Evening star., 1953-08-02
By John ChondIer
Associated Press Sports Writer

SARAIOGA SPRINGS, N. Y,
Aug. 1.-When Tom Fool was a
yearling, he stuck his right hind
leg through a fence and injured
his right hind cannon bone. It
was a fool thing to do.
Now, he is jumping with all
four feet smack into racing's
richest and most time-honored
stakes races. There's nothing
wrong with that leg he hurt in
1850, as the horses who have
tried unsuccessfully to beat him
this year can attest. His next
race is the Wilson Mile here
Tuesday, after that perhaps the
$4,000 Whitney Stakes at a
mile and one quarter next Sat-
urday. Both are weight-for-age
races. The Wilson is the first
big event on Saratoga's 24-day
program which opens tomorrow.
Tom Fool, voted the cham
pion. 2-year-old of 1851, is the
pride of the Greentree Stable
of John Hay (Jock) Whitney
and his sister, Mrs. Charles S.
Payson. He won't lack hackers
if and when he meets Native
Dancer, the 3-year-old cham
pion, later in the year.
The strapping bay colt, now a
4-year-old, cost Greentree some
where between $4,000 and $780,
900. it is reported, in a private
deal with his breeder, Duval A.
Heardley of Manchester Farm,
Lexington, KY. That was in
April, 1850, when the leg
through -the-fence incident hap
pened. The injury re-opened
later, and was slow in healing,
but Tom Fool is as sound now
as the dollars he's managed to
earn, with much more in sight.
Gaver Rates Him at Top.
"I've got to rate him right
at the top of all the horses I've
ever trained" said John Milton
Gaver, who conditions the Green
tree runners.
Shut Out was a better slayer;
others might have been better
at some other distance or in
some characteristic, but Tom
Fool is definitely the best. His
disposition is one of the best
things about him. He never
gives us any trouble"
Whereas Shut Out won the
1912 Kentucky Derby for Green
tree, Tom Fool was forced to
skip the Louisville classic. for
which he'd been winter-book ia
vorite. He came down with q
fever and cough on the eve Of
being shipped to Kentucky, and
not only missed the Derby, but
the Preakness and Belmont
Stakes as well.
Out of Money Only Once.
The son of MenoW-Gaga, by
Bulldog, has started 26 times,
and was out of the money only
once in his career. That was last
summer when he still was not
fully recovered, and ran on a
muddy track in a prep for the
Arlington Classic. He was
scratched from the Classic.
He beat Battlefield by a nose
in the Grey Lag Handicap, lost
to the same horse by a nose in
the WestcheSter Handicap, then
closed out his season with vic
tory in the Empire City Handi-
cap.
This spring, Tom Fool is un-
defeated although Handicapped
John B. Campbell has been load
ing him with weight.
Tom Fool carried 1870 pounds
and beat Royal Vale half a
length IN the Metropolitan Hand
leap, and packed 1913 pounds to
beat Royal Vale by a nose in the
Suburban, this country's most
famous handicap at mile and
a quarter.
Won Carter Under 135 Pounds.
Next came the Carter Hand
leap at Aqueduct. Tom Fool got
135 pounds for this seven
furlong sprint, and became the
first horse to win the race with
that kind of a load. He equalled
the track record to boot.
Campbell showed no mercy
when it came time to issue
weights on the Brooklyn Hand
leap. This race was back at the
mile-and-a-quarter distance, yet
Tom Fool was assigned 1856
pounds.
He won it in a brilliant per-
formance July II. Only one other
horse. Discovery, had been able
to win the Brooklyn under 1856
pounds, and the distance that
year was only a mile and one
eighth.
Tom Fool also became the Sec
ond horse to sweep the three