The Washington times., 1938-04-15

.a a Boy, then
- -, . Mrs. George
~ MACY L. o h S.
trom's Bonnie Bunting and Mrs.
Arthur Whites Quality Folks.
There's not a sporty Junior
Lacquer in Washington who can
afford to miss the spring meet
OF the Middleburg hunt.
It will remind you Of nothing
so much as a huge cotilion
where the evening-tailed and
dinner.jacketed stays clan to-
gether in the center of the floor
and cast an occasional blase
glance in the general direction
of the shagging couples whirl-
ing around them. You would
scarcely be surprised to see an
effete-looking youth in a hounds
tooth jacket step out from the
center and tap Quality Folks
exercise boy on the shoulder.
Or would you?
And the clothes. Hit of the
fall meet was Mrs. Jock Whitney
in light green twill jodhpurs and
an exceptionally well-cut English
riding coat of dark green notified
tweed which reached nearly to
her knees. It takes a svelte fig
ure to wear such a long coat
without looking chunky.
PERFECT PICTURE
Bruce Cabot, cinema villain,
completed the perfect paddock
picture by appearing in knob
bly, hunting green tweed suit, a
green Tyrolean hat and, maybe
my memory's failing me, but i
could swear he was wearing
green suede shoes, too. An ideal
color background for a rudy
cocoa sun tan.
But the horses, let's get back
to the horses. Timber Jumps
are risky business. Each year
fewer and fewer horses are en-
tered. It takes horse with
heart and an owner who will
spend time and can afford to
spend plenty of money to get
an entry in condition. Nothing
much happens when a steeple.
chaser slips through brush. And
the top rail generally gets
knocked off when a horseShoW
entry makes a fault. But heaven
protect the gentleman jockey
whose horse makes a bad peck
over timber. A busted clavicle,
a misplaced knee and they think
they're lucky.
National Velvet" was grand
book about a 13-year-old English
girl, built like a string bean, who
masqueraded as a jockey and
won the Grand National. Such
things don't happen, but take
a look at the entry list for to-
morrow's meet. You'll find that
seven women have spent months
and shekels in getting II entries
into shape for the six-race card.
Pick of the lot, of course, is Mrs.
Frank M. Gould's OStend. That
horse has heart, or as WincheH
said of Franklin D., he's all
heart. (He wasn't funningO
The best timber race I ever
did see was last years Gold Cup
at Warrenton when Ostend
sloughed off contenders at every
Jump to end up in front Of Ran
dali Hagner's front door, the
winnah.
SIGN OF A GUTTER
The farmers race was fun,
too. It's always first and no
body has the dope on what to
play. Chances are one or two
may have made their only public
appearance on the pulling end Of
a pillow. I picked a half-bred
with powerful shoulders, rather
shortcoupled, because I liked
the way he held his head and,
particularly, the way he
switched his tail. He led far
and away half around and then
he practically switched that tail
off coming into the home stretch
while the other horses were be-
ing unsaddled. 1 learned later
that tail-sWitching is the sure
sign of a half-bred and a gutter.
But tomorrow's the day at
Middleburg. While you're stroll
ing around in the paddock or
sitting up in one of the iron
rallied boxes, keep an eye peeled
for a dark. unaSsuming looking
woman about medium height in
a light polo coat belted tight
about her middle and probably
a rundown felt knockabout
over her simple couture. That
will be Mrs. Frank M. Gould
and she owns Ostend, the horse
to beat in the main event, the
Middleburg Cup steeplechase-
over timber.
If you see a bedraggled looking
female running around asking
a lot of foolish questions and
wearing a six-year-old checked
riding coat and probably no hat
-thatll be me. I get all my
clothes at de Pinna's.
-VoTE FOR SUFFRAGE APRIL So