Imperial Valley press., 1939-10-18
SPORTS PARADE
BY HENRY MCLEMORE

NEW YORK. Oct. 18. (UP)-If
what the clock says is true (and
experience has taught me never to
dispute anything that has two good
hands, then Challedon looks like
mighty good thing in the Pimlico
special at Baltimore the first day
of next month.
This big Maryland bred colt, who
outlasted Johnstown to establish
himself as the best three-year-old
IN the country, figures to tate Kayak
II, Cravat and 1solator in the race
that carries a $4,000 purse and the
pleasing title, horse of the year.
The special will be run over the
same distance that Seabiscuit and
War Admiral travelled in the first
special year ago, mile and three
sixteenths. This route fits Challe-
don just as perfectly as l0C yards
does Jesse Owens, a mile ., does
Glenn Cunningham, and five miles
lid Nurmi.
Challedon won the Preakness, his
biggest inividual race at that dis
tance, and only last week at Keene-
land he blazed through a mile and
three-sixteenths in 1854 3-5 And
that speed was good enough to lop
two-fifths of a second off the old
world mark established by Discov-
cry. Challedon packed 100 pounds
1T Keeneland, one more than Dis
covery had up when he set his
mark of 1:55. and exactly the same
weight he will be asked to carry in
he special.
Speaking of weights, sometimes
the assignment of them to race
horses doesn't seem to make much
sense. Take the Specials weights.
for example. Insofar as anyone
knows, Challedon is the best of the
horses in the field. But because he
is a three-year- he will get off
with 120 pounds, and the others
will have to pack 126. They're older
and therefore are assumed to have
stouter legs bigger lungs, stronger
backs and more willing spirits. The
fact that they might not be as fast
is not taken into consideration.
Challedon's chief opposition at
Pimlico "a track he is very fond of,
incidentally is likely to come from
Kayak II. True the South Ameri-
can ace was beaten, and badly, by
Challedon in the Narragansett Spe-
cial. but it isn't likely that Kayak
the Twice was at his best for that
race. 1t was his first appearance
in the east after long trip from
California, and he wasn't thorough
ly settled
Let no one tell you that Kayak II
can't run. I saw him win the $780,
900 handicap at Santa Anita early
in the year, and in that race and
several others he looked unbeatable.
Blessed with plenty of early foot
he stayed with the sprinters from
the start and at the finish his
abundant stamina found him going
away.
Cravat looked good on the coast,
too, especially in winning the $25 900
San Juan Capistrano handicap.
But that financially named stake
was at a mile and half, and that |
is the distance Cravat likes, because
he is a slow starter who really |
doesn't begin to run until he has
warmed up for a mile. Yet, accord
ing to Alfred Vanderbilt, head of
Pimlico and sponsor of the special
Cravat's owner, Townsend Martin,
said the mile and ee-sixteenths
route suited him perfectly.
Isolator will be the outsider in
the race, both in the betting and
breeding. He was foaled in Ireland
on the farm of Boyd
England's best known trainer and |
the man who handles william
Woodward's foreign stable. ISolator
was supposed to have confined his
racing to English tracks, but when
the English placed a tremendous
tax on Irish horses, owner Wood
ward brought him TO this country.