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Here and There on the Turf Nellie Flag Commonwealth Like Mud MudMay May Hurt Psychic Bid St Ber ¬ nard nardWill Will Not Establish Champion Winn Sees Need for Expansion Racing minded persons in Louisville Thursday afternoon needed no one to tell them the sixtyfirst running of the Kentucky Derby developed a new aspect when the community including that portion occupied by Churchill Downs was deluged with one of the heaviest rains in a long time Soon after the telegraph wires crackled out the messages to the racing public everywhere that the Churchill Downs race course was practically under water and that Tom Young track superintendent was the only i peron daring to be so optimistic as pre ¬ dicting a fast course for the renewal of Americas most popular horse race tomor ¬ row afternoon So heavy was the downpour that the track switched from dryness to goo within a very few minutes and as quickly the hopes of the various Derby camps rose or fell according to the chances of their candidates in the soft stuff stuffAdvent Advent of the rain if it is not overcome through the combined efforts of sunshine wind and superintendent Youngs large crew may have the effect cf bringing about a new starting favorite Mud or slop cer ¬ tainly will not mar the chances of Mrs Walter M Jeffords Commonwealth or Calu Tnet Farms Nellie Flag and it may increase them in the mud Commonwealth captured the Endurnace Handicap at Bowie last fall in a common canter with the track in muddy condition and Nellie Flag was victorious in a purse race at Churchill Downs last Sat ¬ urday through sloppy going defeating Blue ¬ beard and Chance Sun with many lengths to spare She furthermore is bred to be a good mud runner being by American Flag from Nellie Morse The latter won the Preakness over a heavy track trackA A muddy or heavy track should not miti ¬ gate too heavily against the chances of C V Whitneys Today Greentree Stables Plat Eye Belair Studs Omaha E R Bradleys Boxthorn Sachsenmaier Reuters Ro ¬ man Soldier and J H Louchheims Mor pluck but other than a good condition may prove a disadvantage for Brookmeade Sta ¬ bles Psychic Bid and Elmer Dale Shaffers St Bernard The alteration in the course can hardly increase the ability of the lesser Derby hopeful to bring them into consid ¬ eration as contenders Whether damp going will result in a smaller field than the six ¬ teen expected to accept the issue will not be known until racing secretary William H Shelley closes the scratches fortyfive min ¬ utes before post time Numerous trainers can be expected to wait until the very last minute before making up their minds about paying the 400 starting fee Even though the track may not be in its best condition for the Derby renewal the attendance promises to be the greatest in the history of American racing Last years edition of the classic brought out the most paid admissions and with reserved space for todays renewal even though it had been vastly increased sold out for many weeks the crowd is almost certain to surpass any other assembled for a horse race in this country especially as a recurrence of Thurs ¬ days rainstorm is not expected by the Louis ¬ ville weather bureau bureauDuring During the winter the Derby outlook did not promise as much as has been the caste In former years but Matt Winn and his Churchill Downs associates can have no complaints about how interest in the special has steadily grown The gain was so rapid that even the veteran Winn was amazed amazedEven Even with the Derby appearing such an open race the great crowd may be treated to the sight of some threeyearold right at the finish many lengths in advance of his opposition Regardless of whether first honors in the classic are easily attained or hard earned the Derby will not produce a horse that can be termed the threeyearold champion at this time although the victor may go on to sweep everything before him as was the case with Cavalcade Gallant Fox and Reigh Count The Derby winner will meet new opposition in the Preakness and in the Belmont too if he happens to be eligi ¬ ble for that valuable stake Many of the Derby candidates are not in the Belmont however notably Nellie Flag Common ¬ wealth Roman Soldier and Morpluck Through the summer such events as the American Detroit and Latonia Derbys and the Arlington Classic will be renewed and they will give the winner of the Churchill Downs feature as well as victims ample opportunity to prove the trueness of the Kentucky Derby running Colonel Winn naturally will be very busy directing the handling of todays great Derby crowd but at the same time he hopes to be able to see if the mechanism of the plant operate smoothly as he real 1 izcs the event is growing and something must be done to accommodate the public in the future Winn is confident the holders of reserved space will be protected as they never have been before against the milling horde of nonpaying guests More and more wire has been added to the Churchill Downs fences and Winn has obtained the services of 500 militia to keep the freeloaders in the infield Winn does not mind the gath ¬ ering in the center field but he does hate to have his paying guests pushed around and even elbowed out of their seats seatsIf If Louisville could support five weeks of racing annually in a decent fashion Derby day not included Winn might think seri ¬ ously about construction of a new grand ¬ stand and clubhouse to accommodate many more thousands of people but as the sport is seldom financially successful except when the big feature is staged the investment in a new structure does not appear attractive enough for the Churchill Downs manage ¬ ment to consider While the grandstand and clubhouse are unusually long they lack depth and all together the seating accom dations do not go much above 20000 A grandstand and clubhouse the depth of that at Arlington and Belmont Parks and as long as the Churchill buildings would easily care for a gathering of 30000 or more This figure does not include the mass of hu ¬ manity that could be collected on a wide terrace in front of the stands Winn cer ¬ tainly realizes the need of new buildings providing greater comfort and also vastly increased freedom in the betting enclosures and he has given it much thought but the j change hardly looks worth while to him for one days racing each year
