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AMERICAN DERBY AT I VALUE 0,000 ADDED SECOND HORSE ,000 DISTANCE 1 1-4 MILES TO WINNER ABOUT1,000 THIRD HORSE ,000 TRACK RECORD 2:07y5 AND SILVER TROPHY FOURTH HORSE ,000 DERBY POST TIME. . .5:00 P. M. WASHINGTON PARK Restored to its early importance and splendor, in a more magnificent setting and with a higher value than It reached even in its heyday In the nineties, the American Derby will be run at Washington Park today. It must bring back to sportsmen of the old school recollections almost obliterated by the many intervening years to read that "tha American Derby will be decided at Washington Park today." For, in their time, this Derby was the race of races, the event of events, so far as the Chicago sports calendar was concerned, and it was run at Washington Park. But it was not the Washington Park that is now Wash-s ington Park. The original home of the Derby was on Sixty-first street. It was a contemporary of Harlem and Worth and of Edward Corri-gans Hawthorne, still in existence but greatly enhanced in beauty and comfort. The names Washington Park and American Derby come down to the present day indelibly inscribed. They went down together even before the death knell of racing in Illinois, in its former state, was sounded. They were revived together, after a fashion, when tha. present Washington Park was built, and together they fell into premature decay again as the result of plans well con* ceived, but lacking in financial back* ground. JYNX INSTEAD OF MASCOT. Between the years 1904 and 1926 there was no American Derby. In 1926, with the erection of the new Washington Park on*lts present Homewood site, the Derby was brought back as the piece de resistance of the meeting: at that park just as it had been in the good old days. Mascot it was intended to be, but it proved a jinx instead, due probably to a larger cutting of cloth than the garment demanded at the time. In the yet somewhat unstable condition of Illinois racing it could not all at once be made the hundred thousand dollar event that its promoters aspired for it. Racing rejuvenated in a state where racing once had been on a very large scale was still In its swaddling clothes, in a modern sense. Nevertheless the Derby was run both in 1926 and in 1927. but in 1928, with the failure of the new track to open its gates, the race was left an orphin without a home. It was taken in by the new Arlington Park and run off at that magnificent plant, and although it brought together two of the greatest of the Derby horses of the year, the event had little of the glamor and historical interest that it once had and which it undoubtedly will have again. It was at once orphan and stepchild and to the great majority of those that witnessed its running it was just another meeting of two good colts with and matter of about 22,000 hinging on its result In these last few tempestuous years it had risen to a value of 9,000 on paper, then declined to less than a fourth of that. This year, reclaimed to the bosom of a still newer and greater Washington Park, with a background as substantial as ever in its early history, and in a park far finer than it ever knew before, the Derby makes a bid both as an outstanding event of the current season and as a contest of value for three-year-old racers ranking at least third on the list of 1929, exceeded in this particular only by the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. WONDERFUL REVIVAL. The response that this revival of the fixture has met with can briefly be summed up in the statement that its list of probable starters includes the winners of all the previous important Derbys of the year, which promises that the race will be, in fact, as well as in name, the real American Derby. It is no longer the wandering child. Apparently its vagrant days are over. No more years of uncertainty and despair. The American Derby has come home again, and to such a home ! In its original form as the American Derby it was run at old Washington Park from the year 1884, when it was won by the filly Modesty with what would now be called a modest prize of a little more than 0,000 going to the winner, until 1904, except during the years from 1895 to 1899, inclusive. Its value reached In 1893, the worlds fair year, when the great Boundless won, the then stupendous sum of 9,500. Dean years followed and its winners share twice after that fell below 0,000. but in its last two years, 1903 and 1904. it was again of great Importance as a money event, being worth, at its new level, 7,000. Its demise came in 1904. Fate had decreed that the Washington Park meeting of thai — — — ■ — rm—5 ■4 Continued on twentieth pax*. AMERICAN DERBY DAY 4 Continued from first page. year was to survive only three days, due to chaotic conditions which wore soon to bring about an end for many years to all Illinois racing. But this brief period was sufficient so far as the Derby was concerned for it was run on the opening day, June 18 — a bet-less Derby. Its story is best told in Daily Racing Forms reports of that day, and the day after, which follow : Reprinted from Daily Racing Form of June 18. 