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NINETEEN PROBABLE STARTERSl DERBY a « Brevity Still Rules a Pronounced Favorite With Public ♦ Granville and Teufel Next in Demand — The Fighter, Bien Joli, Indian Broom and Grand Slam Not Without Admirers — Weather Uncertain » LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 1. — Nineteen three-year-olds, of which seventeen loom as certain starters, were entered this morning for tomorrows sixty-second Kentucky Derby. While not the largest field ever named for this time-honored classic, which is expected to attract a crowd upwards of 70,000 to Churchill Downs here, it presents a number of possibilities without equal in the long and glorious history of the fixture. Tomorrows renewal of this mile and a quarter intersectional race of races, the most coveted and spectacularly staged on this continent, will be for a prize of 0,000 in added money along with the most important leg on the three-year-old turf championship of the year. Although as has been the ?case many times in the past the race will have a pronounced favorite, if it is contested over a fast track, by a strange paradox not common to the Derby there are at least a half dozen generally conceded strong chances of humbling the choice. The favorite is and has been since his sensational victory in the Florida Derby, J. E. Wideners Brevity, winner of five of the six starts he has made since he came to the races. Those considered likely to prove his sternest opposition, if not block his path to victory, are William Woodwards Granville. Mrs. H. C. Phipps Teufel, Major A. C. Taylors Indian Broom, C. B. Shaffers Coldstream, M. L. Schwartz Bold Venture, Mrs. Ethel V. Mars The Fighter and William Dupont, Jr.s, Gold Seeker. Others expected to start are Col. E. R. Bradleys Bien Joli and Banister. Charles Bonn and P. A. Markeys Grand Slam and Forest Play, Mrs. Silas B. Masons He Did, Mrs. Bessie Franzheims Silas, W. E. Schmidts Holl Image, Sangreal, also owned by Mrs. Mars, and Merry Pete, another belonging to Mrs. Phipps. Completing the field of overnight entries are Mrs. P. A. B. Wideners Dnieper and W. C. Goodloes filly, Seventh Heaven, but they are not expected to start. FAIR WEATHER FORECAST. Although the track was slow today and skies at times threatening, the forecast for the next twenty-four hours is for fair weather, and if this prediction does not miscarry the track will be fast for the running of not only the Derby but all races on tomorrows program. Should a muddy or sloppy track prevail the chances of Grand Slam would be so enhanced that he would have a tremendous following though hardly enough backing to displace Brevity as the public choice. Little can be said of the others, though Holl Image, another Chicago entry and owned by W. E. Schmidt, won the Arkansas Derby and finished third in the Texas Derby. Dnieper, owned by Mrs. P. A. B. Widener, daughter-in-law of Brevitys owner, finished second in the Florida Derby, but was fourth to He Did, Sangreal and Grand Slam in the Derby Trial, which saw Holl Image even farther back. Silas, owned by Mrs. B. Franzheim of Kentucky, also took a sound trouncing in the Trial. Of these, Dnieper is not expected to start if the track is fast or good, and another Kentucky entry— the filly Seventh Heaven, owned by W. C. Goodloe— completes the duo of doubtful contestants. With seventeen starting, the race will have a gross value of 9,350, of which 8,925 will Continued on eleventh page. NINETEEN PROBABLE STARTERS IN DERBY Continued from first page. represent the net value to the winner. The horse finishing second will earn ,000, with ,000 to third and ,000 to fourth. A gold trophy, valued at ,000, goes to the owner of the winning horse. In preparing for a record crowd Col. M. J. Winn, executive director of the course, has greatly enlarged and improved the plant in an effort to take care of as much of the increase over previous years as possible. Upward of 50,000 was expended for these improvements and changes, and visitors tomorrow will find the famous course more beautiful, more spacious and more complete than ever before. As it has done since Colonel Winn elevated it to its present pinnacle position among Americas turf fixtures, the Derby tomorrow will draw the wealth, aristocracy and notables of the nation here to join with laymen in annual tribute to the thoroughbred and wholesome sport. Despite the fact that every indication points to Brevitys installation as one of the most pronounced public choices in the modern record of the classic, those mentioned as being conceded excellent chances to turn him back and capture the race have so many admirers that this contradictory situation is difficult to understand. While the strangest, it is but one of the many possibilities with which the race is replete. It goes without saying that, like the favorite, each of the colts and one filly comprising the group regarded as the ones Brevity must conjure with has come into high esteem by their racing records. Briefly reviewing their performances this spring, Indian Broom shattered the mile and a furlong world record of 1:4814 held by Brevity and the older