Evening star., 1941-05-07
Topweighted Midland
Faces Big Test in
PimIico Feature
Our Boots, Hurt, May
Be Out of Classic, as
Is Bold Irishmun
Ry MASON BRUNSON,


BALTIMORE, May 7.-Handicap
performers stole the spotlight from
Whirlaway and other Preakness cam
didates today as Pimlicos -four
golden days of racing" opened with
the OOOO-added Dixie Handicap.
Plenty of PreakneSs pros and cons
were going the rounds, but chief in
terest lay in the Dixie and the first
appearance in the East this year of
c. S. Howard's Midland current
leader of the handicap division.
Midland, winner of four major
stakes this winter on the West
Coast, and second to Bay View in
Santa Anita's Hundred Grander, .
faced another eXacting test in the
Dixie against some of the best dis
tance runners in the country.
Midland was asked to shoulder top
weight of 120 pounds in the 3-16-
mile gallop, conceding pounds to
Mrs. G. D. Widener'S Your Chance,
second-high weight in the field of
IL, and % pounds to Mrs. Ella
Brysons feather-weighted fllly, Cis
Marion.
Declares Whirlaway Fit.
Name" horses entered included
Woodvale Farms Haltal, winner of
the McLennan and Clark Handi-
caps; Mrs. Ethel w. Mars Gala
hadion, 1910 Derby winner; Mrs. A.
j. Bael's Honey Cloud, 1910 Dixie
winner, and Mrs. Marie Evans Shot
Put, the long distance champion.
Arnold Hagners Dit, R. Sterling
Clark's Saguenay, I'd; Valdina
Farms Viscounty and Greentree
Stables Corydon completed the
field.
Speculation on the 51st running
Saturday of the $50,0OO- added
Preakness centered, meanwhile,
around four horses - Warren
Wright's Kentucky Derby winner,
Whirlaway; Crispin Oglebay's Ocean
Blue, Wheatley stables Bold Irish
man and Woodvale Farms Our
Boots
Railbirds wondered whether they
could depend on Whirlaway to run
back to his Derby effort, negotiate
the sharp bends here without
bearing out and make full use of
his burning speed in the short home
stretch.
Trainer Ben Jones, who brought
the four-legged ball of fire here
yesterday. gave this answer:
Hes a dead fit horse and on
Saturday he's going to run the
same kind of race he ran in the
Derby"
Ocean Blue Sets Record.
Ocean Blue, previously considered
Just a Sprinter, qualified yesterday
as a Preakness starter by racing a
mile and one-siXteenth in 1:4515
to set new record for the Survivor
Stakes. but there was some question
whether he would relish the longer
distance of the Preakness.
Big disappointment of the Sur
vivor was Bold Irishman. He raced
well for about six furlongs, but fin
tshed sixth and last. and today was
declared out of the Preakness.
Making his first start of the year,
the colt trained by Sunny Jim Fitz-
simmons didn't cause any general
surge Of confidence in his ability
to whip WhirlaWay, as he did in the
Futurity here last year.
A verdict on Our Boots was ex-
pected some time today. Trainer
Steve Judge said that the colt, which
grabbed his foreleg in the Derby,
came out of the race sore and there
was some doubt as to his fitness to
60 in the Preakness
The PreaknesS will close out the
-four golden days of racing" and
the Pimlico meeting. The $2,5OO-
added Carroll Handicap for fillies
will be run tomorrow and the IS OOO-
added Pimlico Nursery for 2-year-
clds on Friday,