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OAKLAWN DERBY ELIGIBLES Veteran Trainer Considers Eter ¬ nal a Great ThreeYearOId Also Analyzes the Form of Drum Drummond mond American Ace Sailor Sailorand and Under Fire in Racing HAVRE DE GRACE Md April 22 Robert A Smith the successful campaigner the two past years of Slippery Em and the developer before Slippery Klins time of Articulate Greyfield anil a score of other horses of nationwide renown is enthusiastically an Eternal man in so far as the Kentucky Derby is concerned Mr Smith has Just arrived at Havre de rare from Hot Springs where he had a fine opportunity of getting a line on the general condi ¬ tion and the immediate racing fitness not only of Eternal but of Edward Cebrians Derby candi ¬ date American Ace 1at Dunnes hone Under Fire M Sheas Drummond and one or two other candi ¬ dates for Churchill Downs popular threeyearold special Smith was duly impressed by the excep ¬ tionally meritorious performances of Hilly Kelly fikvorite among most eastern trainers of the nu ¬ merous candidates for the Derby at Havre de Grace in the Harford and Philadelphia Handicaps sprints of five and a half furlongs and three quarters respectively in which Hilly Kelly under big weight defeated fast sprinters of the older division divisionHilly Hilly Kelly said Smith today is a better looking horse this spring than he was last year anil although he has done nothing yet that would indicate that he will maintain his brilliant speed over a long distance of sroiinjJ J have no clqujit tluil he will go oilaiiy distance His action Is as Stood as it ever was and he is still the same sober willing riicer Nevertheless Eternal beat him in the John R McLean Memorial at Laurel last fall after he had had a careful preparation at the hands of a good man and Eternal to my mind is an improved horse in ever particular particularI I never saw a threeyearold that impressed me more favorably than Eternal impressed me at Hot Springs He is a horse of perfect balance He has all the length the most exacting old fashioned trainers who never seem to be able to discuss anything but length in u thoroughbred could reasonably ask he is not one bit too leggy liis bone development is superb and his muscular development perfect in its uniformity I should say that lie would strip for the Dercy at 1030 or 1100 pounds find probably he measures 15 hands 1 inch at the withers although I did not chin him He may be taller than that A horse as symmetrically proportioned as Eternal does not show his height Fifteen hands 3 indies is ideal height for a thor ¬ oughbred More than 1100 pounds is too much weight weightACTION ACTION OF HORSE PERFECT PERFECTThe The action of this horse is perfect and al ¬ though he was supposed to have l een a more highly strung thoroughbred last year than was Hilly Kelly who trained like a bee steer he has not given Kimball Patterson the least trouble And Kimball Patterson lias given him just the sort of prepara ¬ tion at Hot Springs his brother the late Charles T Patterson gave Omar Khayyam for the Derby of 1917 which Omar won in brilliant fashion His most impressive trial over a considerable distance of ground at Oaklawn Park was his mile and a quarter in 209 He did this work smoothly and easily At no time was he fighting for his head or swallowing the bit He went about the job as though it was part of a days work and cooled out perfectly On another occasion when Patterson asked him for a bit of speed lie galloped a half mile in 4if and he did that easily too I have been training and watching horses work more years Mian I like to have to own and I can count on the fingers of one hand thoroughbreds that I have seen work halves in better than 46i seconds On still another occasion I saw him gallop one mile in 13 without apparent effort although his rider had been instructed to keep within a 142 gait He had his weight up on this occasion as he had when he galloped his mile and a quarter in 209 and turned his first half halfThat That Eternal is as eager to run and as hard to beat in an actual race lie proved when he trimmed Docod and Drjimmond at five and a half furlongs Doctod and Drummond were thoroughly seasoned and lie merely played with them That lie did not win off demonstrated that placing him in the Kentucky Derby or in any other race and saving his speed for the business end of the struggle would IMJ easy Hut this did not surprise inc 1 have al ¬ ways believed that Eternal could be placed and probably if I were managing him I would run him from behind This is not intended as a criticism of the manner in which Eternal lias been trained and raced in the past It is merely an ex ¬ pression of my personal opinion opinionAMERICAN AMERICAN ACE HIGHLY REGARDED REGARDEDOf Of the lesser candidates for the Derby at Hot Springs the most improved are Drummond Sailor American Ace and Under Fire Probably American Ace is the best of this band He has taken on a lot of flesh and he Is training soundly That was a brillant race of his at Oaklawn in the St Pat ¬ ricks Handicap when lie beat Bradleys Choice and Top o tli Morning at fiveeighths and he re ¬ peated later on by galloping away from Ultima Thiile and Diversion These are sprinters of good class and in the one case he raced from behind and in the other he raced out in front We have to take his ability to maintain his speed over a long distance of ground on faith but it looks as though he will do it Drummond won his best race at Hot Springs in heavy going but he did it in handsome fashion This improvement over his form of last year would seem to indicate that Drummond will be formidable wherever he runs No route will handicap this fellow I have looked up his pedigree on the female side It is one of the strongest In the Hritish Stud Hook Drummond is i purely English horse in fact His sire Ogden did his racing on this side of the Atlantic but he is Uritish thoroughout thoroughoutSailor Sailor which was bought by James McClel ¬ land and Patterson after he had shown speed and ability to maintain it at New Orleans is going to surprise you eastern racing folk when he comes north lie is quality all over and he has forgotten all about sulking Probably he will not be so formidable on a fast track this year but he will be a iKtar in muddy going Muddy going improves him about fifty pounds in fact Pat Dunne is copceded to be a pretty shrewd horseman and Duune thinks pretty well of bis Derby colt Under Fire which has shown as well in muddy going as on any other track Sailor played with Under Fire on a muddy track at New Orleans back in Feb ¬ ruary Sailor is bred to run fast and far All Gold had plenty of speed If he was something of a sulker Hoisterous Sailors dam is a halfsister of Mineola the dain of Johren
