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[ ■ to £ J I V t l J I f S j » , I ■ : 1 - i ! 1 i Forty-fourth Running of the Historic i Kentucky Derby i The forty-fourth Kentucky Derby will be run over the Churchill Downs track this afternoon, resolving the period of discussion and prediction into the more definite field of things ticcomplished. Allowing that anything may happen in a race, the Derby of this year has seemed i belong to a choice from but a few horses ever since the entries were made public. Unquestionably it has been robbed of much of its prospective brilliancy and interest by the difficulties in railroad transportation, which has deterred the owners of Papp, Jack Hare Jr., Rosie OGrady and other promising three-year-olds in the east, from sending them to Louisville to take part in the big race. However, a good field will go to the post, the usual great throng wiil be present and the usual turmoil of applause will greet the winner. For a long time Sun Briar was the favorite in popular estimation. In his extraordinary career as a two-year-old, there was abundant justification for the preference. But a race at I/exington, in which he was badly beaten by some common three-year-clds, so stunned his many admirers, that they have not recovered yet. Worse still, it was in muddy going, which was supposed to be in his favor. After being taken back to Louisville, his work was so unsatisfactory, that he has been reluctantly eliminated from the list of starters, his recently purchased stableinate, Exterminator, being named to go in his stead. The decline in favor of Sun Briar was followed by the steady advancement of War Cloud and Escoba. until it now seems a certainty that they will go to the post as first and second choices, with War Cloud probably given the preference. These two fine colts are in superb racing trim and it is really an open question as to which is best. Because that he is American-bred and Kentucky-bred and because he is owned by a gallant young Kentuckian now serving tv.£ country, superior sentimental considerations attach to Escoba and there is no doubt his success would be immensely popular. However, remembering his disappointments in previous I erby3, few would begrudge Mr. Macombers realization of his ardent desire to win the Kentucky Derby, if his English colt War Cloud should prove the victor. He showed a wonderful trial a few days back but, unless he carried the most weight, it was no better than Escobas convincing race, when he won the Derby Trial at Lexington. John W. Schorrs Jas. T. Clark has been working fast of late. On one of his races last year, thin colt calls for more than passing consideration. This was when over a muddy track at Douglas Park, he won the Spring Trial Stakes at five-eighths in 1 :01 2-5, defeating, among others, Tex Fornian, Escoba, Jack Hare Jr. and Atalanta. This was after he ran second to Escoba in the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs. He is in a dangerous stable and may prove a dangerous competitor. Lucky B., a brother of Emerson Cochran, did not do much as a two-year-old, taking one purse race in twelve starts. But he ran well at the recent Lexington meeting, winning his two races there. His first of the two was at three-quarters over a heavy track in 1 :19, which he won from Ernest B. and some others. This was nothing to boast of. But his next race was of a different complexion. Carrying 111 1-2 pounds, he won at a mile in 1:38 4-5, and easily defeated Sewell Combs, Everest and other fast ones. If up to repeating this mile at Louisville and covering the additional quarter in proportionate time, it would make him out capable of running the Derby distance in better than 2 : 04 on a fast track. That he jwssesses the outsiders chance is obvious. Viva America was one of the best fillies of last year, which was a year of good fillies east t.nd west. She is a big and muscular creature and gifted with a superior order of sjiecd. Although only third in the Derby Trial at Lexington, her race was a good one and should have served to key her up thoroughly. She has a chance. Sewell Combs is one of the many good scions of Jack Atkin in racing this year. He races well in any sort of going and, while not in the first flight, was a good two-year-old last year. He made a favorable impression in his first race this year, when he defeated W. P. Dabny, Kverest, James Foster and others in muddy going at Lexington April 23. He then finished second to Lucky B., when the latter ran his mile in 1 :38 4-5 and followed this up by running a §mi second to Escoba in the Derby Trial at a mile and an eighth in 1 :51 3-5. He is thor-; oughly fit and a fast one. Allowing for the unexjected, it does not appear that any of the others are likely to gain a place in the list of Kentucky Derby winners. Following is a table giving the weights, riders and records of the ten aspirants named to start, also their past ierformances : r-Scale Wt., Performances to Date. Horse. Wt. Jockey. On. Off. Sts. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Unp. Won. War Cloud 117 J. Loftus _ 5 6 4 10 1 ,292 Escoba 117 J. Notter — 5 14 6 1 5 2 18,854 Lucky B 117 J. McCabe 5 14 3 4 2 5 2,005 ■ Viva America.. 112 W.Warrington.— 5 15 8 1 3 3 8,752 i 1 American Eagle.117 E. Sande - 5 10 3 0 1 6 2,130 | Jas. T. Clark ..117 J. Morys — 5 15 3 4 2 6 6,081 Sewell Combs . . 117 I. Gentry — 5 8 3 3 0 2 1,972 . ! Aurum 117 D.Connelly...— 5 11 1 1 2 7 875 • Exterminator ..114 W. Knapp . . . . — 5 4 2 0 0 2 1,350 I Jim Heffering..H7 L. Gauge! — 5 11 4 3 0 4 4,055 [
