Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-01
Continued From PAGE c.,

winner) and the other time to
Summer Tan. Neither was able
to repeat, and Summer Tan
finished back Of Nashua five
times altogether before an in
jury put him on the shelf.
OFFER No Alibis
Owner Rex Ellsworth and
Meshach Tenney. trainer of
Swaps, offered no alibis for their
colts crushing defeat, but it's
only fair to state that the dull
track, following 21a inches Of
rain Monday night. didn't help
the California champion any.
The strip was officially labeled
good" at post time. but was
called slow during the first five
races. It wasn't anywhere near
as fast as Churchill Downs was
on Derby Day. much less those
pasteboard tracks on the West
Coast where Swaps had run most
Of his is races.
Nashua's winning time. 2:04is.
was nearly four seconds over
Ponder's track record.
Willie Shoemaker. Swaps dis
appointed rider, said. I'm not
making any excuses. but don't
think he cared much for the
track. He was laboring all the
way and didn't handle too well. :"
Shoemaker prefaced this longer
than-usual statement by saying.
Swaps tried. but he just couldn't
get there"
Recalls 1888 Race
The way the race was run, It
was singularly reminiscent OF
the oft-recalled Seabiscuit-War
Admiral match at Pimlico in
1898. That was the thriller in
which the canny George Woolf
shot Seabiscuit out Of the gate
ahead of the front-running War
Admiral, the 1-to-4 favorite.
Charley Kurtsinger got War Ad-
miral up on even terms going up
the backstretch and the two
horses raced as one until the
turn for home. Then Seabiscuit
bounded away under Woolf's
whip and won by four lengths
in track record time.
Arcaro and Nashua used the
same formula yesterday in beat
ing Swaps, who had won nine
straight races the same way War
Admiral won the Triple Crown
In l937-by taking the lead at
the start and never relinquishing
1t. Swaps defeat must have been
q crushing blow to CALIFORNIA;
sports pride even more so. than
the string Of Rose Bowl football
defeats.
When Ben Lindheimer, Wash
ington Parks executive director.
got Woodward and Ellsworth to
agree to a match to decide g.
year-old supremacy. there was
considerable talk about the
tracks 1.531-foot homestretch,
the longest in the country. How
ever, it didn't figure at all in the
outcome, and the race might as
well have been at 6 furlongs, in
stead Of the more classic mile
and-a-auarter.
Race Decided Early
Because all the principals
and probably most keen OBJ
servers among the millions who
saw the match on television--
agree that the race was decided.
once and for all, in the first
three-quarters Of mile. The
rest of it was mere anticlimax,
with Arcaro driving and whip
ping to the finish while Shoe
maker was easing UP an ex-
hausted Swaps.
The first shock for the pro-
Swaps crowd came when Nashua
got away from the gate a good
step ahead of his rival, who
swerved out a little cit almost
Immediately. An empty stall
separated the two colts in the
gate and Nashua, who had the
No. ! post, was steered to the
outside by Arcaro. seeking the
best footing possible.
Nashua had a slight lead 60
ing by the stands the first time,
with Arcaro failing away and
driving like he was on a quar-
ter horse and Shoemaker doing
his best to keep up. After
half-mile Nashua led by a length
and after six furlongs he was
in front by three lengths.
Times Tell Story
Perhaps the fractional times
tell the story best, SO here they
are: 10, :23. :342s, AS, $50,
l:102s, 1:233s, 1878. 1:5O3s
and 2:04h5,
In covering the first three
quarters in 1:102s, Nashua ran
a full second faster than Tuosix,
a topflight Splinter, did in the
race Just preceding the big
match. That race seemed to kill
off Swaps hopes, although the
Californian made several sharp
runs at Nashua going UP the
backstretch and once got UP to
within a neck Of the flying
leader. It was the Kentucky
Derby in reverse, it seemed, as
each time Arcaro sent big
Nashua bounding away.
After a mile, Nashua's margin
had diminished to 1h lengths,
but all through the long stretch
run the daylight margin was in
creasing until it was nearly seven