The Washington times., 1935-01-11

y II q III y " IL
Cav alca d e,
super-horse of
1884, which is
Bill COrum taking his
tie to Santa Anita to risk it in
title to Santa Anita to risk it in
horses, including the brown
horse of Observation-Disclosures.
Cavalcade is a 4-year-old now,
all thoroughbreds having passed
another milestone on January l,
and as "Humming Bob" Smith
loads him on the train at Co.
lumbia, S. c., he will be hum
ming an extra lively tune.
"Humming Bob" thinks Mrs.
Dodge Sloan's brown runner
can't miss in his tranScontinen-
tai jaunt in quest of the hun
dred-thousand-dollar prize that
the Santa Anita track has hung
up for the dream race" on
February 23-and "Humming
Bob" usually is right.
Only this time 1 am forced to
take a ticket against him.
Strangely enough, I am taking
. flutter on the comeback horse
Twenty Grand-in "St. Louis
Tom" Kearney's future book on
the Santa Anita, for which I
have a good reason. But a rea-
son a trifle too technical and
involved to allow me to explain
1t in detail here.
Praises Cavalcade
Perhaps it is enough to say
that John Hay (Jock) Whitney
arrived from the Coast all but
breathless with excitement over
the big bays amazing comeback.
Trainer Bill Brennan had to
scratch him for the third success
sive time yesterday. when sud-
den rain turned the Santa Anita
track into a sea of mud. But
Jock says the big bay son of
st. German has never been
sharper or better in all his spec
tacular career, and if that is
true, Cavalcade will be on his
way to a horse race when they
lead him onto the train Monday.
It is my opinion, and even con-
viction, that Cavalcade has
never yet been asked to look a
top-notch distance horse in the
eye in that amazing stretch run
that has endeared him to the
turf world.
In short, by and large, I be-
lieve he has been running over
stopping horses. It's going to be
different when he tiptoes along
side of "Ekkie" and Big Red"
The former is not a only great
distance horse. A mile is his
deep dish apple, as I know him,
and I think 1 know him pretty
well. But he has one blazing
burst of speed which, if nursed,
as Sonny" Workman cleverly
nurses it, will get him home on
top at any route up a mile and
one-Quarter.
The distance of the Santa
Anita Handicap will be a mile
and three.sixteenths, which is
not beyond the powers of the
sturdy, short coupled brown bull
dog of Brookdale.
Holds Advantage
But where you match a nat
ural distance racer and a nat
ural sprinter at mile and three
siXteenths, l must believe that
the route runner has a certain
advantage. 1t is a distance long
enough to permit his jockey to
place him with confidence, and
also long enough to permit the
horse to find his real racing legs.
In other words, it is a distance
that gives even the most slug
gish beginner ample time in
which to get up to the pace
maker-and win, if he is good
enough.
Which is why l am stringing
with Twenty Grand. I have
seen my share of race horses
over the last decade. and it is
my deep-Seated belief that no
horse of our time will outrun the
aged Greentree hope in the
stretch once they have travelled
a mile.
I know that Cavalcade is a
true reuter-. and that he literally
made their eyes pop out in De-
troit last summer by falling
right out of the clouds in the
last sixteenth. But l must in
sist on believing that he was not
running over any Twent ty
GrandS and Equipoises and
Mates and Head Plays in that
one.
But let's not pity poor Mrs.
Dodge Sloane too prematurely.
The luck of the Mistress of
Brookmeade may not prove to be
so roseate in 1885 as it was in
l934-it isn't reasonable to be.
lieve it can be-but she carries
a horseshoe in either hand at
these big stakes.