view raw text
Here and There on the Turf I — Derby Day, the biggest day in all the year tor Kentucky and one of the most important racing days of the American racing calendar, Is here. This afternoon, at old Churchill Downs, the best of the three-year-olds at this time will fight it out over the mile and n quarter route for a prize that counts for much more in sporting importance than the 0,000 hung up by the Churchill Downs Association. This wonderful old classic, which had its first running away back in 1875, when H. P. JIcGraths Aristides, great son of Lexington, Jed his field home, has ever since been the race for which breeders and sportsmen have striven year after year. It has been a high honor indeed to take down a Kentucky Derby, and it has been a high honor indeed for the breeder who produced a winner of the f-eat race. Edward R. Bradley already has two winners to his credit in Behave Yourself, in 1921, and Bubbling Over, in 1926, while H. P. Whitney has had his silks triumphant on two occasions with the queenly filly Regret, the only one of her sex to be i winner, in 1915, and again with Whiskery, in 1927. This year Mr. Bradley has a royal chance to take down his third with Blue Larkspur while Mr. Whitney is without a starter, so that there is better than a chance that the top score of the great classic will go to the master of the Idle Hour Farm. And it must be remembered that in both of the previous Bradley triumphs the white and green silks were both first and second, lor in the Behave Yourself year Blaefc Servant, a stablemate, was second, while in 1926 it was Bradleys Bagenbaggage which raced second. Then there was George J. Long, who won with Azra in 1892 and again With Sir Huon in 1906. Right up to the eve of the running the consensus of expert opinion rated Blue Larkspur as best among those named for the renewal this afternoon and, while there have been frequent surprises in the running of the great race, the defeat of the Bradley champion would probably be the greatest surprise In the history of the running. But, no matter from whence comes the winner of the fifty-fifth running of the Kentucky Derby it remains an American classic that baa a greater appeal than any other fixture. Another bit of interesting history in the famous old classic is the fact that Falsetto •was the only sire to be represented by three winners, though there were several that be-fjfot two of the victors. The Falsetto winners were Chant in 1894. His Eminence in 1901 and Sir Huon in 1906. Then the sires represented by two winners nave been Vigil, with Vagrant, winner of the second running in 1876, and Hindoo the 1881 winner ; Fonso the 1880 winner and Joe Cotton in 1895 were both sons of King Alfonso ; Longfellow is represented by Leonatus in 1883 and Riley in 1890 ; Broomstick sent out his first winner in Meridian in 1911 and then the queenly Regret in 1915 ; Donerail in 1913 and Exterminator in 1918 were both sons cf McGee ; the two winners for The Finn were Zev in 1923 and Flying Ebony in 1925. And in all the years of the Kentucky Derby the only winner who afterwards sired a winner was Halma, which scored in 1895 to have his son Alan-a-Dale the winner of the 1902 running. This afternoon, should Naishapur be the winner it will be a duplication of the Halma score for Omar Khayyam, the sire of this good colt, was winner of the 1917 renewal. And be it remembered that this same Naishapur is of Derby calibre, as the colts got his year, and he will have a big following whon he goes to the post. Begorra, son of The Finn and Hyda, that races for W. R. Coe, has moved up considerably this season and his score of Wednesday at Jamaica gives him new importance among the three-year-olds. When he romped home ten lengths between Mei Foo, in the running of the Southampton Handicap, a mile and a sixteenth test, he proved conclusively that he is something much better than a sprinter. And the time for the running, through muddy going, was excellent when he raced in 1 :44*$ with such consummate ease. The same Southampton marked one more crushing defeat for Mei Foo from Harry F. Sinclairs Rancocas Stable, and it is hard to understand how this same colt was such a brilliant winner of the Paumonok Handicap, the opening day of the Jamaica meeting. That sensational score, over older horses, suggested that he might prove a dangerous factor in both the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby, but lie seemed to have left everything in the Paumonok. At no time has lie come back to that performance. 1 3 : 1 I ! ; j • I , i , i I i , - 1 i . i - - e e - ■ ~ t 0 e L Begorra had been named for the Kentucky Derby, together with Dail and Irish, but not one of the trio had shown enough to induce the preparation of any one of them for the classic. It is possible that had the son of The Finn shown the form he displayed in the running of the Southampton, earlier in the racing year, he might now be at Churchill Downs to try for the big prize. One of the most important changes of racing scene in New York came about Friday with the move from Jamaica, the racing ground of the Metropolitan Jockey Club, to magnificent Belmont Park and the meet of the Westchester Racing Association. It is changing from one of the smallest of the New York racing grounds to the largest and the most magnificent. It is the opening of a meeting that will see the running of some of the greatest of the early year prizes for each age division and it will mark the first appearance of many of the most prominent thoroughbreds of every age division. There are still some of the sportsmen who are not attracted by these great racing opportunities that come before the opening of Belmont Park. They will pass up the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby for the Withers and the Belmont, while they are not tempted to start their older horses in handicaps or their juveniles in the various earlier specials. Year after year this number becomes fewer, but some are still found and a notable absentee from these early fixtures has been G. D. Wideners Jack High, winner of the Hopeful last year, and rated by many as the real champion of 1928. It is possible that Jack High will have been benefited by his late start as a three-year-old, and in any event if the veteran A J. Joyner brings him back as good a colt as he was last year, he will be a champion indeed, taking a line on what three-year-olds have shown thus far. The running of the Kentucky Derby this afternoon may uncover a champion worthy of the son of John P. Grier, but on all that I has been shown, at this writing, Jack High 1 has little to fear in his age division. • ; | j . I | . | I j , . I t I f t i
