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DNIEPER IN ILLINOIS DERBY Aurora Officials Receive Nomination of Mrs. P. A. B. Widener Gelding. list of Eligibles Reaches New High Mark for 12,000 Race, to Be Run on May 22. AURORA, 111., April 23. One of the most dangerous contenders yet named for the Illinois Derby was added to the field yesterday when racing secretary Dick Leigh received the nomination of Mrs. P. A. B. Wideners gelded Dnieper for the 2,000 added stake, which will have its fourth running on May 22 as the feature of Auroras spring meeting. The addition of Dnieper brings the list of nominees to date to twenty-three, well ahead of the mark of previous runnings of the fixture, and makes it likely that sixty horses will have been named before the nominations close on May 13. Requests for blanks have been coming in from prominent horsemen in volume during the past week, one of the chief reasons, in the opinion of officials, being the reports that veteran trainers already on the grounds at Aurora have been sending to other racing centers on the condition of the racing strip. Until this year many owners of valuable three-year-olds, while anxious to try for the purse, hesitated to race their horses over the hard Aurora racing strip. The addition of 30,000 cubic yards of new topsoil since last season has given Aurora an excellent cushion this year, however, and made it one of the safest race courses in the country, even for horses whose legs are slightly on the weak side. Dnieper is well known to Chicago race followers because of his victory in the Juvenile Stakes as a two-year-old at Washington Park last summer. He stamped himself as a three-year-old of promise at Hialeah Park two months ago by running second to his stablemate, Brevity, in the 0,000 Florida Derby. Brevity equalled Discoverys world record of 1:48 for the mile and a furlong in winning, and the fact that such capable performers as C. V. Whitneys Bright Plumage and the Maemere Farms Maeri-el were behind Dnieper added considerably to the latters standing. The other early nominations for the Illinois Derby are A. G. Tarns E,ushaway, the Louisiana Derby winner; W. E. Schmidts Holl Image, which won the Arkansas Derby; T. C. Wordens Southern Belle; Mrs. J. C. Chesneys Professor Paul; E. K. Brysons Carvola; Clyde Troutts Palm Island; Blue Ridge Farms El Bailarino, Lame Duck and Understand; W. C. Stroubes Sir Gawaine; Mrs. Emil Denemarks Brilliant Light, Higher Cloud, Blind Pig, and Flavor; Tom Deve-reaux Just Frank; A.- Sabaths Wayaloft; R. T. Watts My Auntie; Mrs. A. M. Creechs Reaping; Mrs. Dan Hardys Jaber, and B. Hernandez pair, Lolschen and Flag Cadet.
