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♦ Connors Corner Childs, Trainer of Tomy Lee, Fine Ail-Around Horseman By "CHUCK" CONNORS JAMAICA. L. I., N. Y., May 4.— Summertime or a real honest to goodness facsimile arrived this morning. The doubting members of the Paddock Gang lost little time in shedding top coats and reveling in the sunshine. The efforts of a handful of members to assemble a quorum for a regular meeting went for naught as the boys ♦were just too busy reveling and relaxing. The week-end happenings, the Derby, and the Bed o Roses brought forth little discussion or argument. After studying the telecast of the Derby and reading all the accounts of the two races the boys agreed that two nose finishes in one day was sufficient for any appetite. However, ma..y of the younger generation in this area were curious about Frank Childs and asked where from, why and how come? Frank Childs is a veteran although this was his first Derby success. Childs has been around horses for more years than he cares to remember and is past that three score and ten age. His knowledge of horses is not only confined to thoroughbreds but he has more than a passing knowledge of jugheads. Childs like many others never made New York his base of operations but confined his efforts to the Midwest and Far West during the summer season and a foray into New Orleans and Florida during the winter months. However, with the reopening of California he heeded the advice of Horace Greeley and went West. He made a good decision on that score. He also has a son a graduate of West Point who is a colonel in the Air Force and the the present assigned to the Pentagon at Washington. D. C. The younger Frank is the pride and joy of his mother, Madeline. Childs is also a veteran of World War I., he was overseas early, and holds a lifetime membership in the American Legion. Anxious to Return to California Tomy Lee is eligible for both the Preak-ness and the Belmont. However, these two offerings are still on the doubtful list. Tomy Lee is not the soundest horse in racing, he has among his ailments a knee. Childs is anxious to return to California for racing at Hollywood Park and follow- I ing a conference with owner Fred Turner that question may be solved. Childs has other horses in his care, than Tomy Lee, and as he once remarked when you are away from home base you are in the dark about a lot of happenings over which you have no control. Hollywood has some I three-year-old stake offerings to which Tomy Lee is eligible and under scale weights, the English-bred appears to have them under lock and key. and the contention will not be as formidable as he will encounter in the Preakness and Belmont. CoJ. E. P. Bixer, the Jerseyite, who served 1 in the U. S. Navy during the late unpleasantness, was on hand Saturday. He has several horses in training here . . . Commissioner Jack Purcell of the State Tax Department was a week-end visitor. He came down from Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hecht, of Baltimore, Md., were surprise visitors over the week end. They landed at Idlewild Airport a few minutes before post time for the first race, and then decided that Jamaica was a good place to spend the afternoon. The Hechts spent the past month in Europe, and visited a half dozen racing points in England and the Continent. He reported that he had acquired a three-year-old, a French-bred, who last year was well up on the juvenile standings. The new acquisition is named Arpel II. He also reported that his other European purchase Ricco Jce, is due in this country by plane from England this week. The French-bred will be shipped over later in the year. Cyrus F. Jullien, who was named president of the newly formed Finger Lakes Racing Association, was on hand for the week end. He is enthusiastic over the prospects of the association and the reports turned in by a research team . . . Mr. and Mrs. Jack Silverman from Rockville Center, was among those present . . . John OKeefe, of ThistleDown, came up with the information that the cup awarded to the winner of the Ohio Derby, for one year possession, is an authentic English piece of silverware and was made in London by Benjamin Smith for the captain of an East India ship who had beaten off the attacks of French privateers. The cup was acquired by ThistleDown in 1953 and is a perpetual trophy for the Ohio Derby . . . The influx of horses at Belmont Park continues slowly but the arrivals are mostly jumpers. Over the week end, a couple of dozen steeplechasers owned by C. V. Cushman, J. R. H. Davis and others were bedded down at the course. Stable authorities at Belmont Park this morning were advised that the horses owned by C. T. Chenery are due in from Louisville, Ky., Tuesday. The shipment includes First Landing, who finished third, and four other starters. Sword Dancer, from the Brookmeade Stable, is due as is Our Dad, owned by Miss Patrice Jacobs, and Claiborne Farms Dunce . . . Jack Cos-tigan, who underwent surgery for a strangulated hernia, is improving steadily at Mary Imacculate Hospital in Jamaica. He hopes to be discharged in a week or so . . . Mr. and Mrs. Bill Finnegan were among the afternoon visitors. They came on from Louisville, where on Saturday he saddled his namesake for the Derby. They are visiting relatives here. Bill was undecided as to the future itinerary of his charge, Finnegan . . . Trainer Clyde Trout is undecided about a representative in the weekend Grey Lag from the Mrs. Ada L. Rice Stable . . . The Brookmeade Stables Oligarchy was returned from Garden State Park this morning.