Discovery, last years American handicap champion, when he won the March-bank Handicap in 1:47%. The Fighter climaxed a brilliant winter campaign with a victory in the Texas Derby, his fifth in successive starts; Teufel captured the Wood Memorial Stakes, defeating Granville a nose as the two made a runaway of the race; Bold Venture galloped to victory in his only 1936 start; Gold Seeker, the only filly in the field, subdued a powerful array of her age in the Chesapeake Stakes, and Coldstream signalized his potentency with a smashing performance with older company in the Clark Handicap here a week ago. While these and the favorite hold the limelight on the eve of the race, tomorrows setting sun may silhouette an unexpected winner from among the less fancied group before an awe-stricken throng at this famous old racing course. Expanding on the prospects for tomorrows race, other highlights and possibilities making it the exception, not only for the Derby but also all other important American stakes, are: The attendance indicated if fair weather prevails, will establish a new American record, now held by the Derby, and betting is expected to closely approach another Derby Day and American record of ,100,000. The appearance in the line-up of starters of such a brilliant filly as Gold Seeker revives the hope of seeing the unparalelled feat of Regret 1915 the only filly to score in the fixture, duplicated. The preponderance of winter raced horses further distinguishes tomorrows field apart from all others. This group includes not only the favorite, The Fighter and Indian Broom, but also the gallant Gold Seeker, He Did, winner of the Santa Anita Derby; Holl Image, winner of the Arkansas Derby; and Sangreal, stable companion of The Fighter. The chance that Colonel Bradley, who with four winners to his credit, has won the race more times than any owner, may score a fifth victory with Bien Joli or Banister. Finally, the opportunity of a trainer to saddle the first, second and third horses, as James Fitzsimmons, the first man to send as many as three horses to the Derby post, will saddle that number on the morrow. He is the trainer of Teufel, Granville and Merry Pete. Whether any of these eventualities transpire, the principal interest in tomorrows race will be Brevity. Should he win he will register the first Derby triumph for his Philadelphia owner, an outstanding figure in racing on both sides of the Atlantic, whose Osmand was beaten a head by Whiskery in 1927 came nearest achieving that goal. A son of Chance Shot, or Sickle and from Osmands dam, Ormonda, Brevity possesses racing credentials worthy of the confidence that will be vested in him tomorrow. As a two-year-old he participated in but three races, of which he won two, including the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. During the winter meeting at Hialeah Park, he won his only two starts, the second coming in the Florida Derby. That striking record notwithstanding, he probably did more to clinch the post of favorite when he raced to victory, his fifth in six starts over a field of Derby eligibles here last Saturday. Had he been unsuccessful in that race the blight of such defeat might have sent turf fans scurrying to the support of another candidate. The fickle racing public is that way. Trained by Peter Coyne, who also conditioned Osmand and other Derby horses for Widener and saddled the winner of the 1906 Derby in Sir Huon, which was owned by the late George J. Long, Brevity will be ridden tomorrow by Wayne D. Wright, one of the countrys leading jockeys. The Fitzsimmons trained trio of Teufel, Granville and Merry Pete which looms as the second choice of the public, comes here from the East physically equipped to put forth a strong bid for first honors. Should one of them win, Fitzsimmons will gain his third victory, having previously saddled Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha last year. Both of those horses were owned by Woodward, Granvilles owner. Gallant Fox sired both Omaha and Granville. Following defeat in the Chesapeake Stakes, his first essay as a three-year-old, Teufel, which had failed to win in eleven starts last year, came back to score his maiden triumph when he nosed out Granville in the Wood Memorial. Previously, Granville galloped to victory in an overnight race, his first of the year. Granville was in competition seven times as a juvenile and only once succeeded in winning, though he was once second and three times third. By winning the Derby, Granville could bring further glory to his sire in that it would mark the first time that progeny of the same sire won two successive runnings of the fixture. When these horses made such a runaway of the Wood, they dealt such a sound defeat to Hollyroodi one of the early winter book choices for the Derby, that he was withdrawn from the race. Merry Pete, the "ugly duckling" of the Woodward-Phipps Derby band and a surprise last minute addition to the field for tomorrows race, displayed nothing to indicate hidden quality in two starts last year, but has raced and trained so encouragingly in recent weeks that his connections decided on starting him.
