Here and There on the Turf: Some Kentucky Derby Imaginings. Preakness Stakes Horses Not Feared. Nassau and Enchantment Outstanding Now, Daily Racing Form, 1923-05-16

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i 1 Here and There 2 3 on the Turf 5 5 Some Kentucky Derby Imag- 7 7 inings. Preakness Stakes Horses 1 , Not Feared. 3 J 2 Nassau and Enchantment 4 ■ Outstanding Now. ■ 6 6 The Kentucky Derby still remains a decidedly 7 open race even after many of the eligibles were raced to their capacity in the 1 1 2 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Saturday. The 3 3 Churchill Downs race is at a mile and a quarter and the extra eighth is sure to make a u difference to some of those that ran in the 0 C 7 7 big race of the Maryland Jockey Club. In the Kentucky Derby the starters have to take up scale weight, colts 126 and fillies 121 pounds. This is sure to make a difference, taking a line through the Preakness Stakes, when colts with i aiowances beat all those which had to carry 1 full weight. 2 I 3 While the Kentucky Derby candidates that j 4 5 have been training and racing in New York and I j Maryland have had their opportunity in the Preakness Stakes, Kentucky candidates for 1 the rich race have be;n going along at Lexington and later at Churchill Downs in a k 2 ■ manner to suggest that possibly after all the ! I 3 East is not destined to have anything like a 1 walkover or even more than a chance. Frederick Johnsons Nassau, by his easy victory I at a mile in the Eastern Parkway Purse at I Churchill Downs Monday and the manner in 1 which the son of Nassovian and Philistia stuck • it out after having set a swift pace in the early f running, was, to say the least, impressive. It ■ was the second start for this good colt and in j his previous race he was also an easy winner r in fast time from Boys Believe Me, Bo McMillan and other good ones. Just now he z seems best of the Kentucky trained three-year-olds . and decidedly better than any of the e Preakness Stakes starters. Two that finished back of Nassau that have e been prominently mentioned and heavily backed for the Kentucky Derby are In Me-moriam ■- and Prince K. Each of these was making his first start of the year and raced J poorly, but each has been training for the e Derby in a fashion that was, to say the least, : satisfying. With the running of the Derby y only three days away there will be no chance e for another race for those that started Monday y and on the showing of both Prince K. and In a Memoriam they could hardly be taken seriously y in the race Saturday. Of course, it is natural ■ to expect that each one of them may improve a materially over this, their first race of the year. It is always this way for every running of the Kentucky Derby and it is the delightful ll uncertainty of the outcome that lends a pe culiar charm. The eligibles flash to the front with a brilliant trial or race one after another ;r and then one after another some of the most brilliant fail. The one least thought cf takes .. the measure of the stars, and there ever will be a constant changing of opinion right up to o the running of the race. • Walter G. Salmons Vigil, before he won the te e y a y ■ a of ll ;r .. to o te Preakness Stakes last Saturday, was looked upon as a sturdy, honest colt and was always running gallantly through the stretch, but he was scarcely considered brilliant, nor is he. Honesty and courage are his principal at-e tributes and a great many of those who pinned their faith to the pair that Tom Healey saddled at Pimlico Saturday expected Richard T. Wilsons Tall Timber, rather than Vigil, to turn the trick. Tall Timber did his part nobly, but when the real racing came in the stretch it was the honesty and courage of Vigil that tri-st umphed. Just how Vigil will race when he is required to take up the additional twelve pounds he will have in the saddle Saturdav remains to be seen. An allowance of twelve pounds is a big help over any distance, and more of a help at a mile and an eighth than might be readily realized by the layman. And 1 , it should be recognized that Vigils victory Y was in an astonishingly slow and bad race. James Rowe has a whole stable of good ones s that are eligible to the Derby, but it is probable ,. that the gelding Enchantment is the best t one that will race for Harry Payne Whitney. On his racing of last year he might prove to o i be the best three-year-cld of this year. The fact that he is a gelding barred him from start ing in the Preakness Stakes and it will be a a bar against his going to the post in the Belmont Stakes, as well as some of the other r big three year old fixtures. Early in the racing season, before Rowe e brought his string from Brookdale, it was s rumored that Enchantment was not training in a manner that was entirely satisfactory, r, o a a r e s r, but his brilliant race at Pimlico on the oc-e casion of his only start left no. doubt of his fitness for the Derby. In that race he took up 119 pounds and after beginning last be-1- cause of being bumped back at the start was only beaten a short neck by King Albert, a useful six-year-old that only had 104 pounds in the saddle. Possibly if one guessed that the result of the Lerby lies between Nassau, En-g chantment and one of Bradleys he would not be guessing very wide of the mark.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1923051601/drf1923051601_2_2
Local Identifier: drf1923051601_2_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800