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TWENTY GRAND THE DERBY WINNER l # . SWEEP ALL RUNNER-UP 1 Preakness Winner Mate Third and Spanish Play Fourth. • New Derby Record of 2:01% Hung Up by Scintillating Star of Greentree Stable. • LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 16.— Before an attendance estimated by Col. Matt J. Winn as the largest ever assembled at historical Churchill Downs, Twenty Grand won the fifty-seventh running of the Kentucky Derby, with Sweep All second and Mate third. The race was run in a new Derby time of 2:01%, surpassing the long standing record of Old Rosebud of 2:03% made in 1914. It was a marvelous victory, and scored before one of the greatest crowds that ever graced beautiful Churchill Downs. As the big bay sped to the line well out before the driving field back of him he was greeted with thunderous cheers that continued until long after Kurtsinger had returned to the scales. There was little delay at the post, and starter Hamilton had the dozen starters away in excellent alignment. Boys Howdy was first to show, and he was closely followed by Prince D Amour and the Dixianas Sweep All. Surf Board was in the front division, but he was never able to command with a first quarter run in :23%. Both Mate and Twenty Grand were well back in the field as they swept past the stands, and Anchors Aweigh was last of the dozen. On the first turn Ladder, the Walter J. Salmon hope, moved up to the leaders, while Boys Howdy dropped back slightly. Sweep All had made a move on the outside to reach third place, and Mate was going gamely and on the heels of the Dixiana colt. The half was reached in :47%. It was here that Twenty Grand began to make a gradual move that was to see him the winner in record time. The next quarter was run in :24% to reach the six furlongs in 1:12. ANOTHER EASTERN VICTORY. Thus it was that another running of the Kentucky Derby went to the East, and it was the greatest running from a time viewpoint. It was the first victory for Mrs. Whitneys tremendously popular Greentree Stable silks, though several efforts have been made. Sweep All had upset a clean sweep for the East, but the running tended to show that only racing misfortune and mistakes in riding cost Twenty Grand the Preakness. His performance in the Kentucky Derby was one to suggest that he will be a hard horse to beat in the one mile and a half of the Belmont Stakes, for he was racing along well within himself in his fast mile and a quarter and plainly able to go on for another quarter. Ladder, midway of the back stretch, was a menace when he raced into the lead to carry on that sizzling pace and that was the end of Prince D Amour. The gray fell back from that stage of the race, but Kurt-singer had not asked Twenty Grand to do other than keep in the parade, and the son of St. Germans was moving up gradually. LADDERS CHALLENGE. It was leaving the back stretch and when Ladders brief challenge was through that Sweep All took up the task, but at the same time Kurtsinger swung out a bit with Twenty Grand and asked him to run. Mate was following gamely, and Ellis was riding an intelligent race on the son of Prince Pal. Three furlongs from the finish Twenty Grand was racing on the outside until the shout went up, "Here he comes," and come he did. Never shortening stride, the big bay swung around until he was alongside Sweep All. The Dixiana colt made a gallant effort to withstand that rush, but it was of no avail, and Twenty Grand was past to be over the line an easy winner by four lengths and under restraint despite the record-breaking gallop. Mate had tired rather badly in the final quarter, and Sweep All, recently beaten by Continued on thirteenth page. TWENTY GRAND DERBY WINNER Continued from first page. Pittsburgher, beat him by three lengths for second place. Mate was four lengths before Spanish Play, and the pace had killed off the others until they were badly strung out, with Prince D Amour last. It is interesting to note that Bonus, the dam of Twenty Grand, is a daughter of Remembrance with that mare from Regret, the only filly to ever win a Kentucky Derby. After the running Vice-President Curtis, in a few well chosen words, presented the handsome trophy, which is a valued part of the prize, which had a value of 8,725 to the owner of the winner. The vice-president, one of the most ardent devotees of the turf, after offering congratulations to all concerned, including Col. Winn and the Churchill Downs Association, said that folks did not go to the races to hear speeches, but to see the noble thoroughbreds race. For the first time since Edward R. Bradleys Bubbling Over was winner and his Bagenbaggage second, and that was in 1926. it was possible this afternoon to talk about sunshine and summer-like weather. Whiskery, Reigh Count, Clyde Van Dusen and Gallant Fox, the four most recent winners of the Kentucky Derby, had a setting of rain and splashing mud for the big classic, while this afternoon it was more like an afternoon in August than in May. On one of those rainy Derby days Colonel Winn was asked what in the world he would do wit hbright weather. Each year the immense stands were crowded to capacity and thousands were unable to find room under shelter. And each year the genial Colonel has always answered that he never worried about the bright days, his concern was finding shelter for the crowds