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MACKAYS KENTUCKY DERBY CANDIDATES. . Two French Bred Colts Which May Have to Be ! Carefully Considered Presently. Louisville, Ky.. March 25. — For the first time in i the history of the Kentucky Derby tin- noted tint man of three countries. Clarence 11. Mackay, has I made nominations to the race. In the last twenty years Air. Alack. iy has been , a prominent figure in racing circles, not onl. iii i this country but also in England and Franc-. Like . S many other patrons of the sport of vast wealth, tin war in Europe has forced him to discontinue . for the time being his turf operations in France . and. as a consequence, he lias come back with , MUM of his horses to race them in his native land. Franc- has been his latest field of operation and 1 he has met with a fair measure of success in that country, which "-.es to show that the two colts be ha- nominated t- the Derby must be reckoned with i as dangerous. Owing to the war in Europe, neither r of Mr. Mackays two Kentucky Derby eligibles, Haffouillenr or Esprit Ganisis ever raced as two-rear . olds but. according to that expert horseman, Charles Hill, who has the racing string in charm. both have shown aim in their private training all 1 the requisites of high -class colts. Esprit Caulois is by the French-bred horse Ea-belais. - while BanTouillear is a son of Meddler, while both are out of mares well known to American - turfmen, the formers dam being the famous s Gunfire, while Baffouilleur is out of the succes ful broodmare Ballantrae. If the colts start they V will be entitled to the twelve-pound maiden allowance. This will enable one or both of them t. start t iu the rich Stake under an impost of 112 pounds. Meddhr. the sire ,,f Baffouilleur, was one of tie e most papular horses that was ever in the stud in n this country. He was unbeati -n as a racer in u England, where he raced under the colors of tin-late e sportsman, Abmgtun Build. When the latter r . ! i I , i . . . , 1 died the heme was sold to the Boston turfman. W. II. Forbes, and when he passed away W. C. Whitney purchased him. Forbes paid the P.aird estate- X75.000 for Meddler, and he cost Mr. Whitney 649,000. At the hitters death he became the property of Mr. Mackay for 5,000. and spent several years in Kentucky at the farm when- at present is located the Wiekliffe Stud of Price McKinnoy. G unfile, the dam of Esprit Gaulois. was a brilliant race mare. She earned 4,806 on the turf and her victories included the Metropolitan Handicap. one mile in 1:38%; the Municipal Handicap, one mile and three quarters in 2:50; the Twin City Handieap. one mile and a quartet in 2:05]i. and the Venus and Mermaid Stakes. She belongs to the family of tin- famous English Derby winners, Galtoe More and Ard Patrick. Through Meddler. PafTouillcur has in his veins the blood royal of the English turf. The latters sire. St. Gatien. and his dam. Busybody, both were the same age. having been foaled in 1881, In ls.sl St. Gatien ran a dead heat with Harvesty in the Epsom Derby, and the same spring Busybody won both the One Thousand Guineas and the Epsom Oaks. Busybody was a daughter of Petrarch, which won both the Two Thousand Guineas and Dosteaster St. Leger. Her dam was Spinaway, a winner of the One Thousand Guineas and Oaks. She was by Macaroni, which won both the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby, and her dam was another Oaks winner. Queen Bertha, by Kingston. The above resume will doubtlessly cause no little speculation among turfmen as to the merits of the two three-year-olds that Mackay has named to carry his colors in the Kentucky Derby for tin-first time. Both these colts were bred and foaled in France and. if II. Eugene Leigh, who won the Kentucky Derby with Chant in ls!4. is correct in his summing up of horses of all nations,, when he says tile French horses are the greatest, then thCM two three-year-olds in the New York turfmans stable loom up like giants in the path of tin-other fifty-four eligibles. From the various training grounds of the many Kentucky eligibles come reports of the well doing of many supposed cracks, and it would be no surprise next .May. to see a field of fully twenty starters contest the lag race at the Downs. At the training grounds here, where a number of the prominent Derby Candidates are now housed, all are doing well in their preparation and while no one of the number is as yet up to any fast trial work, some of them have this early been a quarter shading :20. With open Spring weather trainers, should have no excuse iu preparing their Derby candidates by the date the event has been set to be decided this year; which is five days later than last year, when the big race was run on May 8. Three weeks ago Secretary II. C. Anplegate filed letters sent by the managers of the leading hotels in this city, in which they requested him. as soon as possible, to inform them of the date of the opening of Lie Downs meeting. They explained thai for a month past they had been receiving communications fr an patrons all over America asking for hotel an ommodations luring tin- meeting to come. This goes to show the widespread interest that Kentucky racing is attracting this year and probably insures a record breaking crowd out to see the Kentucky Derby ran, The purse races at Churchill Downs will be un- u-ually attractive this spring. There will be no 1 purse of less than 1916.sh08 and seven races will be run each afternoon. The meeting at tin- Down-, will come to a close on Saturday, May 7. and. as usual, the big feature race for that day will be the Ken- tuck; Oaks, tin- firsl winner of which was Vandals noted daughter Vinaigrette, and the winner last : .Mar the fast jilly Watt-rhlnssoin.
