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New England I By Fred Galiani Off Track for Puritan Handicap Running Sector Has Been Soaked by Rain All Week Goulash Takes On Invading Little Hermit SUFFOLK DOWNS, East Boston, Mass., May 1.— This being the first of May, according to the old bromide, everywhere it should be bursting in flowers. Unhappily this is not the case here. For the five of the past six days it has been raining, as it has been most of the month. All of which means that the Puritan Handicap Saturday will be contested on a muddy or heavy track. Twelve have been entered for this 1,560 mile and one -sixteenth test and there are no brilliant stars or outstanding performers in the band. The topweight comes up in Gerry Colellas Admirals Joy at 116 pounds, with Peter Fullers aging Goulash at 114. As is the case with most Suffolk stakes, there are a couple of "shippers" coming from New York, but they are not deemed superior to some of the local forces. Following the first two acceptances, are John S. Kroeses Little Hermit and Liz-Tree Stables Necromancer, both weighted the same as Goulash. Also coming up from New York is Sidney Bartons Greek Star to complete the trio of invaders. Horses moving in from other points have a tremendous record in Suffolk stakes, invariably walking off with the big money. For that reason Little Hermit, who shows the best form of the raiders, may come up the favorite over the local hero Goulash. Little Hermit raced well in Florida, being close up in a couple of sprints behind the swift Kentucky Pride and won a turf course race at the Puritan distance. At Jamaica he has gone a couple of mile and one-sixteenths, without too much to write home about, but the Belair Stud bred has been tested against better horses than he will meet in the Puritan, whether he will be able to handle the "off" going remains to be seen. Admirals Joy Favors Mud For a change, the local forces apparently hold a good hand in the Puritan. Goulash won the Newport Handicap on a muddy strip and has turned in some fair efforts over "off" tracks. The distance should not be a deterrent and he will come in for considerable support. Admirals Joy, who has only the New Haven Handicap to his credit this year, moves up in the mud, which will ensure him backing in the mutuel department. He won the seven-furlong New Haven by seven and one-half lengths over a heavy strip. Admirals Joy, while he is not photographed too frequently in the winners circle, steadily gets his number posted on the tote board at the finish. Tomorrow he should wind up in the most preferred position. The Puritan appears to lie among these three. Necromancer rates best of the others off a mile and one-sixteenth race at Laurel and some winning efforts last season. Motor Line, has been knocking at the door lately and may come up with one of his now infrequent top efforts. The others in the race shape up as outsiders. There was only one world record established during 1958, and that took place at Rockingham Park when Mrs. John Payson Adams Mark Antony blistered the track with 1:39V5 for a mile and 70 yards. The Irish-bred has never reached that effort since, but his intrinsic class and demonstrated speed stamps him as one of the best thoroughbreds in the area. Unfortunately for New England fans, they will not be seeing him for some time. Desmond Flynn, farm manager for Mrs. Adams, and trainer Ronnie Parish conferred the other afternoon and decided to send the big one back to the Farm in Portsmouth, R. I. Parish, who just recently took over a division of Mrs. Adams string, has been one of the best trainers in the business for some time now. No Stranger to Yankeeland Parish assumed a division of the Adams stable at the close of Gulfstream meeting, but when he was unable to get stalls in New York at such a late date, he came to New England, where the second section of Mrs. Adams horses is in the care of Johnny Meaney. Parish is no stranger to these parts, having campaigned here for many years with the Brookmeade horses and others, but this is his first visit in recent years. As is the case with horsemen everywhere, Parish ran into an old friend, and reminiscing was the immediate order of the conversation. The incident in question was one that Parish gleefully recalls, and not merely because it was one of the umque occurrences Of the turf. It was the time at Bowie some dozen years ago when the judges placed the third horse wrongly. "And it was my horse Dinner Hour," recalled Randy. "I went up to the stewards to protest after the race, about putting Dinner Hour fourth when he was third by a good neck. But they got busy on something else so I left and went home. I had 00 bet show on the horse. When I got home I just threw the tickets in garbage pail. After dinner my wife and I went down to the corner and bought a paper. And there right on the front page it was announced the Bowie track was paying off on both horses for show. You never saw anyone run back to the house so fast and dive into the garbage pail."
