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WILLIAM H SHELLEY IS HIGH ON WHIRLAWAY WHIRLAWAYGoes Goes on Record as Saying That Calumet Star Is Greatest Racer He Has Seen in Half Century CenturyCRETE CRETE III May 22 William H Shelley racing secretary at Churchill Downs and Lincoln Fields is a dignified friendly gen ¬ tleman with a half century of memories and experience as a racing official While sitting around with some friends the other morn ¬ ing the conversation naturally turned to Warren Wrights Whirlaway the horse of the moment the subject of conversation wherever racing men gather In the matter of fact way that men of experience have of placing themselves on record with an opinion without thrusting it upon you the Kentuckian opined that Whirlaway is the greatest race horse which he has seen in a half century And Ive seen all the good ones said the Lincoln Fields official Hin ¬ doo Ben Brush Gallant Fox none of those horses were as good as Whirlaway when he runs Hes a terrible horse horseStewart Stewart Hunter of Calumet Farm told me about him long before he got to the races He told me that a Blenheim II colt was the best they had but th y didnt know whether they could get him running right or not That was Whirlaway WhirlawayJONES JONES NEVER LOST FAITH FAITHBen Ben Jones is a good horseman He trained that horse for the Derby just the way he told me down in Florida that he was going to train him He told me he was going to run him threequarters and he never did weaken on him Nothing he did in Florida made Ben believe that the horse wasnt all he thought he was wasBen Ben was pretty disappointed when the colt didnt win the Derby Trial He gave that little boy fits but the boy told him that Whirlaway just ran so fast he couldnt han ¬ dle him Thats when he decided to get a big strong boy boyOf Of course he had that one blinker on him but I think Ben deserves the credit for making that colt run straight Hes a good horseman knows what he wants to do and nobody is going to tell him how to handle a horse horseBefore Before the Derby they worked him with another horse on the outside of him When he started to run out at the turn the other horse gave him a good bumping around and kept him in I guess from the way he ran in the Derby and the Preakness he never forgot that bumping around he got gotChances Chances are he is a better horse than his daddy ever thought of being He re ¬ minds me of Hanover but hes a better horse than Hanover I mean the way he runs Jimmy McLaughlin told me that King ¬ ston had it on Hanover when it came to gameness He said if you had to pull your whip on Hanover you had a chance of get ¬ ting beat but not with Kingston Said that hed give you everything he had Hed run till he was dead deadVISITED VISITED HANOVER AT CASTLETON CASTLETONI I saw Hanover the day before he died I went to see him He was at Castleton He had a stall of his own but they kept the door open and let him have the run of the place I had my back turned to his stall one hand on my hip The next thing I knew hed put his head under my arm He was a great horse horseI I always thought that he was the greatest horse I ever saw I only saw him get beat once And then he was 130 Laggard beat him We used to bet our 2 on Hanover and then go to the ball game knowing that he was going to pay our way he was that sure of winning winningAsked Asked what he thought of Whirlaways chances against older horses at weightfor ¬ age Shelley replied T think hed kill any of those horses at weightforage There isnt anything in racing that can run with him Challedon is a nice horse and so is Mioland But think he could spot them six or eight pounds and whip them easily That goes for any of those older horses horsesWell Well you saw where Ben Jones said that he would run anybody any kind of a race from a halfmile up anywhere That ought to be good enough Chances are that he would break all the worlds records there are if he ran some of those distances The further they go the better he likes it He showed that in the Derby Colonel Bradley always said that any horse who could run the last quarter in 25 seconds could win the Derby He ran the last quar ¬ ter in 24 seconds Thats the kind of speed hes got From Whirlaway the conversation turned to the late Jim Butler builder of Empire City and Laurel Of all the associations he has had in his half century in the sport his memories of his relationship with Col Matt J Winn and Butler are the sharpest sharpestDont Dont let anybody tell you that Butler was stingy said Shelley defending his late friend against some of the accusations that live after him He always treated his men the best If he thought you could hit the ball hed pay you youI I went down to Empire City to work for him when Mr Winn became associated with hjm and he treated us fine He came down to Oriental Park to have me go to work for him later but I told him that I thought Id rather stay where I was around the country where I was known
