Winter Winners

Five years ago winter horse racing was just an occasion for gambling. All the top-notch race horses in the U. S. spent the winter resting up for the spring meetings in Maryland and Kentucky. Only castoffs were sent to the winter tracks. But since the founding of California's Santa Anita Park and its attractive $50,000 Derby and $100,000 Handicap, winter racing has become classy.

Not to be outdone by California, Florida's Hialeah Park followed suit three years ago with the inauguration of the Widener Challenge Cup race, a $50,000 handicap event named after its president, Joseph Early Widener. This year the Widener was scheduled for the same day as the Santa Anita Handicap. Last week these two rich handicaps brought the winter racing season to its climax.

At Santa Anita, 66,000 racing fans turned out in spite of the fact that -c- the widely publicized headliner, Charles S. Howard's Seabiscuit, odds-on favorite for the handicap, was unable to make an appearance because of an injured ankle. If the loyal Californians expected to see a second-rate race they had the surprise of their lives. For Owner Howard's second-best entry, an Argentine colt named Kayak II, not only outran his 15 rivals but set a new track record for a mile and a quarter--2 min., 1 2/5 seconds.

At Hialeah Park, Widener Day had its troubles too. The ballyhooed duel between Samuel Riddle's War Admiral and Maxwell (no relation) Howard's Stagehand fizzled when the pampered Riddle colt developed a slight fever three days before the race--when every seat in the Park had been sold. But Florida turf fans did not lose interest either.

Eager to see Stagehand, No. i money winner of 1938, repeat his performance of the fortnight before, when he snatched the McLennan Handicap from Warren Wright's promising Bull Lea in a spectacular stretch finish, 21,000 racing addicts jam-packed the Park--from the 40 -c- bleacher section reserved for colored folks to the ;ony terrace boxes atop the clubhouse. Everyone talked Stagehand--from Fred Snite Jr., the famed iron lung patient who, with the aid of a periscope and mirrors, watched the races from Ks ambulance railer parked midway down the homestretch, and the sport writer who bet his salary on Stagehand, to Seminole Indians who were lured from their nearby reservation to do a war dance in the infield for Mr. Widener's customers.

When the race was over, 21,000 astonished fans realized that thoroughbreds are thoroughly unpredictable. The mighty Stagehand, a notoriously slow starter, lacked the stretch-running drive to overtake the leaders this time, finished three lengths behind speedy Bull Lea and a half length behind Marshall Field's Sir Damion.

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