The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-01


Very obviously this will be in the
Santa Anita Handicap on Wash
ington's birthday, an event which
will be worth considerably more than
100000 to the winner.
No matter what other consider
ations may have been involved, you
can see it would have been poor
showmanship to match Cavalcade
against Discovery in minor test
with the big four star, razzle dazzle
championship still weeks off. These
are the two horses the public is in
terested in. 1t would have been
foolhardy to countenance previeW
which might possibly have made
both horses look bad.
The longer they are kept apart
the more intense the interest will
be in their possibilities in the Han
dicap. II you are no more than a
headline reader of the racing news,
you must know that Cavalcade and
Discovery were tremendous rivals as
3-year-olds. There wasn't a great
deal to choose between them, but
whatever edge there was, Cavalcade
carried.
Whenever you looked out at the
stretch during the running of one
of the major events of that season,
which was 1884, you would always
see the big Brookmeade Stable star
rolling down in front with Discov-
cry hot footing at his heels, hang
ing on like an animated shadow. In
deed, that's what the boys got to
calling Discovery that season-Cav-
alcades shadow.
The boys might have called him
the Yankees and been just as apt
too, because Discovery was always
finishing second. This started at
the Kentucky Derby when Caval-
cade came up from ninth place to
catch Discovery in the stretch and
run him right into the soft loan
on Col. Matt Winn's delightful old
plant.
Discovery Stepped Out
That's where it started and it
kept up all season, or until Caval-
cade was forced out of action with
a temperamental foot. Whistling
Bob Smith, his trainer, wasn't able
to bring him back to the races last
season and so one of the keener
rivalrieS of the American turf came
to a temporary end. Meanwhile
Discovery proceeded to develop into
a smashing 4-year-old, the handi-
cap king of the year.
There are confirmed second plac-
erS in sports and the mental att
tude unquestionably has much to
do with the inferior position of some
of them. For instance, Joe Jackson
never could beat Ty Cobb for the
batting championship. No matter
how hard Jackson hit, Cobb would
hit harder. In 1911 jackson hit .408
Cobb passed him with .410, after
first warning him he would.
1 am beginning to believe the
mental attitude represents much of
the difference between Helen Wills
Moody and Helen Jacobs, the ten
mis- players. Earlier in their asso-
citation the Moody lady planted the
notion of her superiority and APP
parently it still exists in the Jacobs
mind. The chances now are she
will never beat Moody if they meet
a thousand times.
Tiger Got the filters
Some fighters wither and shrink
under this same neurotic blight.
Tiger Flowers was a great fighter
but when he went into the ring
against Jack Delaney he had both
ears cooked for the lugubrious blast
of GabrielS horn. He knew it
wouldn't be long, and generally it
wasn't.
The Tiger was religious Negro
and the effect Delaney had on him
rather frightened him. He finally
said to Delaney, II don't want to
fight you no more. There's some
thing about you that jitters me-"
/ suppose it is foolish to imply a
horse can consciously develop a de-
featist attitude, but the fact re-
mains Discovery couldn't win
against Cavalcade, but as soon as
Cavalcade was out of action Dis
covery became the sensation of the
turf. He set world record for
mile and a furlong in winning the
Brooklyn Handicap and thereafter
in about two months he won eight
stakes in row, despite the fact he
was shipped around the country
like a'song ana dance act.
But that is all a lot of clipped
whiskers on the barber shop floor.
What's going to happen when and
If they come together as 5-year-
olds in the Santa Anita Handicap
this month? True, neither of them
may even finish in the money, but
the possibilities are exciting and if
old Cavvie is right again it will be
a horse race. Old Cavvie always
Used to see In IN that ~ NOS