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■ REFLECTIONS - By Nelson Dunstan Polynesian a Colt of Royal Lineage Black Maria Crack Racer of Her Day Snider Gave Hoop Jr. Fine Preakness Ride Big Events at Anita Start Saturday NEW YORK. N. Y., June 19. Directors of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations will meet in their New York office tomorrow morning. ... As stated in this column last Friday, the parking lots at New York tracks will be open to the public starting tomorrow. . . . A record crowd is expected to witness the running of the 0,000 Santa Anita Derby this week-end and the 00,000 Santa Anita Handicap on June 30. . . . La Favorita Stable will sell six horses, including Mettlesome, along with 22 from The Barrington Stable at the Fasig-Tipton Company sale on Friday morning at Belmont Park. The Army is buying medium-sized mules for pack duty in the Pacific. . . . Five hundred thousand fans witnessed the running of the Grand Steeplechase of Paris at Auteuil on Saturday last. . . . An eastern breeder tried to buy the sires Roman and Unbreakable sire of Polynesian last winter, but neither were for sale. . . . Steeplechase jockey William Tyree started and ended his career at the present Belmont meeting, riding only two jumpers, both of whom suffered broken legs. "Thats enough — Im going back to Virginia." said Tyree. With some surprise we read in a newspaper that Polynesian is "of obscure parentage and that all the progeny of Unbreakable had been sold for the proverbial song as yearlings." As everyone knows, Polynesian is by Unbreakable, out of Black Polly, by Polymelian, second dam Black Queen, who is by Pompey — Black Maria, by Black Toney. Unbreakable was a winner in England at two, three and four, and the winner of such events as the Victoria Cup, Waterford Stakes, Richmond Stakes and other events. His sire, Sickle, was winner of the Prince of Wales and other stakes in England, and a leading sire in this country for two seasons. His stake winners included Stagehand, Cravat. Brevity, Misty Isle, Reaping Reward, and he also was the sire of stake winners in England and France. Polynesian was in Unbreakables second crop of foals. In his third crop, which were yearlings in 1944, the prices for them ranged from ,400 down to ,000, and we would hardly call that the "proverbial song," even though they are far below the 6,000 which Maine Chance Farm paid for a Sickle colt and the 8,000 William Helis paid for another Sickle colt last season. Black Polly, dam of Polynesian, won only one race, but she did prove her speed, so that is nothing to hold against a mare | as well bred as she was. Her dam. Black Queen, a daughter of Pompey, was a winner as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old i ran second to that fine racer Dark Secret in the Laurel Stakes. Going just one remove more, we find that Black Queen was out of Black Maria by Black Toney », one of the finest race mares of her day and winner of 18 races, including the Kentucky Oaks, Illinois Oaks, Whitney Stakes, and second in the Suburban to Crusader, in 1927. So when it comes to royal heritage. Black Polly can be just as proud on her side of the family as Unbreak- . able can be for the fact that he is a son of Sickle, who wrote a brilliant page of breeding history in this country. To our way of thinking, Unbreakable is a promising young sire and we do not have to go beyond Polynesian to prove our point. Another item to his credit is that the Elmendorf interests thought enough of him to place him in their stud barn. How anyone could criticize Snider for the fact that t Hoop Jr. was defeated in the Preakness is beyond us. When we consider that the Hooper colt came out of the race so lame that he may never race again, his showing is J all the more remarkable, and we believe that his jockey is entitled to a world of credit for the manner in which 4 he rode the horse. For anyone to say "it would have been different with Arcaro up" is just an indication to us that the person evidently did not see the race, or, if he did, he does not know what he is talking about. The easiest thing in the world is to place blame on a jockey, and it can also , be just about the most unfair thing that can be written. Anyone who reads this column knows of our admiration for Eddie Arcaro as a race rider. He is one of the best, if not the best jockey in this country today, but, had he been on Hoop Jr. in the Preakness, the colt would have done no better — if as well — than with Snider aboard. That Hoop Jr. finished second is a tribute to his speed and his sameness, and also a tribute to Albert Snider, the boy who rode him. Santa Anita will play an important part in the national rac- i ing picture of the next three weeks. This Saturdays 0,000 Santa Anita Derby is being followed by the 00,000 Santa Anita ; Handicap, and then a week later the 0,000 Santa Margarita ; Handicap, richest race in th*. world for fillies and mares. Fillies i are not ordinarily regarded as Derby "threats," but this Saturday the colts will have Busher, champion two-year-old filly of 1944, as the one to beat. On June 30 the Santa Anita Handicap will draw the best handicap horses on the West Coast. Last Saturday the Beverly Hills Handicap was won by Thumbs Up. With Regard was second. Brie a Bac third, and Gay Dalton, the Mexican "wonder horse," in the beaten field. Thumbs Up has staged a fine comeback and he looks all over the horse to beat for the j pot of gold on June 30. Should Busher go on to win the Santa Margarita, we can see a match race natural — with Gallorette, 1 winner of the Pimlico Oaks — in the making, providing, of course. | that the Brann fltiiss continues her winning ways when she meets Good Blood, Monsoon, Recce and others in the Delaware Oaks I and later events.
