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. [ ~* i * " :7_ ~ ~ r |i§andJ|i£aBHH|H|! NPfiP iSSfeccf" sijjjwgjjg lllandrafHandw «*s-f*S rT " J , w *»f !§® MANASSA MAULER With trainer Frank Martin — The Wood winner has many 1 admirers for the Preakness. , . 4 Nagler on Racing Manassa Mauler Sentimental Choice in Preakness Stakes By BARNEY NAGLER JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 7. — Not many are picking against Sword Dancer in the Preakness coming up Saturday a week, but sentiment is riding with Manassa Mauler. He is the Emil Dolce colt who won the Wood here some weeks ago and who missed going into the Kentucky Derby because his owner was unfamiliar with the routine of entering a runner in the Louisville extravaganza. Now he isdown in Baltimore, at old Pimlico, and around here the ones who wear their enthhsiasm where their pockets are insist they would howl with delight if Manassa Mauler took the prize in the Preakness. It will be remem 1 I bered that the horse named for Jack Dempsey took the Wood in a perfectly run race only because First Landing, Intentionally and Atoll set out to watch each other most of the way and finished ragged as Ray Broussard charged to the wire on the winner. , The strategy was precisely that which was needed. to give Manassa Mauler a shot at the prize. In similar circumstances, he may well be the delight of Baltimore when Preakness prizes are handed out. In the Derby last Saturday, Our Dad was the sentimental choice of the New York set. He was Gothams darling. His background was purse Broadway — New York-owned, by Miss Patrice Jacobs, New York-trained, by Hirsch Jacobs, and New York-operated, by Pete Anderson. Strictly Broadway Our Dad was in over its withers. It may be that Manassa Mauler will fare as badly, but this will not prevent partial New Yorkers from rooting for the runner. He too is pure Broadway. Dolce, as is known, claimed him from Dempseys Broadway bistro partner, Jack Amiel. He is trained by Francesco Pancho Martin, a denizen of Ozone Park, by way of Havana. And Dolce himself runs a* cafe called the Lighthouse in Valley Stream, just over the line from New York city. In the Wood, Manassa Mauler paid 29.50 for , but history has caught up with him. He will not go to the post as lightly supported if-all those who say they are going down to Baltimore to back him put their money where their mouths are. After winning the Wood, the colt lost the next time out, in a sprint, and Francesco Martin accepted this without display of dismay. He said, "the horse needs distance. Well go in the Preakness. Thats a mile and three-sixteenths." Dolce dug deep for the supplementary entry fee for the Preakness and the horse was shipped. All he will have to do is catch up with Sword Dancer. There is much talk about Sword Dancer in these parts. He is now- being regarded as a superior kind of horse, beaten though mhe was by a nose in the Derby. Bill Boland, who gave him a true ride, will not be on him in Baltimore. Willie Shoemaker has the Brookmeade mount instead. In a sense, Shoemaker is on the spot. Should Sword Dancer fail to perform as splendidly, as in the Derby, there will be a disposition on many sides to point a finger at Elliott Burch, Mrs. Dodge Sloanes trainer, for unseating Boland. This is not likely to happen. Shoemaker is patently at the peak of his eminence as a jockey. He is the one with a masters touch — -light-fingered and sensitive, a fierce competitor, singularly efficient as a judge of pace. Yet the course of a race frequently leaves a rider with egg on hi§ face. In a sense, Shoemaker has always had the mount on Sword Dancer. Some days ago, Harry Silbert, a Cali-fornian who books jobs of work for Shoemaker, talked about his man in the administration building at the first turn here. "We could go on Sword Dancer in the Derby," Silbert said, "and then theres 1 Tomy Lee and Intentionally. Well go on the one we think will win." He did not say he was committed to Tomy Lee, as some have since indicated. , Let it be conceded that agent and rider ■ chose Tomy Lee in the Derby because they regarded him as the horse to beat. Their opinion is now bulwarked by result. It is reasonable to assume that Mr. . Burchs opinion will now be supported in l the Preakness. If this is not to happen, it ; would be a boon to New York racing pride s is Manassa Mauler were the winner. It is a l notion here that he will come out fighting. . And may the better horse emerge triumphant, ■ as the man used to say. -
