The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-02
Today;s Sport
 Parade
BY HENRY McLEMORE
Limited Press Staff Correspondent

Limited Press Stan COrreSpOn0cnt)
 Los Angeles, March 2(UP)-Are yoa man or a mouse?
 : U you are the former (and trust yorl are, because I would hate to have spent the best years of my life writing sports for group of mice) why don't you select your own winner of the $100,000 Santa Anita Handicap?
 Why don't you tell the experts and their guesses to go to blazes and strike out alone in search for the winner of the golden gallop?
 Home handicapping is very sirn- ple thing, and I can give you the rudiments in one easy lesson First get weather chart and figure out how it will be at Santa Anita on Saturday. Horses are very suscep- tible to weather conditions. Horses who are world beaters in snow and sleet may be no good in sand starms, and vice versa. If the forecast calls for a hot sun don't waste your time on a horse who is afraid of sunburn or freckles, or if rain and cold is likely, find yourself nag who likes to slip on some old clothes and tramp through the slush, 8 good briar clenched in his teeth and a faithful pup at his heels.
 Mixup
 Weather charts are not difficult to obtain, but be sure and get a genuine one. The. genuine ones are all unintelligible, and covered with a mad, exotic design of arrows, whirls, swirls, light shaded sections, dark shaded sections, and mysteri- ous low and high pressure areas If you get a chart that makes any sense you have been gypped and sold a counterfeit.
 After you have figured out the weather and have selected the horses who like that particular going, you are getting hot and are not far from the winner. All you have to do now is to make a study of the weights, the condition of the horses, the jockeys, the post positions, the dis tance, the breeding of the horses and the intent of the owners in entering for the handicap. This last item is breeze to figure out, being as the one and only intent of any owner is to have his steed bank home first and get that certified check for one hun- dred thousand dollars.
 Weight is a very important item. As big and strong as horses are, they react to added weight in surpris- ing manner. You wouldn't think that an animal weighing half a ton or more would care whether he carried no or 130 pounds, but horses have been known to bog down in the stretch in races in the early spring simply because their jockeys had forgotten to change from long to short underwear. Pay particular at- tention to the weight.
 Especial attention must be given to the jockeys. I find that a jockey born in November (especially if it were a November before the one of 1885 is a poor bet. Jockeys with only one arm and jockeys involved in breach of promise suits are bad risks, too. The same goes for jockeys who are afraid of horses and near sighted jockeys who are too vain to wear glasses.
 Almost Human
 The condition of the horses plays Q vital part in the task of selecting q winner. Your average horse isn't any too keen about racing anyway, and you can't blame him, because he gets the daylights beaten out of him if he gets ahead and two helpings of the same if he falls behind. If he doesn't happen to feel good he is not going to try, very hard. The play of emotions acroos 8 horses face is very slight, and I have stood and watched one by the hour without being able to tell whether he was happy, sad, pleased, disappointed, in ove, tilted, financially secure, or in trouble with his creditors. But maybe you can tell. If you .an, then handicapping will be al finch and yOu will clean up on Sat- lrday. Copyright 1889 by United press>i