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INTEREST IN DERBY INCREASES Hal Price Headley Striving for First Kentucky Classic Win. Has Strong Hand in Menow, Dah He, Bourbon King, and Copy Cat Stagehand Due to Arrive at Churchill Downs. LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 9. Hal Price Headley, Kentucky breeder and owner, has never been able to win the Kentucky Derby, although his colors have been carried to victory in virtually every other important race in the Blue Grass State, but he may be in a very strategic position to take down top honors, in this years renewal of the 0,000 stake at Churchill Downs on May 7. Besides Menow, winner of the Belmont Futurity, Headley has three other eligibles for the big race in Dah He, Bourbon King and Copy Cat and their training progress from here will be watched with keen interest by those who keep in touch with the doings of Derby candidates. Headley has all of his Derby eligibles assembled at Lexington, Menow and Dah He having arrived there from Florida only a few days ago, and it is proable that they may be seen under colors there before being transferred here to Churchill Downs. EARLY CHOICE. Menow, one of the early choices for the Derby and the principal string in Headleys Derby bow, is showing no signs of the ankle trouble which prompted his connections to take him out of training last fall. In his farewell workout at Hialeah Park, where he resumed training during the winter, Menow went a mile in 1:41 in company with Dah He. This splendid performance did nothing to hurt his popularity and there are not a few who believe he will be the horse to beat in the Churchill Downs classic. The Headley star could achieve a unique distinction by capturing the Derby for that rich fixture never has fallen to a winner of the Belmont Futurity. Interest here in the Derby will be spurred considerably Monday when Maxwell Howards Stagehand, hero of the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap, and his stable companion, The Chief, arrive from California. Stagehands exploits on the Coast this winter have established him the current Derby favorite and every move he makes after his arrival will be of keen interest to Derby fans. According to word received here from trainer Earl Sande, Stagehand continued to train well after his Santa Anita Handicap triumph, but fans here are eager to get a glimpse of him. OTHER CONTENDERS. While the Headley and Howard Derby eligibles and such candidates as Herbert M. Woolfs Lawrin, Mrs. Ethel V. Mars Tiger and Mountain Ridge, and Myron Selznicks Cant Wait are commanding their share of attention, fans are not losing sight of such other formidable three-year-olds as William Woodwards Fighting Fox, Warren Wrights Bull Lea, A. C. Comptons Sun Egret, W. S. Kilmers Nedayr and P. A. and R. J. Nashs Dickerville. There are not a few horsemen who believe that Sun Egret, which finished third to Stagehand and Dauber, beaten only a short margin in the Santa Anita Derby, will be a powerful threat in the Derby, regardless of track conditions and that he will win it if the track is muddy. Among those who favor Sun Egrets chances is J. Tommy Taylor, who broke the horse, and also Nedayr when both of them belonged to W. S. Kilmer, who now has only . the latter. Sun Egret showed he lost none of his running qualities in his trip across the continent after the Santa Anita Derby Derby, for he won the Rowe Memorial Handicap at Bowie, and in doing so beat a number of older horses. Cant Wait, the horse Taylor is training for Myron Selznick for the Derby, will be sent to Jamaica to run in the Wood Memorial Handicap on April 30, and if he shows himself to be of Derby quality he will be shipped right back for the race the following week. Cant Wait lost several narrow decisions in California during the winter and Taylor has high hopes of starting him in the Churchill Downs classic. QUALIFYING RACE. The Wood Memorial may have a marked effect on the complexion of the Derby field, for it is possible that Fighting Fox, which has been training in spectacular fashion, also may inaugurate his three-year-old campaign in that stake as may several other eligibles. Two other pre-Derby stakes which may determine the status of some of the nominees are the Chesapeake Stakes at Havre de Grace and the Derby Trial right here at the Downs. The latter promises to be a particularly brilliant affair, for among the eligibles are quite a number of the outstanding candidates for the 0,000 special. Bull Lea has been training well at his owners Calumet Farm, where he recently breezed a mile and a furlong in 1:57 and pulled up the Derby distance of a mile and a quarter in 2:12, and so has Dickerville, which started only twice in his life. Dickerville set the track record for the short half-mile Headley Course at Keeneland in his first start and then was left at the nost in the Lafayette Stakes in his next. Then he went amiss and was turned out for the remainder of the year. Dickerville may be the Nash Brothers best bet for the Derby since they had Burning Blaze, which was cut down while winning a race just a few days before the Derby not so many years back. With many of the top-ranking eligibles on the scene of the race, trainers can be expected to begin setting them down in their morning trials from here out and their work will be of particular significance as far as their Derby chances are concerned.
