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DERBY FIELD TAKING SHAPE t-- Large Number of Possible Starters Held Back in Training. Future Book Choice, Chance Sun, Doing Everything Horse Should Do in Preliminary Work. LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 19. With the sixty-first running of the Kentucky Derby only three weeks off the probable field soon will begin to take definite shape. Aside from a number of major candidates that only a mishap in training can keep from going to the post there is a large fringe of possible starters which must demonstrate their prowess in actual racing between now and the time of the 0,000 race at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 4. Among those looked upon as almost certain starters in the. absence of accident are Joseph E. Wideners Chance Sun, Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords Commonwealth, William Woodwards Omaha, Mrs. Payne Whitneys Plat Eye, Mrs. Willis Sharpe Kilmers Sun Fairplay, E. R. Bradleys Boxthorn, Mrs. Isabel Dodge Slbanes Psychic Bid, Warren Wrights Nellie Flag, W. R. Coes Bluebeard, J. J. Flanigans Chanceview, Mrs. John D. Hertz Our Reigh, DeWitt Pages Mantagna, Sachsenmaier and Reuters Roman Soldier, E. D. Shaffers St Bernard, Mrs. Hollis Ryders Blackbirder, C. V. Whitntys Today and Jouett Shouses Weston. Some in the above list will go wrong as the preparation becomes more strenuous, but from shadows will come others that will arouse hope by early spring racing. All in all the Derby appears most open despite the high esteem in which the favorite, Chance Sun, is held. Chance. Sun is doing everything that a horse should do in his training at Churchill Downs. His recognized mud-running ability has enabled him to stand out in the works on a heavy track, and trainer Pete Coyne insists that he will perform just as favorably on the dry. While the winter book odds, of 4 to 1 are unreasonably short, it must be admitted that Chance Sun .looks all over the logical favorite for the Derby. Reports from the East indicate that a pair of -Chance Suns rivals are rounding to in an equally impressive manner. These are William Woodwards Omaha and Mrs. Payne Whitneys Plat Eye! Both showed their worth as two-year-olds, and if either should be favored by that marked improvement that often features the transition of a horse from two- to three-year-old form, he might easily become an outstanding Derby colt. The Kentucky Oaks, which will be run on the final day of the spring meeting at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 18, attracted a high-class band of fillies. The probable favorite on juvenile form appears to be Nellie Flag, from Warren Wrights Calumet Stable. She not only was at tops among the fillies of her age last year, but disposed of many of the best colts. Her triumph over the best in the West in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs last fall stamped her as a miss of high caliber. Other good fillies in the Oaks are William Woodwards Vicaress and Foxy Agnes; E. R. Bradleys Bird Flower; W. R. Coes Squeeze; Charles T. Fishers Miss Toro; Marshall Fields Mock Turtle and Vermouth; Mrs. Payne Whitneys Peradventure and Sylvan Song; Willis Sharpe Kilmers Sun Lightship; D. B. Knox Wise Bessa; Mrs. R. J. Murphys Iceberg and Lucy; Lee Rosenbergs Dowdy Dell; M. L. Schwartz Good Gamble; C. V. Whitneys Song, Pantoufle and Motto; Joseph E. Wideners Chance Dame, and T. C; Wordens Hope Eternal.
