view raw text
CONCLUSION DRAWN FROM RACING OF KENTUCKY DERBY ELIGIBLES AT LEXINGTON LEXINGTONBy By DE M M LEACH Lexington Ky May 4 One of the outstanding features of tlie Lexington spring meeting was the meritorious performance of Jefferson Livingstons Derby eligible the imported colt Royal II notes on wliose pedigree were published in the Daily Racing Form only a few days ago The style in which tlie sou of Your Majesty and Lady Ethel won the one mile and seventy yards John S Barbee purse was most convinciug Itoyal II in this race was pitted against the cream bar Phos ¬ phor and Manager Waite of the threeyearolds now in training at the local course On the open ¬ ing day of the meeting Royal II by the resolute manner in which lie battled out a stirring finish after having lost much ground in the early stages of the race and finished on top of that flyer Haw ¬ thorn made us all sit up ami take notice and It was at once recognized that hi Koyal II Mr Livingston is possessed of a colt of considerable merit meritIn In his race of April 24th Royal II got away from the post in a tangle being off on tne wrong foot and did not get balanced until rounding the turn Racing up the backstretch the chancv of ultimate victory for the imported colt seemed small indeed However Royal 11 went at It in earnest bound ¬ ing up the hill with giant strides passing his tiring opponent one by one until a liundred yards from home only Sharpshooter was ahead which held nearly a length advantage Some way some ¬ how Royal II just did manage to get up and score a head victory Truly it was a marvelous performance one of the best over witnessed on this historic course Royal II has now established for himself a reputation as H thoroughly game honest colt Sharpshooter it must not be forgotten beat last back end at Laurel a smart field which included Pebbles Deductions are obvious Sharp ¬ shooter bent Pebbles as did Regret and as we approach the day set for the running of the Ken ¬ tucky Derby It becomes more than ever apparent that Mr Whitneys lilly will have to be smart in ¬ deed to leaij her opponents home Royal II whose condition reflects any amount of credit on his painstaking trainer Herman Brandt will doubt ¬ less be greatly benefited by these two races in public a big advantage over those which have I dccidtd to make their first start at Churchill Downs DownsRoyal Royal II is a stoutly made Imv showing sofne thlng of the St Simon excitability strong and muscular a trifie under sixteen hands tremendous ¬ ly powerful hips and inarters a real solid sort and one which when his racing days are over will be certain to develop into one of our leading sires and backed by the kudos of a Kentucky Derby victory would be assured of full patronage by our breeders Royal IIs victory In the Ken ¬ tucky Derby would hi more ways than one be of great benefit to American blood stock interests A victory in the big race would strve as a stimulus to ills owner who was here to sec his favorite win and the victory of an Imported colt in a race of such importance would give impetus to the scheme now on foot to purchase and import high class blood stock from abroad Leaving the course in company with one of our prominent breeders who also maintains a large racing stable he remarked slowly and meditatively Blood will tell and I think I could have guessed the trend of his thoughts Yes breeding does count will continue to count perhaps even more so now that our breeders are beginning to wake up to the fact that blood will tell tellOther Other Kentucky Derby candidates which have shown in public and come out of their races with credit are Phosphor Leo Ray and Sharpshooter Chalmers cannot stay the distance but If his ex ¬ ertions are confined to sprinting he will indeed be a hard nut for the best of them to crack Emer son Cochran finished unplaced to Royal II in the Derby trial and has not been seen out since Gold crest Bov again disappointed in the Camdcn as did Limlenthal on the previous Wednesday Pif Jr has not as yet been sent to the post Phosphor however registered a stylish performance in a six furlong dash running the distance in 112 a track record I Ivelicve and thereby made many friends for himself for the Derby Some will have it however that Phosphor does not really stay but for my part I saw no indications of Winching and the son of Peep o Day and Jlyrtelns should not find the Dorbv distance beyond his compass Phosphor compassPhosphor which is trained by William Karrlck is a line upstanding bay carries himself well six ¬ teen hands or more a free running horse which covers an Immense amount of ground in his stride carries his head a lilt high for a genuine stayer but surely he should not find the one and one cpiarter miles Derby distance beyond his tether When considering the Derby ollgibles whose pedi ¬ grees worked out best I inadvertently omitted the name of Phosphor A glance at his pedigree re ¬ veals the fact that he is one of the best bred of the entire lot Myrtelus the dam in bred on the Eclipse Herod Matchem plan of mating and the sire of Peep oDay introduces two valuable crosses of Thonnanby and I feel certain that Phosphor will give a more than creditable account of himself next Saturday SaturdaySharpshooters Sharpshooters performance in the Derby trial was not yearly so convinciug I rather thought the Mc Gee colt finished a bit slack and that an extra effort would have won for him Sharpshooter is a bay gelding with finely placed shoulders deep through the heart slack over the loins rather leggy having an unfinished look about him and for him time should do much In fact I do not expect to see Sharpshooter at his best until well on towards autumn However he Is a free goer and a far striding horse