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TRAININGCONDITIONS IDEAL KENTUCKY HORSES IN MORE ADVANCED FORM THAN EVER BEFORE KNOWN. Capt. J. T. Williams Shows Up a Fast Two- Year-Old in Governor Gray — Gossip of Louisville Tracks. Louisville. Ky.. April 2. — Owners and trainers of horses at Chun-hill Downs and Douglas Park assert that never iu their recollection have they eaacriaaaaal such perfect conditions for the preparation of their charges l.»r spring racing. The season is six weeks advanced, and. the only objectionable feature noted this week has been a lack of moisture, resulting in muck dust. The courses at lioth the Huwiis and Douglas Park have been fast for weeks, and this has enabled the handlers of horses to get good results. Systematic training has been possible for weeks, which means that no trainer has been hurrying hia racers. For this reason there are more good horses in condition for the races tluiu has been the ease lor ears. One trainer, who said tlwit he had handled trotters for twenty-five years and runners for eighteen years, stated tliat Is- could not recall the time when similar conditions had existed. Generally it was the middle of April before real training was •possible, and now every horse here has undergone at least one months iireparation. Illustrative of Ute conditions at the iKiwns. Waldo, favorite at this time in the Kentucky Derbv, easily worked a mile in l:47ii. After this trial a turfman who enjoys a reputation for good judgment said: "To me Waldo is u 1 to 4 shot in the Derby if nothing happens. He seems to lie in perfect condition. Raleigh Colston, his trainer, is one of the best handlers of high-class horses this country has ever known. He is easily the successor of Brown Dick. knows his place and knows his business just as well as he knows his place. I pay this ileserveit tribute to Colston to demonstrate what the public may expect of Waldo If no misfortune overtakes the horse. "I saw Waldo in all of his eastern engagements last year. 1 saw him come from In-hind and win in a gallop. in the Flalbiish Stakes I saw- him raster all the way. 1 saw him win with Nieol on his back when Nlcol was not at his best. 1 saw him win easily with Butler up, and Butler was not iu form at all. I saw him win with McCarthy aboard, and I marveled. He may lie a sprinter, but 1 do know that he is a race horse all over. Ttu» Derby route will exactly suit him. I lielieve the wise folk pick Bo -a Grande as second best, with Fighting Bob close up. Boca Grande has won at a mile, but he failed at a mile and an eighth. Fighting Bob is growing in favor rapidly. He is going miles in 1:47 and it looks as if he will train on. I know he likes the route, and I recollect the day. in a nice against Boca Grande, lie had Boca Grande as straight as a string. It looks as if it is going to be a royal struggle between Waldo. Baca Grande and Fighting Bob. but. as the world knows, time brings many changes, and nothing is so uncertain as a boss race." " Col. M. L. Clark, who established and laid out Churchill Downs, built it with the purpose to duplicate Epsom Downs in England. The conditions of the original Derby, at a mile and a half ruu over the Churchill Downs course, were perhaps as near that of the great Knglish Derby as any American fixed event has ever been. The Derby, as originally run. with all its environments, was copied after the big race in England, the special feature being the free field for the general public who did not have the gate entrance fee to spare, but who were Imrn anil reared to love a horse race. .From 1S75 until IBM the free field prevailed at Churchill Downs. The crowds that would attend the historic course on l erby day were worth going miles to see. When the weather was favorable at least twenty-five or thirty thousand could 1m- seen across from the grandstand enclosure waiting to see the Derby. On the day the Derby-was run crowds began going to the Daaraa at sun-up. It was always a holiday for most all the laboring folk. Every manner of vehicle was put into use to carry the people to the course. Along Third aveuue. from nine oclock in the morning until two in the afternoon, a continuous stream of wagons, buggies and every other kind of vehicle could be seen. Interest for days before the Derby was always intense, especially among the humbler classes. It was the talk in homes and public places and nearly everybody went. That veteran turfman. Capt. J. T. William", of Checkmate. Joe Cotton and Rams Horn fame, furnished a surprise for railbirds at Douglas Park yesterday when he showed what looks to lie one of the promising two-year-olds of the coming racing season. The fast work was done by the bay-colt. Governor Gray, a lvalf-brother to Waldo, by Garry