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JUDGES STAND By Charles Harton HartonDelaware Delaware Parks Sporting Element Situation Normal in Free State Need Breed Improvers Down East Gaignard New England Breeder BreederNEW NEW YORK N Y May 27 It is naive to imagine that Delaware Park is unique among race tracks in that it seeks to disassociate itself from the commercial ¬ ism which colors rac ¬ ing elsewhere in Amer ¬ ica but it is oneof the sportiest meets in the country Our good friends J Simpson Dean and Bryan Field promise that the 30 day season which be ¬ gins Monday will have the same tone that made its forerunners such fun The course Willie duPont constructed m the pastoral Wilmington countryside is unpretentious as a fair grounds but it has a certain prim genteel atmosphere and the racing itself comes creditably near being a facsimile of New Yorks Delaware was dark a year It was prompted by transportation authori ¬ ties rather than by selfish reasons we be ¬ lieve The meeting is embellished with a roster of 13 stakes Five are enriched with 10000 Such fast colors as those of Glen Riddle Belair Stud Greentree Stable Fox catcher Farm W M Jeffords and George D Widener are to be seen during the 30 programs The Kent Diamond State and Delaware Oaks are among the clubs more significant fixtures Sun Lover narrowly beat Eight Thirty and Challedon in a spirited finish climaxing the 1939 Kent you may recall recallDelaware Delaware is steeplechase addicts Castle in Spain The track has two hedge courses designed by Willie duPont who is recognized as this continents foremost authority in the construction of chase tracks DuPont originally planned all steeplechase meets at Stanton it is said Unable to make a go of it the club still places emphasis on this phase of the sport General manager Field advises that if business justi ¬ fies an increase in the 1500 purse minimum the increase will be in the form of War Bonds In 42 when the minimum was 1100 a total of 123000 in bonds was distributed to horsemenLaurel horsemen Laurel and Havre de Grace do not presume that Delawares resumption means they may reopen in the autumn It now appears that Maryland fall meets must be converged on Pimlico unless there is some extraordinary amendment of transporta ¬ tion restrictions Under the present law only 22 days are permissible at the Mary ¬ land Jockey Club course It had been pro ¬ posed to revise the law last spring provid ¬ ing 100 instead of 50 days at one track in the Free State But our advices are that the opportunity was neglected neglectedCharley Charley McLennan acquits him ¬ self as well at Suffolk Downs as he did at Hialeah Park He must be a versatile secretary for Boston racing is the antithesis of that at Hialeah New England owners seem content to claim or buy horses that are ready to win regardless of how little qual ¬ ity they may have McLennan ob ¬ serves continuing Only a rare few breed horses or purchase yearlings Of course such events as the Massa ¬ chusetts Handicap Yankee Narra gansett Special and New England Oaks always will lure name horses from Long Island But the general quality of racing Down East will be negligible until more Yankees be ¬ come more objective about the breeding and development of thor ¬ oughbredsTurfiana oughbreds Turfiana George Fritz Suffolk Downs timer has clocked every race run over the course Pat Farrel one of Charley Mc Lennans aides de camp is a grandson of the Fred Webb who rode Doncaster to vic ¬ tory in the 1873 Epsom Derby Arthur Gaignard head of the New England divi ¬ sion of the HBPA has Grand Ace and 25 mares at his Seekonk Mass farm The six Reynolds Brothers of Texas for whom Clyde Locklear trains have a 2000 acre horse farm at Fort Worth 640000 acres at Kent and 400000 more at Delharfc where cattle and sheep are reared The sires Blue Train Proph Lost Cause and Gala Hour stand there Fred Hoopev does not claim to have seen many horses but describes Alabama as one of the fast ¬ est of them from the gate Little Beans is training again He is the sire oE a colt and a filly foals of 44 in Kentucky Belmont Park now is equipped to sprinkle the track more thoroughly