but does not carry the bloom and polish of his stable companion Phosphor PhosphorLeo Leo Ray disappointed me In the Derby trial but his race in the Camden Handicap puts an entirely different aspect on affairs Beaten It Is true into third place in the Camden Leo Raj proved himself to be the best Qf all the three yearolds which took part In that race His heart is evidently in the right place and his chestnut coat was shining bright a wellordered horse as fit as hands can make him and will beat more than will beat him next Saturday The stay ¬ ing blood In liis dam should serve him in good stead steadFrom From what I have seen during the Lexington spring meeting I have come to the conclusion that Royal II Phosphor Sharpshooter and Leo Ray are tlio only colts nov quartered at the local course which hold any sort of chance for the Kentucky Derby DerbyMediocre Mediocre about expresses the quality of the majority of our twoyearolds which have so far sported silk Bulsc however may be something out of the common a big burly chestnut sou of Disguise and the Herod marc Nethersole by Tournament son of Sir Modred out of Imported Fairy Slipper dam of Flying Prince and Sweeper by St Serf and traces to RIgolboche Cremornes dam From this particular branch of the No 2 family come such topsawyers as Peter Pan The Tetrarch the French filly Clyde and Maiden Er legh Last Saturday however we were introduced to Senator Camdens Marsc Henry which was unanimously pronounced to be the l est colt which has so far l een seen out this season Marse Henry is a Hartlandbred son of Ben Brush and Nuns Cloth by Melton sire of Sysonby Marse Henry was delivered at the post in splendid con ¬ dition by trainer Peter WImmer of KInley Mack and Ben Holladay fame and never gave his op ¬ ponents a chance from tlag fall to finish increas iug the advantage he had established at the start with every stride through the stretch many lengths in front of the lalwrlng opponents Marse Henry just likes to run for the fun of It and I have not witnessed a more Impressive performance since Traquette smashed up her opposition in the Maribyruong Plate at Fleminjjton Did Ben Brush as did his sire Bramble wears well and comes of a longlived house and Nuns Cloth is by Jlel tcn whose daughters are annually becoming more famous as producers Black Jester and Jest nre out of Absurd by Melton winners resjiectively of The St Lcger City and Suburban One Thousand Guineas and Oaks Nuns Cloth Is a chestnut out of St Odille by the chestnut colorcontrolling stallion Hermit Ben Brush however is a pure dominant and true to traditions controlled the color in this case Dee the next dam is by iBlair thol thus giving a fine return of the Queen Mary blood to the Queen Mary in Bonnie Scot ¬ land Marse Henry is a member of the No 4 family of which the Layton Barb mare is the tap root and as soon as Marse Henry compliments i the distinguished journalist from whom he takes I his name by winning a sweepstakes at Louisville I shall send along his extended pedigree pedigreeThe The Derby trial of a mile and an eighth which was run over the Kentucky Association course last Tuesday would I felt certain shed some light on the result of the Kentucky Derby but in some ways the Derby trial proved an unsatisfactory race Sharpshooter the winner was out to the last ounce to withstand the attentions of the soil ¬ ing plater Tctan Emerson Cochran ran a dull listless sort of race and Royal II would not try a yard From my viewpoint Sharpshooters vic ¬ tory was anything but an impressive one and Butwells fine horsemanship was largely responsible for the JIcGee colts success Tctan a few days previously was entered to be sold for 1000 and beaten by First Degree This surely does not read like Derby form The weather which was unpleasantlv raw and cold may have had some ¬ thing to do with Royal IIs poor performance Anyway the horse was not at all on good terms with himself and tried to get the better of his bny in the preliminary and was a bit awkward at the post In the race itself Royal II abso ¬ lutely refused to gallop Sons and daughters of Persimmon were notoriously uncertain even that grand race mare Sceptre had her whimsies other ¬ wise how could Elba have beaten her for the Park Hill Stakes right after she had romped home for the St Lcger Your Majesty sire of Royal II was true and honest as the day is long and the old leaven has again cropped out in this case but it will never do to utterly condemn Royal II on his performance of last Tuesday However if Royal II can be persuaded to gallop on Derby day the one that l eats him will win the race but he can no longer be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy trustworthyAnother Another race run on Tuesday which had some bearing on the Derby was the mile which was won by Phosphor in a drive from Goldcrest Boy Phosphor however ran like a sprinter and it was only his early speed which won for him On the other hand Goldcrest Boy improved over his previous display and Is a game honest sort for what ho can do doTake Take it all in all the most meritorious per ¬ formance on the part of any threeyearold bar Royal IIs victory over Sharpshooter which has so far shown in public was that of Leo Ray in the Camden Handicap Trainer William Young was asking a lot of the son of Electioneer to con ¬ cede twenty pounds to the fouryearold Indolence and eight pounds to the fiveyearold Rol ert Brad ¬ ley so early in the season and on this race Leo Ray might easily be made out to be the best of all the threeyearolds which have raced at the Lexington meeting However if Regret is all that her connections claim for the life of me I cannot see how she is to be beaten even though she has not had the advantage of a run in public
