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Absence of Fillies From Todays Field Brings to Mind Regrets Score in 191 5 Only Member of Her Sex To Have Triumphed in Run of the Roses LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 1.— In 67 runnings of the Kentucky Derby the owners of only 26 fillies had the temerity to start them in the annual Churchill Downs classic for three-year-olds and only one of them, the immortal Regret, ever won the race. That record will stand through tomorrows running of the Derby, because none of the six fillies eligible has shaped up well enough to prompt her entry in the 68th edition of the 5,000 special. Regret, who gained everlasting fame under the colors of Harry Payne Whitney, won the Derby in 1915 and her feat annually takes on added lustre as others of her sex either try and fail in the run for the roses or are not even deemed worthy of trying. No filly has started in the Derby since 1936 when the Foxcatcher Farm of William duPont, Jr., sent Gold Seeker here from the East to compete with the best of her age. But, like so many others of her sex, she was found wanting against her masculine rivals and she finished ninth behind Bold Venture. Mata Hari and Bazaar Disappoint The year before, 1935, a filly, the Calumet Farms Nellie Flag, was installed the favorite in the Derby, but she had a rough trip and when she reached the end of the mile and a quarter she was fourth, Omaha, Roman Soldier and Whiskolo leading her across the line of finish. Two splendid feminine prospects appeared on the Derby horizon in 1934, Charles T. Fishers Mata Hari and Edward R. Bradleys Bazaar, but they, too, were destined to disappointment. Mata Hari paced the field for almost three-quarters of a mile and then gave way to the tradition that fillies do not win Derbys. She finished fourth, the winner being Cavalcade. Bazaar was a good distance farther back. The Longridge Stables Oscillation was sent out in 1932 to defy the jinx that has hovered over all except one filly in the long history of the race and she finished in the ruck. The winner here was Burgoo King. In 1930, H. P. Headley had Derby aspirations for Alcibiades, but after showing speed for nearly a mile she had enough. H. P. Whitneys Prudery and Walter J. Salmons Careful lent their presence to the 1921 field and the former was good enough only to be third, and the year before W. R. Coe sent out the filly Cleopatra for a flyer in the great spring classic at Churchill Downs only to see her outrun all the way. And so it was with the earlier history of the Derby, Regret excepted. Fillies, the records show, year after year simply do not excel colts and geldings this early in the season. A perusal of previous runnings of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes shows that fillies annually meet the same reversals in those important events for three-year-olds. All of which tends to magnify the greatness of Regret and of her achievement here in 1915.
