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After Coaltown, with 130 Ibs. up, romped home last month by seven lengths in the $50,000-added Gallant Fox Handicap, he was assigned 138 Ibs. for Memorial Day's Suburban Handicap at Belmont. "That would strip his gears," stormed Ben, "and if he won, the next time they'd put 145 on him." In short, Coaltown was a very doubtful starter in the Suburban.
Citation, second leading money-earner of all time ($865,150) and generally ranked with Man o' War, has been idle since he was "fired"* for an ankle injury five months ago. According to present plans, he will run in Chicago this summer. Shuddering to think of how much poundage handicappers would pile on him, Ben Jones is looking ahead to such weight-for-age fall classics as Belmont's Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Pimlico Special.
Many owners and trainers, wondering out loud if either Warren Wright or Ben Jones has any sporting blood in his system, argue that a horse can prove his greatness only under high weight. At anything like even weights, Citation and Coaltown are admittedly in a class by themselves. Horsemen and fans alike would like to see a match race between the two, but Warren Wright is too sharp a businessman to waste that much horsepower on a single race.
Citation v. Coaltown. Only last month Jimmy Jones said that "Citation could roll up Coaltown into a little ball and throw him away." Ben isn't that sure, or he makes believe he isn't. "Horses change," he hedges. "Coaltown is ten-times better than he was last year."
Calumet's greatest pair, while the same age (four) and the same height (16 hands), are poles apart in temperament and style. Citation is the class horse, a rugged bay that runs only as fast as he has to. "A Chinaman could train him," says Ben Jones. The only one he is hard on around the barn is his exercise boy; he gets his head low in morning gallops and just about pulls his rider's arms out of their sockets. He is a glutton for feed.
In a race Citation won't really extend himself unless he sees other horses in front of him. Once he gets in front (which he has done 27 times in his 29 races), he seems to relax, looks at the scenery and even throws a glance at the stands. Such inattention sometimes calls for a solid crack on the rump, which his jockey may have to repeat.
Pert, nut-brown Coaltown is the speed horse. He naturally bounces along at top speed unless he is restrained. Because of his terrific speed, cautious Ben Jones insists that Coaltown wear a quarter-inch pad of piano felt between hoof and shoe—just in case his feet start stinging. Coaltown, who has more crowd-appeal than Citation, at Florida's Hialeah Park last winter equaled the world record for a mile-and-an-eighth (1 :47 3/5). Then at Gulfstream Park, under a tight hold, he equaled the mile-and-a-quarter record of 1:59 4/5
Successor to Ponder? Even with their aces on the sidelines, Ben Jones & Partner Jimmy are not exactly badly off. Wistful, easily the outstanding three-year-old filly of the season after her victories in the Kentucky and Pimlico Oaks, has drawn a sharp bead on this weekend's rich Coaching Club American Oaks. Calumet's 1949 Kentucky Derby winner, Ponder (son of Pensive), is one of the favorites for the Belmont Stakes two weeks hence.