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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton About a Count and a Derby Stakes Influence on Turf DERBYTOWN Ky April 30 30The The magic hour when the band strikes up the wistful refrain of My Old Ken ¬ tucky Home the pennants flutter from the high centerfield flag poles and the tense throngs surge along the rails is almost here now A colorful cavalcade of Americas finest threeyearolds will parade spiritedly through this lane of shouting humanity to the top of the home stretch to keep a date with destiny There will be a sudden tre Importance to Breeding And to Countrys Morale mendous roar a flash of colors a montagne of straining muscles drumming hoofs and the slap or stinging whips And right about then we think is when a spectacular brown colt famed as Count FleetTthe runninest two yearold ever last season will start pouring it on Maybe they will really cut him down this time or catch him in the long road home But your correspondent did not think so last August And he still does not think so We are afraid we are pretty stubborn and we will simply have to see it before we can believe it itOf Of course the important thing is the Derby itself This is a street car Derby It is also a wartime Derby These factors make it unusual but hardly unique The Derby survived two previous wars without any hiatus in its continuity since the 1875 inaugural And it was here before there were street cars or even mule cars and no gas buggies at all in South Louisville LouisvilleImmediately Immediately after Col Matt Winn pins a rose on the victor in this Derby thor ¬ oughbred enthusiasts thoughts will turn toward Pimlico and its 50000 and its Preak ness second phase of Americas Triple Crown on the following weekend weekendLooking Looking ahead a bit we have checked the Derby entrants against the Preakness nominations and we learn with mild surprise that only four also are eligible for the Baltimore classic Count Fleet Slide Rule Blue Swords and Ocean Wave The Derbys result will make a great deal of difference to a great many people and to thoroughbreds far from the idyllic scene of this world famed turf classic In addition to the lions share of the 75000 added there is a gold trophy for the winner and a certain enduring prestige The division of the spoils moreover provides 8000 second money 3000 to third and 1000 to the fourth to finish finishThe The trainer of the winner will be awarded 3000 of the second horse 2000 and the third 1000 The breeder of the winner will collect a premium of 2000 while 1000 second money goes to the breeder of the runnerup and 500 to whoever is responsible for the third horse These are the obvious prizes There are other unstated prizes of in ¬ calculable intrinsic value For instance consider the increased vogue of the winners blood lines and the enhanced popularity of his sire whose stud fee may 1 be increased on the tide of this acclaim Then too the evaluation of each of I his yearling progeny will automatically soar in some degree degreeA A triumph for Slide Rule to illustrate our point would reflect credit on Arthur Hancock as his breeder and salesman on Claiborne Stud as his birthplace and on his already promising young sire Snark SnarkWere Were Blue Swords or No Wrinkles or some other colt acquired in the Spa yearling bargain basement to be successful in this Derby it would a good publicity for the FasigTipton Sales Company and it would encourage others to dabble in the yearling market marketPerhaps Perhaps you think it too fantastic and improbable even to consider for a moment but what if Mrs Henry L Finchs long shot Modest Ld were to somehow be first at the striped winning pole This widely unsung son of the obscure sire Ladkin would engender some increased interest in Marylands bloodstock breeding industry in general and perhaps would stimulate the courage of owners and haltermen in humble shed rows the length and breadth of the country for they would recall delightedly that only last summer Modest Lad was emancipated from the claimers at a mere 1500 1500There There would be all sorts of implications too were Eddie Rochester Andersons colt Burnt Cork to scratch home in front For one thing there is the romantic saga of Burnt Corks colthood As a yearling he was shipped off to the swank Saratoga sales paddocks and there occupied a stall next that of another yearling Devils Thumb who was destined to win the Hopeful at the ancient Civil War course just across the road a year later and to prove 1941s most pronounced bargain If Devils Thumb attracted 2 cant notice and sold cheaply Burritr Cork sold cheaper fetching a humiliating 400 less than it costs to enter a horse in the Derby DerbyDevils Devils Thumb foaled under an unlucky star never quite got to the post for this battle of the roses But we remember a lazy summer morning at Belmont Park last season when young Cecil Wilhelm remarked Devils Thumb wont race again this year You may say he is pointing for the Ken ¬ tucky Derby right now His ankle bothered him a bit when he won the Hope fur the other day and we are going to give him a long rest so he will mend and can grow into a big strong Derby horse Mr Boeing likes to win these big twoyearold stakes but he would much prefer to develop a top three yeatqld a Derby winner Think of the thousands of dollars the Seattle sportsman has invested in pursuit of this goal of every racing man Think of the millions Mr and Mrs John Hertz have invested in breeding rearing and campajgning a large string ever since Reigh Count raced out of a cloudburst that memorable Derby of May 19 1928 in the fond hope of raising a Count Fleet FleetColonel Colonel Winn undoubtedly was thinking of these abstract influences of his Run for the Roses when he referred to its value to the thoroughbred breeding and racing industry at large in defending his resolve to stage the race this May day dayHe He did not exaggerate If there were no Derby the interest of a large section of the public would wane The purse distribution to the horsemen would automatically drop 80000 Louisville and the taxpayers of the fair state of Kentucky wjould suffer And do not think Americas morale would not feel the impact In just a little while now the field will line up in the gathering dusk at that end of that lane of excited Kentuckians Then will be proved who bought f wisest at the sales ring who bred and developed the best horse I This observer has thought all along Count Fleet is the best horse So does almost everyone else But most of all we hope the best horse wins
