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j r - --i TOP FLIGHT INTENDED I FOR KENTUCKY DERBY i i l y , NEW ORLEANS, La., Jan. 16. Only failure to train satisfactorily or an accident will keep C. V. Whitneys great filly, Top Flight, champion two-year-old of last year and the greatest juvenile winner of all time, out of the Kentucky Derby, according to plans of Thomas Healey, who trains her, as revealed here today by Major Louis A. Beard, who is in charge of the vast racing and breeding interests of the Whitneys. Top Flight, now at Brookdale Farm, Red Bank", N. J., will have her early preparation there and will be transferred to Belmont Park late in March or early in April. She is wintering splendidly and has grown and filled out in a manner that encourages the belief that she will make a great bid for the three-year-old championship. Only one filly, Regret, is listed among the winners of the great Churchill Downs classic, Americas premier race for three-year-olds, and that exceptional turf queen was owned by the late Harry Payne Whitney, father of Top Flights youthful owner. Last year C. V. Whitney was unfortunate to lose a chance with his brilliant Equipoise, which was forced out of the Kentucky Derby by a serious quarter crack which was discovered by his trainer, Freddie Hopkins, shortly before the Derby running. In the Kentucky Derby Top Flight will encounter several colts not included among the many she consistently defeated last year and the test at a mile and one-quarter will provide the stiffest assignment of her brilliant career. Arriving here this morning from Lexington, Major Beard made an inspection of the horses C. V. Whitney and his aunt, Mrs. Payne Whitney, have at the Fair Grounds. He was especially pleased with the training reports of Surf Board, one of the horses J. L. Middleton is training for Mrs. Whitney.
