Evening star., 1938-12-18
BY MAX HILL,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

Associat ted Press Sports Writer.
II NEW YORK, Dec. 17.-They
hoisted Willie Johnson up on the
broad gray back of Yule Star, and
there the lean little jockey perched,
mighty disguised.
What" he asked, sourly, "am up
on? A broodmare?"
Well might he ask.
Yule Star, after all. was just an
other lead pony-like the new gentle
Punkin, for instance. who travels
around with the mighty Seabiscuit
lust to keep him in good humor.
Only Pun'kin has a past. He used
to be a rodeo broncho, and before
that cow pony.
BY chance Eugene Drillon, one
time tailor, happened along at an
auction Of horses owned by Baron
Long Of California Drillon liked
the looks of the big mild-mannered
lead pony and thought he might
turn out to be fair sort of race
horse.
He was sentimentahst, anyhow.
So he bid $500. Yule Star ambled
Sver to the Drillon barn. Long, no
doubt, considered himself lucky and
well rid of the docile and sometimes
lazy gray
He couldn't know about what was
going to happen out in st. Louis,
where we left Jockey Johnson
squirming uncomfortably in Drill
Ions red and green silks.
This was to be Yule Stars debut;
not that it mattered much to any one
but Drillon and the few souls who
thought so little of their money that
they bet on him.
Yule Star Takes a Gallop.
There was much scoffing in the
paddock. but mayhap you have
guessed by now that in the end Yule
Star made the other nags look to be
ponies themselves. He just galloped
along in front to win as he pleased,
q startled little skeptic arched over
his neck.
Since, the broad-backed gray has
proved just what bargain lead
pony can be. Last year he won 10
faces and more than $4,000, and in
1888 his earnings have topped $4,000.
Not bad for an original outlay OF
$500.
Drillon is just one of several thou
~ sand owner trainers who eat steak
when their horses win and crackers
and cheese when they don't.
They travel from Coast to Coast
and from North to South and back
again year after year. Cold weather
and snow send most of them in full
flight for the winter tracks in
Florida, New Orleans and Califor-
mia: others 60 back to the farm for
q few months of slippered quiet
Next spring back. they will come
pocketbooks permitting, of course,
for it costs money to ship horses-to
the tracks in Kentucky and Mary
land and Illinois and New York and
Massachusetts,.
Racing seems to be catching in
the blood of a family and often as
not brother follows brother into the
business or son picks up where
father left off.
These are the Alexandra brothers
from Canada. the Buxton brothers
from New York. and that shrewd
Maryland trio. Donald. Frank and
Yancey Christmas. who used to be
farmers before they found out about
racing. lbs
Christmases Take OH Class.
For the most part the Christmas
oiry,, ~, ~
In the last year or so each has had
crack performer in his care.
ponalds Accolade, which whipped
some of the best of the present-d day
sprinters, was picked up as a colt
for less than good pillow horse
would have cost. Many times Acco-
lade has kept red ink days from
coming around the corner and meet
ing his owner face to face.
Frank had Cinderella horse this
year, trim little fllly named Idle
Miss. One of the mysteries of
raclng-and even the Wisest men of
the turft can't explain it's why a
horse one year can't run a lick and
the next year comes back to trim
the best of them
That happened to Idle Miss.
Last year she found the compe-
tition too stiff to handle even at
Charles Town in West Virginia.
y mile track
This year she humbled such good
ones as Esposa. Jacola (both of
whom beat Seabiscuit) and Fighting
Epx. She picked up $4,000 in purses
End won of her Is starts.
It's that 18th start that we are
thinking about, for Frank Christ
mas good fllly is just a memory to
him now. The closing day at Laurel
IN Maryland she slipped in the mud
on the stretch turn and went down.
She broke hind leg, and the track
veterinarian could do nothing but
destroy her.
Jockey Alfred Robertson, whose
father is trainer himself scrambled
to his feet unhurt. Luck was with
rim that day. for many jockeys are
crippled or killed in spills such as
this one.
Meanwhile. the tense thousands
who had roared encouragement for
Jacola, the favorite, to hold her
lead as she splashed down the stretch.
milled now around the pari-mutuel
windows unaware of the tragedy
far down the track, not knowing
ex,, perhaps, not caring about the
empty stall in the Christmas barn
and the sorrowing man packing up
to move on to Pimlico
Rough Time Well Named.
Yancey Christmas has Rough