1904. WASHINGTON PARK OPENS TODAY Fair Weather, Fast Track, Splendid Field, Large Attendance for Derby. With the seventeenth running of the American Derby, a prize coveted by horsemen in all quarters of the country, as its first days feature, the Washington Park Jockey Club will open the gates of its compact, yet spacious, plant on the South Side this afternoon for a meeting which is scheduled to be of twenty-five days duration. The forecast is for fair weather, and that there will be in attendance a gorgeously attired assemblage numbering into the thousands goes without saying, and that these spectators will be amply repaid with a superb equine contest over a track hard as flint and lightning fast is equally probable. But the opportunities to wager will be limited to finger and mouth bets among acquaintances. The betting ring has been fenced in and the following on mimeograph slips was distributed yesterday under instructions from secretary Howard : "June 17, 1904. "Bookmakers are warned that all booking at the Washington Park race track will be positively prohibited on Derby Day, or any other day during the coming race meeting. This order will be absolutely enforced. "Washington Park Club." While there will be no betting at the park, odds were quoted down town last night and the probabilities are that these layers will accept wagers on the Derby during the morning hours of today. When the entries closed at 1 oclock yesterday afternoon it was found that sixteen horses had been named as starters, though under the conditions of the Derby any of the original 119 nominations may be withdrawn or added. The fields and weights as officially posted, together with the odds as quoted last night, are as follows: Odds Horses . Wts. 2-1 English Lad 127 15-1 Elwood 127 3,L-1 3Ioharib 125 3M:-1 Highball 122 7-1 Kapid Water 122 hB1 Fort Hnnter 125 12-1 Bill Cnrtls 119 20-1 Proceeds 122 40-1 Merry Pioneer 122 30-1 Woodson 122 40-1 Brand Kew 112 40-1 Copper 115 40-1 Bninland 125 40-1 Proof Reader 123 100-1 Mus Strauss 115 150-1 Volney 122 And the last original American Derby at old Washington Park, as described, in part, by Daily Racing Form of June 19, 1904: EASY VICTORY FOR HIGHBALL American Derby Prize Goes to New Yorker After Interference to English Lad, the Favorite. Under fair skies, over a fast track and in the presence of 35,000 persons, at Washington Park yesterday afternoon, Highball ran a mile and a half in 2 :33. carrying 122 pounds, and easily won the seventeenth American Derby from fifteen horses of his years which had essayed to give him a contest for the sum of 6,325, the value of the American turfs blue ribbon event to its winner. The second horse was Woodson, the third Rapid Water and the fourth English Lad, a western colt and the publics choice. . . . Highball was ridden to his triumph by jockey Grover Cleveland Fuller, a Chicago boy who was reared on the West Side and "joined out with the horses" about two years ago. He was picked up by Jack Keene, who believed that he had in him the making of a rider. Keene went to Russia, leaving his horses in charge of a friend, who chased Fuller away from the stable because of Lis overindulgence in strong drink. Archie Zim-mer took him up and under him he developed into a rider of so great renown at New i Orleans two winters ago that Keene returned from Russia and made a contest for him before the Western Jockey Club, which was decided against him. Zimmer took him East and he has since held his own with the riders in that territory, being now under first call to T. D. Sullivan for a handsome figure. . . . The suppression of open betting had the distinct effect of lightening the attendance many thousands as compared with last year and the year before. Some wagers were made, of course, but there was no display of prices in any quarter of the premises. The betting ring was a deserted aaot save for the presence of the bluecoated officers who had been stationed there and a few dozen of stragglers who drifted that way from force of habit. While seats in the grandstand were at a premium, there was space on the lawn and the infield did not present so crowded an appearance as last year. Yet withal it was a gay gathering that fully appreciated the contest it saw. ♦ DERBY DAT NOTES OF 1904. Editors Note : The last original American Derby was run at the old Washington Park track on Fifty-fifth Street in 1904. The following notes are taken from Daily Racing Form of that date: Odds on the American Derby were displayed by certain bookmakers in the ring at Harlem yesterday afternoon, but not for long. When secretary Nathanson heard of it he passed the word that the slates be wiped off or the layers would be requested to leave the premises. The bookmakers have little to say with reference to the embargo against betting. It is not to be supposed that they acquiescence in the movement, but they are, for the greater number, maintaining a silence which suggests a thought of the axiom : "A still tongue makes a wise head." By rights, todays should be the twenty-first American Derby, but causes that are well understood locally led the Washington Park Club to abandon racing in 1895, 189G, 1897 and 1899. Practically the same causes are now operating to detract from the success of the present meeting. Last year English Lad the favorite In this Derby won at a mile in 1 :40y5 with 123 pounds in the saddle, a performance that stands out alone in the annals of two-year-old racing. Tallyhos, if at the grounds by 1 :30 oclock, will be assigned stations opposite the club house; those arriving after that time wifl be required to take positions oi. inner Hack, east of draw gate. DERBY "AFTERMATH" OF 1904. From Daily Racing Form of June 19, 1904. Three future books were made on the American Derby in Chicago. James OLeary made this announcement last night : "The winning of Highball was an expensive one to my book. The book handled 20,000 to the race and paid out on Highball 60,000. If English Lad had won the pay would have been 95,000." B. J. Weller says his book quit between 0,000 and 5,000 winner. Mont Tennes says his book handled about 7S.000 and paid out about 72,000. of which 30,- 000 goes to the backers of Highball. After the race owner Scheftel, trainer May and jockey Fuller were beseiged by friends offering their congratulations. "I was in a box with some friends, said Mr. Scheftel, "and told them that if Highball would show first at the head of the stretch he would win. When I saw him there I got so shaky that I lost my glasses and didnt see the finish. I won 4,000 in bets in the future books." "I can add nothing to what I said before the race," said trainer May. "other than that 1 won 7,000 in the winter books. Jockey Fuller will get a chunk for his splendid work." Jockey Fuller, between handshakes, said : "Highball only ran in spots and all that I can say is that he is not at his best. At his best he will beat any three-year-olds in America at any distance."