Hermann. The good-looking youngster worked three-eighths in .10$ and a half in 4".»4. He pulled up fresh.. and what impressed the trainers who saw the work out was that he ran the last part of the trial much faster than he did the first. Captain Williams is fitting Governor Gray for the Lexington Breeders Futurity, and will take Waldos near relative to the blue grass city to run in that event. He will have much local backing for the big rai-e if he continues to improve on his fast work of yesterday, which is aliout the best done by any of the two-yea r-olds at either track this spring, save iK-rhaps a colt or two in J. W. May-s stable, which will not figure at all in racing on the Kentucky circuit this year. Captain Williams was so pleased with Governor Grays work that he walked entirely around the track to note just the condition of the ground that Waldos half-brother ran over. Right now the Douglas Park track is ctippy and slow, being covered with heavy dust. The veteran Woodford County horseman has come to the hx-al meeting this season with an unusually aood-looking band of t.vo-year-olds. He has a promising bay gelding, a half-lrt-other to Fulfill, by Garrv llermann. out of Tactful, by Mirthful, which he has named County Tax. Another one of the youngsters is called Karl Senff. being a bay colt bv Buck Mas-sie. out of Lady Miles, and still another good looker is the bay colt by Brldgewater— Rosefay. which he has mimed Sve-r Owen. He also has two nice fillies, i no by Semproniiis and the other bv Allowav. out of the Hanover mare. Helen Thomas. Captain Williams has seemingly entirely recovered fr his late s|k-11 of illness, and is looking cbvsclv after his string in training this spring. He has planned an eastern campaign, but will not go to the iiietro|n.litaii tracks heme the meeting at Churchill Downs is over. He has Waldos half brother well e i::a;:eil in the east, as well as in the chief eveuts of Kentucky racing. Captain Kennedy. J. J. Flannigans lratohed up cripple, has so far shown tlie most dazzling bit of s|iee l at Douglas Park, he having worked a quarter iu 23, Flannigan let him go on three-quarters in l:t9», and had the boy pull him up a mile in alunit a tw -ininiite clip. Captain Ketniiily is training soundly so far this spring, and Flannigan expects to have a good season with the horse. The former Apphgato trainer made an addition to his stable yesterday when he IkuiIiI from trainer J. W. May the richlv bred two year -old bay colt bv tlie Hamburg stallion. Inflexible, out of Orbuna. by Ormonde. Continued ou second page. TRAINING CONDITIONS IDEAL. Continued from first page, i Flannlgan cannot hope to race this myall -bred colt this spring owing t" a necessity for using the tiring iron on him, imr he expects to turn ur with a useful colt in Hie fall. J. Y. May has shipped to Lexington to be turned out for the summer at II. P. Hcadloys Beaumont Farm the chestnut two-year-old colt by Islington Dainty. He had to blister the youngsters heels and will as a consequence let him run out until late in the summer. The trainer think--that this colt will make a nice race horse, and for that reason turned down a good offer for him made by one of the trainers at Douglas Park. Mr. May goes east next Wednesday with ihe otlier horses he now has at Douglas Park, numbering fourteen head, two of which are three year-olds and the rest two-year olds. He will go direct to the Sheepshead Bav track, and will be ready to cut into the racing with the opening of the A iu duct meeting April 1.". He considers his horses in condition for early spring racing and thinks that this season he lias as good material for a suceessiul campaign as he ever trained. L. H. Davis, secretary of the New Louisville Jockey Club, annoiiuees that all records . will be broken as to the number of horses which will com pete during the tw ■•nty i hree days of racing which opens at Churchill Downs May 10. Every stall at Churchill Downs has been engaged. It is predicted that all of the stalls at Douglas Park will be filled aud that it will be necessary to place horses in private stables. C. E. Patterson will race ten horses at the Spring meeting at Churchill Downs, including Kercheval and Pirate Diaua. Edward Corrigans string consists of ten horses, and at the etoae of the meeting at Icusacola. he will ship direct to Chen-hill Downs. Walter tirater will bring fourteen horses from Lexington. He is training loba Furlong for tin-Derby cad says the e .11 will be a sine starter If he continues to train on. CM Marshall, who is training .1. L. Ross Derby candidate. Phil Mohr. will ship the Boss stable here from Oakland. Wade M -Lemon-, who owns Meadow. Nila. Sterlin and Bate, will arrive at the Downs tomorrow from Albany, Texaa.
