view raw text
BEN BRUSHS DERBY YEAR ♦ Recalling Events of Churchill Downs Spring Meeting of 1896. a . How MM sire of Broomstiek, twocn and other I anions lllMI Defeated Ben lider In Ueinarkalily lose Finish. — I LOUISVILLE Ky.. April 11.— Turf history! was made at Churchill Downs during the .spring meeting of lSOi when Ren Brush won the Kentucky Derby from Ben Her by a Mae. Many who saw that finish are not satisfied yet that Ben Eder did not win it. but after events proved that Ben Brush was a better colt than Ben Eder at any distance. It was the year that the new grandstand, which still forms the nucleus for the extended stands of the present Kentucky Jockey Clubs structure was used for racing crowds. It is directly across the track from the location of the original wooden grandstand, every trace of which has been obliterated years ago. Bt ■ Brush, the sire of Broomstick. Sweep and others which have carried on his line with remarkable success, was purchased as a yearling by Eugene Leigh and John Brown Brown Dick*, one of the most notable negro conditioners of that period. "Brown Dick" trained the colt at Churchill Downs for his two-year-old engagements. He won the first crack out of the box when he took the Cadet ■takes at Churchill Downs, defeating the odds-on favorite Miss Maxim. He also won the Harold Stakes at Latonia and the Emerald atal Diamond Stakes at the Oakley track, near Cincinnati, before he was taken East for further conquests. There he won the Prospect aid Champagne Stakes and. finally at tlie close of the season, was sold to Michael K. Dwyer for 3,000. In his three-year-old form Ben Brush was quits successful, but how he was beaten in the St. Louis National Derby transferred I from Hawthorne, Chicago. -Derby is quite an interesting story. Ben Brush was not a big horse, hut was compactly built, shortly coupled and. what might be called, "all horse." what there was of him. He came from an illustrious sire. Bramble and. as for I his mother he claimed the blue-blooded matron. Iloscville. His grandsire was the immortal Bonnie Scotland. So. for breeding, Ben Brush had no blot on his escutcheon. SPEEDY LADY IBEX. Racing had been discontinued around Chicago tiiat year and was not on aneb a j solid footing in the East. Hence, the racing I at Louisville attracted practically all the professional turfmen, both East and West. The distance of the Derby had been change. from one mile and a half to one mile and a quarter under the new managment. "Im- brella" Bill McCuigan had brought to the Downs two highly tried three-year-olds, a ! colt and a filly, respectively Ben Eder and Lady Inez. The filly had just won the Ti nness e Oaks at Memphis and had run second in the Tennessee Derby to Berelair. l with Ben Eder third. The Kentucky Derby resulted in one of i the closest finishes in its history, with Ben , Brush getting the verdict after some hesitancy on the part of the judges. "Mike" Dwyer. owner of Ben Brush, was one of the timers and was more excited at the liinish s than on occasions when he had lost thousands of dollars without batting an eye. I A few days after the Derby Ben Brush met Lady Inez at a. mile and the race re- * suited in a dead heat. Mr. Dwyer wanted to split the purse, not wanting to run his colt back, as he had so many engagements ahead. ] McCuigan was obdurate and insisted it be run off. It is related that he was influenced to run the race off by Byron McClelland. owner of Prince Lief, one of the most astute and successful turfman Kentucky ever pro- j duced. McCuigan took McOlellands advice and the horses were called back to the post 1 after twenty minutes for cooling out. Of course. Ben Brush beat the filly easily, but he appeared a bit fagged as if he had had , too much racing for the day at the finish. Ben Bier afterward won the Clark Stakes I at the same meeting, but he did not have Ben Brush to beat, as that colt refused the issue. At the conclusion of the Churchill Downs meeting the scene shifted to Latonia. where F Ben I .rush easily took Ben Eders measure in the Latonia Derby, at a mile and a half. I In the meantime Byron McClelland was winning races with his good colt at the Oakley. Ohio, track, and conditioning him for what he knew would be the crucial test when the crack three-year-olds met in the National j Derby, to be run at St. Louis. The National Derby that year was worth while. • having an added value of 0,000. which was the richeat of fixtures in those days. r When the day of the big race at St. Louis , came Ben Brush. Prince Lief and Ben ESder were on hand to decide the three-year-old n championship of the year. Prince Lief beat Ben Brush and Ben Eder finished third. The distance was a mile and a half, both Prince Lief and Ben Brush carrying 127 pounds and Ben Eder 122 pounds. The race was worth 1.100 to the winner. The time j, was 2 :.!!. This held as a record for the St. Louis Derby, both from a monetary and time D standpoint, during the history of the race. All the chief actors in that race drama are ,! dead Dwyer, hteClelland ami McCuigan, as ,, well as the horses— but the story still lives that Byron McClelland won that Derby for i: ■ Prince Lief through pure racing strategy and a modicum of old-fashion* d horse sense.