on rainy days. He has done about all that can be done at the beautiful old course in the building of additions to the stands and the club house, and even through those rainy years there was no real discomfort. But with the perfect weather this afternoon the vast crowd needed no shelter and it swarmed over the lawns and to the infield, where many thousands viewed the races. There was the usual excellent policing of the grounds and the arrangements for the comfort and convenience of patrons was little short of marvelous when the great gathering is considered. It was a crowd that came early and, while many left after the running of the Derby, others wound up the delightful day of racing with luncheons in the club house. Before the racing there had been other club house gatherings and all the space in the commodious quarters had been reserved. And the general public, after all the backbone of racing, came a bit earlier than in other years and it was such a delightful morning that no better place could be found than the course to await the opening of the big program. Both in the general grandstand enclosure and in the free stand that is constructed from the six furlongs post almost to the five furlongs post there were thousands on hand before 10 oclock. The horses were not to be called out for the first race until 1:45, but it is a case of first come, first served with the grandstand crowd and in the free stand and it was hours before race time that every choice point of vantage had been taken. The fact that Equipoise was not scratched until comparatively one oclock in the day resulted in many tickets being sold on his chances in the windows that were opened early for pari-mutuels speculation on the Derby. This money, of course, was refunded and it was important money, for from the beginning the Whitney colt naturally had a strong following. When both Mrs. J. N. Croftons Up and R. W. Collins Don Leon were scratched it meant the taking of two out of the field group, with Griffin Watkins Insco and The Mongol, from Hamburg Place, to race. The elimination of Equipoise, of course, was greatly to be regretted, but the scratching of the others only meant ridding the field of two that did not seem to belong. When Gallant Knight, the colt that had run second to Gallant Fox in the Derby of last year, ran his six and a half furlongs in new worlds record time of 1:16%, clipping four-fifths of a second from the former mark of C. V. Whitneys Boojum, which raced in 1:17, to win the Hopeful, there were predictions that the winner of the big classic would reduce the Derby record hung out by Old Rosebud in 1914, when he raced in 2:03%. Since that memorable running the nearest approach to that fast time was when Bubbling Over raced in 2:03%, to win the 1926 running, but Old Rosebud had only carried 114, while the Bradley colt took up 126 pounds. No sooner had the boys weighed in from the Brown Hotel Handicap and the record breaking sprint, than there was a general scramble for points of vantage to view the Derby, the race that had brought out the vast crowd. Thousands eagerly watched for the appearance of the aspirants for the championship, and as the post time approached the crowd became tense with the excitement of what was to come. The grandstand roof had been a roosting place for various of the picture cameras, and the several broadcasting outfits had their positions there. Then at post time many others, for one reason or another, found a place on the roof until there seemed imminent danger that some might fall to the teaming crowd below. Fortunately there was no such accident to mat ;■ perfect day, but the excitement and thrill of the day made such an accident possible. Liberty Limited, son of Sir Gallahad III. and Dare Say, looked like one capable of measuring up to the high standard of hia blood lines, when he ran the five-eighths of the Crystal Springs Purse, the opening race, in :59%, and turned in the winning performance without full effort. Prince Ascot followed the successful Three Ds Stock Farm colt to the finish, leading Indian Runner by almost two lengths for second place, and the latter had only a short advantage over Barashkova, which tired after forcing a fast pace for more than three-eighths. The popular colors of C. V. Whitney, loss of which detracted from the Derby field, were seen in triumph when Chimney Sweep outsprinted Willa, Hot Shot and seven others, in the second race. The victorious son of Whisk Broom II. forced a fast early pace set by Hot Shot, and, racing past the H. P. Headley colt in the stretch, drew away to win by two lengths as the early leader just failed to outstay Willa for second place. Kenneth Russell was astride the winner. Adobe Post, Knebelkamp and Morris crack son of Cherokee and Ruth S., qualified for his engagement in the Bashford Manor Stakes, to be renewed Wednesday, when he approached track record time of :8t for the five-eighths as he won easily from Proteus, Texas Knight and five other highly regarded juveniles in the Orchard Hall Purse. Adobe Post was outrun in the early stages, but raced up fast on the stretch turn, and, wearing down Proteus, which was severely taxed in the early pacemaking, drew away in the final eighth. Proteus saved second place, although Texas Knight, which finished third, approached the finish with excellent speed after having followed far back to the stretch. j
