Brevity Under Saddle: Kentucky Derby Favorite Gallops Around Churchill Downs Course, Daily Racing Form, 1936-04-11

article


view raw text

BREVITY UNDER SADDLE Kentucky Derby Favorite Gallops Around Churchill Downs Course. 4 Preparing for Real Workout Sunday Wise Duke Goes Mile in 1:47 Through Mud. LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 10. Brevity, J. E. Wideners crack three-year-old nominee for the sixty-second running of the Kentucky Derby and current choice for the 0,000 added turf fixture to be run here May 2, made his first appearancem the racing strip at Churchill Downs this anorning. The day was murky and the track muddy, but trainer Pete Coyne brought his Florida Derby winner and co-holder of the worlds mark of 1:48 for a mile and a furlong onto the main track at 8:30 oclock and, in company with a pony, permitted him to gallop once around the mile course. Brevity was the biggest attraction the present training season has offered and a large number of horsemen and a few lay observers were on hand to see the racy looking Widener colt make his debut at the picturesque Downs. The horses very appearance seems to bear out his running qualities, and no few were able to point out the Derby favorite before his identity was broadcast by grapevine around the track. With his regular exercise boy, Adam Schlang in the saddle. Brevity covered the muddy course in the easiest style for, since it marked the first time he has been on the track since his arrival several days ago from Florida, no notion was entertained that he would be asked to display anything even approaching speed. The colt moved with an easy grace, and his conformity, balance and stature make him stand out like a picture or show horse; one whose appearance certainly gives him the right to rule the early favorite if his racing form was not enough. IX SPLENDID SHAPE. As indicated by his light exercise this morning, Brevity has rapidly adjusted himself to surroundings and a new climate. He was unloaded here Wednesday morning. With danger of illness or any unfavorable reaction from his trip and sharp change in climate over, Brevity can be expected to carry out the training program outlined for him and, if trainer Coyne elects to give him a "blow out" tomorrow, he will indulge in his first serious workout at the Downs Sunday morning. Brevitys stablemate, Dnieper, owned by Mrs. P. A. B. Widener, also was on the track this morning and, although he failed to attract as much attention, he was given the same sort of exercjse his more illustrious companion received. The Kiev gelding galloped over the same ground as Brevity and was accompanied by. two of the Widener two-year-olds. Whether this horse will start in the Derby as an entry with Brevity depends upon the manner in which he trains the next several weeks. Judging from his remarks, trainer Coyne regards him as a very desirable reserve candidate, though not near the threat that Brevity presents. The only trial of importance among the Derby horses on the ground was that of Wise Duke, the H. H. Hector nominee being trained by Sherrill Ward. This son of Wise Counsellor, which has come to be one of the leading dark horses for the classic, splashed through a mile of the Downs mud at a leisurely pace and in 1:47. He was unextended and permitted to move along well within himself from start to finish. He was timed for the quarter in :24, and after putting half the distance behind him in :51Vs, he galloped on to the three-quarters marker in 1:18, a stable companion, Differ, joining Wise Duke for the last three furlongs. FRANTIC OVER BAD WEATHER. While horsemen were becoming more frantic over the unfavorable weather and track conditions which prevented their preparing Derby eligibles, as much concern is being felt by those who hope to send their charges after the Clark Handicap, the Continued on eighteenth page. BREVITY UNDER SADDLE Continued from first page. ,000 stake which will headline the program here on opening day, April 25. While the Derby is the prime object of those who have eligibles, the Clark is just as much of an objective for those with nominees for that attractive feature and, to make their position more distressing, they have a week less in which to fit their horses for the "test. The unseasonable weather which has beset this section and the consequent curtailment of training work, gives rise to the opinion that those horses which campaigned through the winter will have a decided edge on those which came out of winter quarters to be prepared for the spring campaign. There are many of these winter campaigners already on the ground and more are sure to come from Texas and the East and from this contingent may come the winners of a majority of the early races at the Downs. Among those being pointed for the Clark is Beaver Dam, owned by T. S. and J. S. Mul-vilhill, which was campaigned in Florida. Beaver Dam won the race last year and if he repeats this spring he will be the second to accomplish a double in the Clark, W. J. Webbers Hodge having taken it in 1915 and 1916. The two-year-olds here which will be racing for the first time during the Churchill Downs meeting also may have to take water from those juveniles which received their early preparation and schooling in the warmer climes of Florida, Texas, Louisiana and California. The situation here has not yet become critical and with a break in the veather horsemen still have ample time in which to train their horses, but there is no gainsaying that they are becoming apprehensive and will welcome any ray of light and warmth the weather man can offer. Improvements to the plant itself are going along apace, rain or shine. When the weather is inclement, workmen still have plenty to occupy them indoors and the progress they make from day to day assures that all will be in readiness for the inaugural. When the work is complete, Churchill Downs, always a beautiful place, will be second in charm to no course in the country. Tom Young, track superintendent, continues to receive and provide for incoming horses and is outdoing himself to make the facilities at Churchill Downs and Douglas Park agreeable to their tenants. He estimates more than 1,000 horses already are quartered at the two tracks. More are coming in daily and there will be a general influx after the Texas season, along with nu-jnerous arrivals from Maryland.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1936041101/drf1936041101_1_9
Local Identifier: drf1936041101_1_9
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800