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EXPECT 75,000 TO SEE KENTUCKY DERBY g « ONLY TEN STARTERS Smallest Field Since 1922 Scheduled for Sixty-Fifth Running. Johnstown Probable Odds-On Choice, With Challedon, -Technician and El Chico Most Dangerous Rivals. LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 5.— Ten colts, comprising the smallest field in nearly twenty years, are poised for the race of their lives tomorrow afternoon at historic Churchill Downs in the sixty-fifth Kentucky Derby. Favorable weather and a fast track prevailed today, thereby raising the expectations that Johnstown will be the shortest-priced favorite in the nations greatest sports event since 1905, when Agile was victorious at 1 to 3. The official weather forecast is for local showers, but no sooner than late Saturday afternoon. Some 75,000 or more persons, forming a capacity crowd despite a substantial increase in Churchill Downs accommodations, are expected to witness the great spectacle of Johnstown against the field. William Woodwards colt, striving to give the New York banker-sportsman his third victory in Americas blue riband, has come up to his engagement in the 0,000 added race at a mile and one-quarter in such sensational fashion as to frighten away enough eligibles to prevent the field from being of average Derby size. LESS THAN EVEN MONEY. The odds on the record-breaking son of Jamestown and La France, a galloping winner of the Wood Memorial last Saturday, are expected to be 7 to 10 or less when the field reaches the post at 4:30 p. m., central standard time. Unquestionably the second choice will be the stretch-running Challedon, triple Futurity winner, bred and owned by William L. Brann of Maryland, as the hunch and long-shot players scatter their attentions among the eight other candidates. A field of ten will make the gross value 7,875 and the winners net share 6,850. In addition to this important sum, the fortunate owner will receive a gold trophy valued at ,000, the presentation to be made by Albert Benjamin Chandler, governor of Kentucky, as the victorious colt is adorned with the blanket of flowers placed on all Derby winners. This years Derby field may not be the strongest that could be mustered from the three-year-old division, but even if the field was three times its size, on their records, Johnstown still would be the favorite and Challedon the second choice. So if either is triumphant, he automatically becomes the outstanding candidate for championship honors and not unlikely threatens entrance into that rather select group of great horses. Each of the Derby starters will shoulder 126 pounds and that exacting burden will be Continued on eleventh page. I I ONLY TENJTARTERS Continued from first page. a deciding factor in the outcome as it has in every previous running of the classic in which the weight has been so fixed. This i high package will not deter the good horses ; in the Derby field, but it will weigh heavily on the others, particularly after the first six furlongs, when speed gives way to class and stamina. As post time draws near, none of the candidates appears to have any valid excuse from a conditioning standpoint other than Xalapa Clown. Mrs. Bessie Franzheims fleet colt has a suspicious looking knee, but trainer A. C. Dettwiler looks for him to run his race. The names of ten eligibles went through I the entry box but one of these, Challenge, a stablemate of Johnstown, will start only if the track becomes sloppy or muddy. The favorite is not considered by trainer James Fitzsimmons a top soft-track runner and if the unexpected change in track conditions occurs, Johnstown will not be considered by the talent as so superior to his opponents. This years running most certainly will be a reminder of some past edition of the Derby. It does now and will do so after the winner has been adorned with the coveted floral wreath. The prospects perhaps are more like they were for the 1922 renewal than for any other during the modern history of the classic in that Johnstown has so impressed the public with his dazzling speed that he is a strong favorite, even though there still remains the question of his ability to stay the distance. In 1922 Morvich was a 6 to 5 favorite at post time because of the vast regard held for his speed proclivities. Some doubt was expressed as to his willingness to last, but the son of Runnymede simply galloped in front over the long route. Johnstowns many admirers fervently hope he can do likewise. CHALLEDON SUPPORTERS. Not so many, perhaps, but able to argue just as vociferously, are the supporters of Challedon, who see in tomorrows race a duplication of the 1934 running when Cavalcade surged forward with a mighty rush after the first half mile to run over the leaders. The Maryland colt is just such a performer as was Cavalcade, but whether as I | good is for the Derby to decide.. i j The camps of the other candidates are earnest in their belief that something must happen to Johnstown and Challedon if Derby glory is to come their way. No matter how forlorn their chances may appear to be, upsets have happened before in this classic of classics and they know too well that victory only can be obtained by trying for it. Johnstown had no help in establishing himself as the Derby favorite. El Chico easily had his number as a two-year-old, as did several other colts, but he has blossomed out as a three-year-old in the same manner that made the William Ziegler star the undisputed juvenile champion last season. El Chico defeated everything that faced him in 1938 and Johnstown had romped away from all his opposition this spring, beginning with the Paumonok Handicap, in which his opponents included such fast stepping old horses as Sir Damion and The Chief. EL CHICOS FIRST REVERSE. The same afternoon El