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LORE OF GREAT RACES ♦ Much of Interest Interwoven In History of Blue Grass Classic. » Hope of All Breeders and Owners, Rich and Poor, To Carry Off Coveted Prize. 1 Each year sees a new page written into the history of the Kentucky Derby, greatest of American horse races. No race is more discussed; no race has even been as closely analyzed as this Churchill Downs fixture; the horse race of the year to all peoples, whether they be confirmed turf followers or merely Derby day enthusiasts, which is to say only those who listen to and talk Derby talk and then forget the Sport Of Kings until another May day and another Derby rolls around. Many interesting facts are connected with the race. Some owners have won more than once, others have tried all their lives to win and have yet to see their colored silks flash to the fore as the finish was reached, yet on they go, breeding and racing horses, always with one hope — that some day their name will be bracketed in the form charts as the owner of the Kentucky Derby winner. The late Harry Payne Whitney was one Of those fortunate owners whose horses scored more than once. This year — had he lived — he might have the pleasure of seeing another horse of his breeding win. However, should that colt win — and we refer to Equipoise — the honor stays with the family, for Mr. Whitneys son, Cornelius Vander-bilt, is carrying on the family tradition and Equipoise will bear the light blue and brown colors in Saturdays race. In 1915, Regret, the only filly which ever won the Derby, carried the Whitney colors. Whiskery bore them to a triumph in 1927. Will Equipoise be the third Whitney horse to win? BRADLEYS SUCCESSES. No owner has had greater success than Edward R. Bradley, whose white and green were first and second on two different occasions. The Derby fell to Bradley horses in 1921 and 1926, when Behave Yourself and Bubbling Over were victorious and each was followed home by a stablemate. George J. Long was the last of the trio of owners whose brilliant silks flashed to the front in more than one Derby, Azra winning in 1892 and Sir Huon in 1906. The Bashford Manor Stud, owned by Mr. Long, was the birthplace of five Kentucky Derby winners. A. J. Alexanders Woodburn Stud, at Spring Station, Kentucky, tied the Bashford Alanor Stud in the number of Derby winners foaled within its precincts. Hamburg Place, the noted breeding farm of the late John E. Madden, also furnished five winners, while Harry Payne Whitney, Edward R. Bradley, Milton Young, James B. Haggin, D. Swigert and Willis Sharpe Kilmer are credited with two winners each. It is only right and proper that Kentucky, the home of the Blue Grass, should be the birthplace of a great majority of the Derby Winners. Thirty-seven saw the light first under Kentucky skies, with New Jersey, Tennessee and California furnishing three winners each, New York, two and Pennsylvania, Alabama, Montana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia one each, England sending forth the brilliant Omar Khayyam. Because American owners desire great money winning horses with their subsequent earning powers in the stud, our young horses are invariably raced much harder as juveniles than are those in any other country in the world. This procedure on the part of the owners of good horses invariably results in nothing but outstanding three-year-olds starting in the Derby and because most of the starters have long records of conquests behind them, the feat Of Sir Barton in scoring his initial victory In the great Churchill Downs fixture is all the more astounding. His is a unique honor, that of the only maiden to ever win the race and it is likely to remain his distinction for many years to come. Continued on second page. LORE OF GREAT RACES Continued from first page. This same Sir Barton, owned by J. K. L. Ross, was also the first horse to win both the Preakness and the Derby and he held his double honor until last year when Gallant Fox placed his name alongside the son of Star Shoot, by winning the Preakness and then the Derby, duplicating the Ross colts feat. Despite the fact that 1931 sees the Kentucky Derby renewed for the fifty-seventh time, only one winner of the event was able to sire a horse during his stud career capable of repeating his feat of winning the race. Halma holds this honor, winning in 1895, while his son, Alan-a-Dale, was victorious in 1902, seven years later. In 1875, when the Derby was first run, the distance was one mile and a half, and jiot until 1896 was this shortened to one mile and a quarter, the present distance. Handsome is as handsome does, and the Bwaybacked Old Rosebud, a son of Uncle, ran the one mile and a quarter in 2:03%, which record has stood for the Derby mark Bince. About forty-nine per cent of the favorites have won the Derby and of the remaining fifty-one per cent outsiders, Donerail furnished the greatest surprise when he scored and paid 92 to 1. Incidentally, those who believe in thirteen being an unlucky number might dwell on the fact that Donerail triumphed in 1913. SIRED THREE WINNERS. Virgil and Falsetto each sired three winders of the Derby. Longfellow, King Alfonso, Broomstick, The Finn, and McGee each sired two. Falsettos sons which won ■were Chant, 1894; His Eminence, 1901; and Sir Huon. 1906; Virgil begot Vagrant, Hindoo and Ben Ali, winners in 1876, 1881 and 1886, respectively. Longfellows offspring which won were Leonatus, 1883 and Riley, 1890. Fonso, 1880 and Joe Cotton, 1885, claimed King Alfonso as their sire and Broomstick, which sired Meridian, 1911 winner, holds the unique distinction of being the sire of Regret, 1915, the only filly to win the race. McGee gave the turf Donerail, the long priced winner of 1913 and the great Exterminator, 1916. Zev, 1923, for seven years the worlds greatest money winning horse, and Flying Ebony, 1925, are sons of The Finn. It costs an owner 25 to send a horse to the post in the Derby. The 5 is the original nominating fee and the 00 is the starting fee. Churchill Downs, Inc., adds 0,000 to the race. The second horse receives ,000, third horse, ,000 and fourth horse, ,000.
