Aftermath Of Kentucky Derby: Generally Agreed That Twenty Grand Probably Is One of Greatest Colts Enrolled on List of Winners, Daily Racing Form, 1931-05-19

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AFTERMATH OF KENTUCKY DERBY Generally Agreed That Twenty Grand Probably Is One of Greatest Colts Enrolled on List of Winners • LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 18.— With the Derby Day visitors gone and Churchill Downs back to normalcy the sport of Saturday will long be discussed at old Churchill Downs. It was agreed generally that Twenty Grand probably is one of the greatest colts to ever take down the old classic and there was general surprise that Mate had beaten him in the Preakness. That surprise was natural among those who had not seen the running of the Maryland Jockey Club special at Pimlico. At the time that the son of St. Germans was put on the fence in the Preakness many did not realize the severity of that handicap. Then Kurtsinger made the ffltal mistake of i racing the colt along on the inside, where the going was deep and to make his defeat certain Surf Board shut him off at the head of the stretch. All of this was described in the story of the running and the magnificent race run here Saturday convinced that it must have happened. And it must be remembered that in the Derby Kurtsinger followed instructions and made his move on the outside with the son of St. Germans, rather than make an effort to go through on the inside and run the chance of a repetition of his bad luck in the Maryland race. As a matter of fact, before the Preakness, Kurtsinger was instructed to keep his mount off the rail, but he stayed there long enough to meet with the interference that decided the race, to say nothing of making the colt accept the worst of the going. And it is rather a notable fact that Twenty Grand now holds two of the track records at Churchill Downs and he has only been raced over the course twice. On both occasions he took up his weight. As a two-year-old last year in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes he set the mile mark at 1:36, and Saturday the mile and a quarter mark at 2:01%. There were those at Churchill Downs Saturday who had a vivid recollection of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes of last year and with the last minute elimination of C. V. Whitneys Equipoise, they considered that the only dangerous rival had been removed. It was Equipoise that forced Twenty Grand to break the mile mark. There was a natural regret that Equipoise had been forced out of the running by a quarter crack that was not discovered until Saturday morning, but the general opinion was that no horse could have beaten Twenty Grand in the Derby and that it was just as Continued on twenty-second page. AFTERMATH OF DERBY Continued from first page. well for the reputation of the son of Pennant and Swinging that he was not brought to the post. No excuse could be found for Mate. Ellis attempted to move with him when Kurt-singer made his move with Twenty Grand, but the son of Prince Pal was not there through the final quarter. That last quarter in :241s in a mile and a quarter run in 2:01 4f,, was too much pace for Mate and too much pace for almost any horse of any time. The race run by Sweep All was one of the surprises of the running and the son of Sweep surely improved marvellously over a race earlier in the week when he lost to Pittsburgher and Spanish Play that he beat badly in the Derby. They may both have run back to the previous effort, but Sweep All improved by pounds. Surf Board was a disappointment and of no help whatever to Twenty Grand and the same might be said of Anchors Aweigh. After running last for most of the journey Anchors Aweigh beat two horses and one of them was Surf Board, while the other was Prince DAmour, which played some part in the pacemaking. The next important engagement for Twenty Grand comes with the running of the Withers May 30 at Belmont Park and Jamestown is also an eligible. Whether or not the son of St. Germans will be started in that or reserved for the Belmont Stakes at one mile and a half is not known, but the Belmont, which is to be decided June 13, will undoubtedly be a distance more to his liking than the shorter route. James Rowe left for New York Saturday night and Twenty Grand, Anchors Aweigh, Surf Board and St. Brideaux, the quartet brought on from Pimlico, were shipped to Belmont Park this morning. All colts were in the best of condition and the big son of St. Germans came out of his record making Derby magnificently. »


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1931051901/drf1931051901_1_6
Local Identifier: drf1931051901_1_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800