Chico encountered his first defeat at the instance of Gilded Knight and Johnstown advanced as a Derby favorite, solidifying himself in the position by setting a new Jamaica record of 1:40% for the mile and seventy yards, one-fifth off the American mark, in his next outing. Then, in taking the Wood Memorial Stakes last Saturday in similar hollow fashion, the son of Jamestown and La France left the notion with many persons that the Derby was all over but the shouting. None of the other candidates has come up to the engagement as Johnstown has done, least of all Challedon. The Brann hopeful has been postward only once this season, less than any of the candidates, and the best he could do was to finish third. However, it was in the Chesapeake Stakes, at a mile and one-sixteenth, and the son of Challenger II. and Laura Gal finished well behind Gilded Knight and Impound. Challedon distinguished himself as a two-year-old in races like the Pimlico Futurity, I at a mile and one-sixteenth, and the New I [ England Futurity, at a mile and seventy | yards, the latter in heavy mud, coming from behind in each as in his other races, including successfully the Maryland Futurity. He, like the other Derby candidates, must be tested over the distance, but the belief is general that the farther he runs the better it will suit him. TECHNICIAN LOSES GROUND. Technician lost considerable cast in his failure to run as expected in the Derby Trial, but the son of Insco and Glister still must be reckoned with, judging by all that has transpired these past few hectic months, as the third best of the candidates. Viscounty may lead him home again tomorrow, as he did Tuesday, but the Kansas-Missouri fellow appeared too impressive in defeating Volitant in the Flamingo Stakes and in winning at six furlongs here last Saturday to be condemned for one disappointing effort. Called upon to give the Valdina color-bearer eight pounds, Technician also couldnt entirely cope with the intimidation caused by the former during the stretch run, yet he was going to win anyway in another stride or two. Technician has been prepped for a mile and a quarter and no great reason is at hand that he cant negotiate the distance. Just what the change in riders to Johnny Adams can do for the Woolf colt remains to be seen, although the western flash ought to suit Technician for such a race as the Derby. Adams is at his best going over a long route and particularly so on a horse that can be rated and gives more when so handled. Viscounty, although decisively beaten in the Blue Grass Stakes by Heather Broom and Third Degree, rates as a dark horse. The local course suits him better and he can make trouble if ridden in the particular fashion he demands. , Held with an increasing amount of respect are the chances of Heather Broom, a com- : parative nobody a few weeks ago, even after he had won an overnight race -at Jamaica. I I [ | : His outlook was brighter after the John Hay Whitney colt ran down the field in the Blue Grass Stakes and a deeper glow appeared after he had worked the Derby distance at Keeneland in 2:06, handily. Keene-land and Churchill Downs tracks are quite different, but the son of The Porter and Janet Blair acts as if he fancies the distance and he already has shown that he can handle deep going. Heading the other candidates are the two unbeaten colts as juveniles — El Chico and! Xalapa Clown. The former was so much a 1 champion at two that he ranked as the, Derby favorite all winter and up to the time he met the improved Gilded Knight. Hej j may have been unfortunate in losing thatj I six furlongs race, as the son of John P. Grier | | and La Chica did not hit his stride with his| i usual alacrity, but he had no chance what-! soever in the Wood, after being all but! knocked down in a first-turn jam. I El Chico has speed, perhaps still more I than Johnstown possesses, although he hasnt shown it as yet this season and although he hasnt had any chance to show whether he can do the Derby distance, doubts have increased that he wont. Much the same can be stated for Xalapa Clown, although Mrs. Bessie Franzheims representative won the Ardsley Handicap at a mile and seventy yards, last fall over Ciencia and Gilded Knight and was second to the King Ranch filly in the Santa Anita Derby, at nine furlongs, during the winter. CALIFORNIA PERFORMANCE. In the California race, the son of Eternal j and Loma Linda rushed into a good lead in the early stages and held sway with something to spare until reaching the stretch, where he gave way only to Ciencia, holding safe such a colt as Impound, recently second in the Chesapeake ahead of Challedon and third to Johnstown and Volitant in the Wood Memorial. Xalapa Clowns training has been criticized by the railbirds here, but it cant be said he is heavy-footed. At least in sloppy going, the Texas-owned colt has demonstrated that his speed is not impaired. T. M. Dorsett is another candidate of unknown quanity, but that he fancies the local course was demonstrated last fall when he easily won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and again Thursday morning in a sparkling trial at one mile. The Joe W. Brown colt had the misfortune to become ill at New Orleans five weeks ago and his training program was interrupted for several days, but trainer J. B. Theall was able to get him to the post twice at Jamaica, first in a dash of six furlongs, which he won, and then in the Wood Memorial. He was fourth in the latter race but his performance so impressed Theall that he sent him here. Wednesday morning the son of Cohort and Michigan Girl reported with a slight fever, but kept in his stall that day he was able to undergo a final Derby trial yesterday and he continued in a normal condition today, thereby accounting for his presence in the overnight entries.
