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I ■ ■ == Brevity, Not Bold Venture, Best Horse in the Derby j j j | [ I ! I j i J I j | ! ] | | j | ! j , j I WIDENER S TOUGH LUCK General Opinion After Saturdays Great Race That Favorite Was Indeed Unfortunate LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 4.— While eight of the fourteen horses which competed in the sixty-second Kentucky Derby before more than 70,000 persons here at Churchill Downs last Saturday were shipped to other racing points over the week-end, horsemen after hearing comments and versions of most of the riders who participated in the race came to a conclusion that Brevity, and not Bold Venture, the winner, was the best horse Saturday. While not taking anything away from the son of St. Germans, which carried the colors of Morton L. Schwartz, a New Yorker, to victory by a head over Joseph E. Wideners Brevity, those who closely observed the race were satisfied that with anything like an even break in the luck, Brevity might have been the victor by a decisive margin. They agree that Bold Venture is likely to prove himself one of the best among recent winners of the old fixture, but at the same time measured the ill fortune which befell Brevity soon after the start as being more than enough to have cost him the race, possibly a decisive victory. As to Granville, whose rider Jimmy Stout was knocked from his back in another jam within a few strides after the break, they felt that inasmuch as Teufel, which a week before had defeated that colt in the Wood Memorial Stakes, took a terrific lacing without excuse in the Derby, Granville could hardly have been expected to have proven much of a factor. Whereas Bold Venture experienced some interference early in the race, he was out of difficulty quickly, while Brevity, knocked to a knee and sidewise when returned to his feet, was not in good stride until fully three furlongs after the start of the mile and a quarter contest. With clear sailing through the long back stretch, Bold Venture raced from eighth place to the lead, while Brevity was in sixth place as the Schwartz colt flashed in front a half mile from the finish. From there on the J. E. Widener horse and favorite continued to make up ground and, although he failed to overtake the winner, he finished fastest of the two and would probably have headed Bold Venture in one or two more strides. It was enough to cause predictions that the Widener horse will, barring another such visitation of ill fortune, turn the tables on the Derby winner when next they meet and go on to prove the best of his age. There was some praise for Indian Broom. Major A. C. Taylors West Coast entry, which finished third, about six lengths off the leaders. He, too, encountered some bad racing luck, but like Bold Venture, quickly Continued on twenty-sixth page. I I i j ; . , I j : j i , i j j | ] : j ! j I , J I i j ! I I i | j j J ] i i ! j j I i I ! I BREVITY, NOT BOLD VENTURE, BEST HORSE IN THE DERBY Continued from first page. fhook it off and went on to follow nearest the leading Bold Venture as they swung into the stretch, where he failed to match the courage of the winner and runner-up. He led Coldstream, which finished fourth and for which no excuse could be found, by three lengths. Coldstream carried C. B. Shaffers colors. Bien Joli, starter of E. R. Bradley, who has won the race four times, lost fourth, or consolation money, by five lengths and this wide margin destroyed grounds for alibi though the Bradley horse had to be slightly taken up when he became locked in close quarters approaching the far turn, where Bold Venture and Brevity were moving up rapidly. Having passed tired horses in the final quarter, W. E. Schmidts Holl Image arrived at the finish just a head back of the Bradley horse and while this performance was most ordinary it may have been more than the public expected from the Schmidt horse. The early pacemaker, He Did, owned by Mrs. Silas B. Mason, carried his speed for almost a mile before he shortened stride, j while Grand Slam, another prominent in the early stages, started to fall back after three-quarters and none of the others except The Fighter, ever appeared dangerous. The Fighter flashed enough speed to reach the end of the opening half mile fifth behind He Did, Coldstream, Grand Slam and Bien Joli. C. Kurtsinger, who rode He Did, lost his whip about a half mile from the finish. Pictures of the start showed all of the fourteen three-year-olds in fine alignment when starter Hamilton gave the signal send-j ing them into combat. While the Churchill Downs stewards, who suspended jockeys Ira Hanford, who rode the winner; George Burns, who was astride Indian Broom, and Nick Wall, who had the mount on Coldstream, for fifteen days for rough riding, made no further explanation in their ruling as sent to the press representatives, statements of riders in the race indicated -that Wall was responsible for the tangle near the outside of the field and in which Brevity was the victim. It is assumed that Burns mount had something to do with the unseating of Stout, and Hanford appeared to cause minor crowding as he rushed Bold Venture to the lead nearing the far turn. Pictures taken immediately after the start indicate that Indian Broom, in swerving, probably forced He Did over on Granville and Bien Joli. With the Derby over, owners of starters in Saturdays race were busy making plans for the future plans of their three-year-olds, and no less than seven of the fourteen Derby contestants were shipped away from Churchill Downs yesterday, with another getting away today. The winner. Bold Venture, and Gold Seeker, the only filly to start in the Derby, left at noon yesterday for New York, while another car on the same train, but tagged for Pimlico, contained Teufel, Granville, Merry Pete and Grand Slam. Several hours later Indian Broom was loaded for his long trip back to California. Brevity today was vanned to his owners Elmendorf Farm, near Lexington, and from there will be shipped to Belmont Park, Wednesday. All of the riders who came here from the East for Derby engagements have left. Except for a few cuts and scratches re-, ceived by several of them, all of the horses in the Derby came out of their engagement in good style. Minor abrasions were suffered by He Did and Brevity, with several others showing nothing more than scratches. Gran-| ville lost a plate. While Bold Venture may fill his engage-j ment in the Preakness, to be run at Pimlico a week from Saturday, Max Hirsch, trainer of the colt, had not reached a definite decision when he left here Saturday night for New York. Among the Derby horses which probably will be pointed for the Preakness are William Woodwards Granville and Merry Pete, Mrs. H. C. Phipps Teufel and Bohn and Mar-keys Grand Slam. Brevity was not nominated for the Pimlico race and his next major engagement is expected to be in the Withers at Belmont Park. * — _
