Here and There on the Turf: Derby Too Big for Churchill Downs; Could Use 25,000 More Seats; Race Should Live Forever; Establishes Early Champion, Daily Racing Form, 1937-05-10

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Hera and There on the Turf Derby Too Big for Churchill Downs DownsCould Could Use 25000 More Seats Race Should Live Forever Establishes Early Champion Our deepest impression this brightest and finest Derby Day in more than a decade is the inadequacy of Churchill Downs No per ¬ son realizes this fact more than Matt Winn that genial jovial man who developed a dream into the nations greatest sporting event As he gazed over Churchill Downs this afternoon Colonel Winn saw people and more people the multitude extending in un ¬ broken order for fully threeeighths of a mile Thousands more were in the center field lined along the back stretch and in the areas behind the clubhouse and grand ¬ stand Every year since the Derby came into national prominence Winn has had to make changes in the Churchill Downs plant arid in preparations for this years renewal many new seats were installed and a mez ¬ zanine floor was added to the grandstand but still more room is required requiredHazarding Hazarding a guess on the Derby crowd is Useless To state that the visitors came j from the length and breadth of the land and included the vicepresident of the United States governor senators generals finan ¬ cial giants leaders of the arts and profes ¬ sions prize fighters wrestlers barbers tailors bartenders gamblers and just plain Mr Fan is more accurate Churchill Downs has some 25000 seats seatsNot Not a single one was empty when the Derby field reached the post For every person fortunate enough to have a seat there must have been two standing up Judging from the interest and excitement Churchill Downs could have filled another 5000 chairs with the ratio of standees re tnaining the same But where to find the room taxes the nimble brain of Colonel Winn WinnWith With Derby Day drawing bright and clear the crowd came to Churchill Downs earlier than ever before The gates were manned at 6 a m and three hours later the attend ¬ ance was sufficient to have pleased Colonel Winn on an ordinary Saturday of an ordi ¬ nary race meeting It was a more orderly Crowd than we have seen in our Derby mem ¬ ory extending back to Black Gold despite a greater anxiety than ever over visitors to see the Derby running Benefitting from experience Winn made elaborate arrange ¬ ments to handle the vast multitude and he was not sorry he did so Persons who paid ell for their boxes were amply protected against intruders and whether or not they were lucky enough to have picked the Derby Winner they left Churchill Downs at sun jdown well satisfied with their attendance at the sixtythird running of the Kentucky Perby As long as there is horse racing in America the Kentucky Derby will be a na ¬ tional institution because the sport is too deeply rooted in the Blue Grass State to be rooted out Some years ago considerable agitation against racing was aroused in this state but people all over the commonwealth now realize more than ever the benefit of the Derby to Kentucky It not only is the Continued on seventeenth page HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second pagej greatest advertisement the state has but year after year the race brings many thou ¬ sands of visitors whose expenditures run into the millions Some day Churchill Downs may have to be reconstructed entirely to accommodate the persons who would see the Derby because after they have attended once they are ready to return the following year Thats the reason why the Kentucky Derby is a national institution and will con ¬ tinue to be such long after the present gene ¬ ration has witnessed its last horse race raceInterest Interest in each succeeding Derby also will be easy to arouse This year it has increased more naturally than ever before Staged at about this time of the season always the Derby brings together the outstanding three yearolds from all sections of the country because the honor and glory of a Derby vic ¬ tory is the dream of every person owning a thoroughbred Some years ago the Derby followed the Preakness and the Maryland race established the form of the leading threeyearolds more thoroughly but now the Derby is in the position of determining the early champion bringing together as it does the winners of the Chesapeake in Maryland the Wood Memorial in New Yorlr the Blue Grass Stakes in Kentucky the Flamingo Stakes in Florida and the Santa Anita Derby in California There is no won ¬ der then why the Kentucky Derby is the race it is


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1937051001/drf1937051001_2_3
Local Identifier: drf1937051001_2_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800