but I was afraid if I did something like that in the paddock before the Preakness, with all that crowd around and the blood likely to flow, theyd probably put me in jail. So I let it alone. Well, Tick On went to the front and he looked like a winner right to the end when Burgoo King came on and beat him. I have to think that if it wasnt for that bruise, he would have won the Preakness, and since the colt that beat him at Pimlico was the Derby winner, I think he would have won both races." Better Horse Kept in Barn Hirsch believes that he had a better one in the barn that year,. in the person of Augusta, who was not as advanced as Tick On, and was being pointed for the Belmont Stakes. "He was one of those horses who would pull himself up when he got to the front and I put Joe Renick on him one day and told him to rate him off the pace. Well, it was the funniest sight you ever saw, Joe looked like he was on a seesaw, trying to hold that horse. Finally he gave up and he went on and won by four or five lengths. A week or so later, both Augusta and Tick On bowed." Reginald N. Websters Quill came on the track between Wednesdays fourth and fifth races looking every inch the champion she was a year ago. The daughter of Princequillo has filled out in all the right places and has a particularly powerful quarter. Last year, Quill was a poor work horse, particularly when going alone, but this spring she has been quite willing in the morning. Wednesdays trial was somewhat spoiled when the right iron broke as she neared the half-mile pole, causing "Peejay" Bailey to have to stand up to retain his balance. This didnt appear to spoil Quills action, which was smooth and cadenced. Quill was entered in a sprint that failed to fill and was given the 7 furlongs trial as a substitute. Bally Ache was aided by the sloppy track, when setting his track record of :51% in yesterdays sixth Continued on Page Ten NEW YORK BY BOB HORWOOD Continued from Page Seven race, but Leonard D. Fruchtmans colt won like a good one. Dave Erb did not appear to be precisely terrifying Bally Ache to make him go by the pacemaking Ira Eaker in the final sixteenth and the colt showed abundant determination. Bally Ache is a son of the young Irish sire Bally -dam, who won three stakes in England at two and two more in New England the following year. His victory in the Hialeah Juvenile made him the first stakes winner for both Ballydam and his dam, Celestial Blue. Bally Ache shipped here from Chicago for the Comely Stakes, to be run here next Wednesday.
