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Forecast Fast Track or Kentucky Derby 9 Clear Skies and Bright Sunshine Welcome After Recent Rains ♦ Twenty Grand Remains Favorite, With Mate Strong Second Choice — Pittsburgher Held as Best of Western-Owned Candidates LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 14.— The Churchill Downs track was in such condition after the recent rains that not a single Derby candidate was brought out for a firnl trial during the work hours. It was promised at that time that they would be shown during the afternoon, when the track would be in a better condition. Superintendent Tom Young had a big force out with the harrows working the racing strip most of the night and all through the forenoon, until there is every hope now that the going will be fast for Saturday. Clear skies and bright sunshine were welcome after the cold and rainy weather that had been the rule for most of the meeting and a con- Stinuation of such conditions should result in a truly run race. This promise is made more certain owing to the fact that the field will not be a cumbersome one and the general idea is that there will possibly be eleven shown under silks, with three of them bearing the silks of Mrs. Payne Whitneys Greentree Stable. There has been no happening, since the arrival of the horses from Pimlico, to alter the most popular prediction that Twenty Grand is best of the lot and best of the Derby field. A. C. Bostwicks Mate remains a strong second choice to the Greentree champion and there are many good judges who look for the son of Prince Pal and Killashandra to duplicate the double of Sir Barton in 1919 and Gallant Fox last year, by winning both the Preakness and Kentucky Derby. FALLEN TOOL. C. V. Whitneys Equipoise has made no friends since his arrival at the Downs and that game good colt does not impress as was expected. He seems to be pounds away from his best form, but that was evident in the running of the Preakness. He has been going along well in his work, but there is a lack of that dash that was his earlier in the year. His name is seldom mentioned now as among the probable winners Saturday, while before the running of the Chesapeake, at Havre de Grace, and his utter rout, thanks to an ailment at the time, it was agreed both East and West that the colt to beat him would be winner of the big classic. Equipoise is a good, game colt, but he has gone back physically and the impression is had now that what he accomplishes will be on his class and courage. He, of course, would be favored to a marked degree should there come more rain and muddy footing for the gruelling gallop, but there is less chance than any time before that such will be the racing conditions. There has been so much rain of late that the law of averages would suggest fair weather and a fast track Saturday, and it has also been the promise of the weather man. And even should the going be muddy, the Greentree Stable has a rare mud runner in Anchors Aweigh, winner of the Chesapeake, while Twenty Grand himself is in no sense severely handicapped in such going. Surf Board is a colt with a great turn of speed that has raced through such going, but is not equipped to stay like his companions of the stable. MATE QUALIFIED. A. C. Bostwicks Mate is a good colt through muddy going and there is no doubt of his quality over a firm footing. Then while Pittsburgher was generally rated as a colt that was at a distinct disadvantage in muddy going, his recent race over such going, when he took the measure of Sweep All, was a contradiction of this estimate. Up, the Mrs. J. N. Crofton hope, is strictly a mud running possibility and will not be started unless the conditions are favorable. Walter J. Salmons Ladder is still the show hbrse of those brought from the East and he is still another that would not be seriously handicapped in the muddy going. While the son of Ladkin raced third in the Preakness running, it is doubtful if he will be able to carry his speed for the mile and a quarter. He went with the pace furnished by Clock Tower in the running of the big prize at Pimlico and stuck it out to be third, but he was palpably tiring at the end and —————— — — j Continued on twentieth page. FAST TRACK FOR THE DERBY Continued from first page. the mile and three-sixteenths is plainly a bit beyond him. The mile and a quarter is a task for which he is hardly fitted unless he improves over his Preakness showing. Insco, the Griffin-Watkins candidate, is no longer taken seriously as a possible winner and, looking over the other possible starters that have trained in Kentucky, it must be agreed that about the best one of the lot is Pittsburgher. In the Trial, while Sweep All was badly ridden and met with unusual interference, the son of In Me-moriam was running at the end, while before that race there were serious doubts of his being able to stay the mile and a quarter. Summing up the whole situation, it might be said that Twenty Grand and Mate are taken as the standards by which the chances of the others are gauged. Equipoise has gone back greatly in public favor and Pittsburgher appears the best of the Kentucky lot.
