Kentucky Derby Rivalry: Eastern Owners Have Won Event Eight Times in Last Ten, Daily Racing Form, 1924-03-22

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KENTUCKY DERBY RIVALRY . Eastern Owners Have Won Event Eight Times in Last Ten. Begrct, HotreTer, Was Only Eastern-Bred Horse to Score in Classic During That Time. . NEW YORK. N. T., March 21. The East wili make a powerful bid for Kentuckys Golden Jubilee of 0,000 added and gold plate at Churchill Downs the third Saturday of this coming May. Within the last ten years the East has won eight Derbys. Regret bore the silks of Harry Payne Whitney in 1915, George Smith won fof John Sanford of Amsterdam in 1316, Omar Khayyam for Frederick Johnson and C. K. G. killings in 1917, Exterminator for Willis Sharpe Kilmer of Binghamton in 1918, Sir Barton for Commander J. K. L. Ross in 1919, Paul Jones for Ral Parr and J. S. Cosden of Baltimore in 1920, Morvich for Benjamin Block in 1922 and Zev for Harry F. Sinclair in 1923. The only western victories of the period were those of Old Rosebud in 1914 and Behave Yourself in 1921. Old Rosebud bore the silks of W. E. Applegate, an old and popular sportsman of Louisville : Behave Yourself the green and white of Edward Riley Bradley of Lexington. Of the eight victories recorded for the East Regrets win was the only success of a genuinely eastern-bred horse. Regret was bred by Harry Payne Whitney in New Jersey. The other winners were Kentuckians or outlanders. But the nativity of the horse does not seem to count in these American racing rivalries. It is the, place of residence of the owners and whether they patronize regularly the Eastern or the Kentucky tracks. EXTERMINATORS VICTORY. The victory of Exterminator, which has since become a long distance running champion and is now at Tijuana, went down in the records as an eastern victory as a consequence of one of the casualties of training that are inseparable from racing and its chief fascination. Henry McDaniel, who is training Exterminator at Tijuana, took Sun Briar, the crack two-year-old of the year-1917, to Kentucky in March 1918 to prepare him for the forty-fourth Derby. Sun Briar galloped brilliantly, for a while. By contracting a-deep cold some two weeks before Derby day he had to be thrown out of training. Mr. Kilmer, at Lexington at the time, was keenly disappointed when McDaniel broke the news to him. "I must win this Derby," he said to McDaniel. "It is up to you to find the winner and buy him." "What do you want to pay?" asked McDaniel. "I want the Derby winner," was the Binghamton sportsmans ultimatum. McDaniel had been impressed by the good work for the Derby over the old Lexington course of an angular gelding by McGee in the stable of J. C. Milam. The morning after McDaniels colloquy with Kilmer he asked Milam to let him see that gelding work-again. Milam obliged a day or so later and McDaniel was more impressed. He wanted to know how much. AVhen Milam said 5,-000 McDaniel laconically informed him that he had sold a horse. Mr. Kilmer was not sure McDaniel had bought wisely. The McGee gelding had done no more under the name of Exterminator tho year before than win a couple of overnight races in Kentucky. His name did not figure in the big stake returns. Escoba and Viva America, two-year-old stake winners of 1917, looked dangerous. But Exterminators Derby victory and subsequent successes vindicated abundantly McDaniels sagacity. Milam berates himself whenever he contemplates Exterminators record. Great as Exterminator has proved himself to be there is a strong probability that Sun Briar would have beaten him in the 191S Derby if he had trained. Sun Briar was as good a mud runner as Exterminator the forty-fourth Derby was run through heavy going. At Saratoga in August, 1918, Sun Briar won the Delaware Handicap, going a mile in 1 :36Vs. and later defeated Johren, winner of the Suburban Handicap, Belmont Stakes, Latonia Derby and Lawrence Realization and the acknowledged three-year-old champion in a revival of the Travers. In a private trial against the watch in September he ran a mile in the amazing time of 1 :34, shading by four-fifths of a second Roamers recently established time record for America. American racing probably never developed a faster horse than Sun Briar. He was English bred, a son of Sundridge, sire of the celebrated English stock horse Sunstar. Harry Payne Whitney has had many Derby disappointments, notably Thunderer, Dominant, Upset, Wildair, Tryster, Prudery and Enchantment. But to have sent to the post the only filly winner in forty-nine years of Derby history should be sufficient for the racing glory of any sportsman. Regret, daughter of Broomstick and Jersey Lightning, beat a good band of three-year-olds in 1915. She was great, or she could not have won a Kentucky Derby. Unlike those other great mares of American racing, Miss Woodford, Firenze, Briar Sweet, Imp, Artful, Beldame and Flying Fairy, which have failed as producers, she seems destined for unusual stud success. She has already given racing winners of class in Penitent, Revenge and Nemesis and may be depended on to improve on them. SIR BARTON WINS FOR ROSS. To Commander Ross belongs the distinction of having sent to the post the first entry to finish one-two in a Derby revival. When Sir Barton won in 1919 the nearest horse to him at the finish was his stable mate Billy Kelly. Sir Bartons triumph was a countrywide surprise. Besides Billy Kelly in the field , that finished behind him was the fleet Eternal. At Laurel Park in October, 1918,-Eternal had won the juvenile championship from Billy Kelly by beating him in a renewal at a three-quarters dash for two-year-olds of the 0,000 John R. McLean Memorial Cup. Sir Barton went to the post in the forty- fifth Derby a maiden. He was the first horse of American racing history to break into the winrers class by winning a Derby. Later in 1919 he demonstrated that his Derby triumph was no mistake by winning the Preakness, Withers and Belmont Stakes and the Maryland Handicap. As a four-year-old he won the fastest Saratoga Handicap ever run, beating Exterminator, Wildair, The Porter and Mad Hatter, and covering the mile and a quarter in 2:01. Sir Barton was easily the three- and four-year-old champion of his day. Finishing one-two in the Derby of 1921 Behave Yourself and Black Servant accomplished for Mr. Bradley another such feat as Sir Barton and Billy Kelly had achieved for Commander Ross. The successes of these colts, which beat Prudery, Tryster, Leonardo II. and Bon Homme, was a triumph for the Idle Hour Stud. Mr. Bradley, for : many years a commanding figure in American racing and production, bred Behave Yourself and Black Servant. Behave Yourself was a son of Marathon ; Black Servants i sire was Black Toney, son of Peter Pan and i Belgravia.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1924032201/drf1924032201_12_2
Local Identifier: drf1924032201_12_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800