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Kentuckians Await Five Weeks Of Spring Racing at Churchill f Silks of Old Guard and Numerous Recruits Will Be Seen at Opening Saturday LOUISVILLE. Ky., April 11.— While the "old guard" will be well represented in Kentucky spring racing, all indications show they will be outnumbered by what is commonly known as "Johnny-come-late-lies." Keeneland opens the season at his-: toric Churchill Downs on Saturday. The combined transferred Lexington, War Relief and regular Derby course session of 31 days terminates on May 20. A check of nominations made for the Keeneland stakes reveals that only the silks of Hal Price Headley, Devereux and Farrell, Browrnell Combs, Holton Brothers, Green-tree Stable, Charlton Clay, Mrs. J. W. Parrish. O. D. Randolph, Shady Brook Farm, Col. C. V. Whitneys famous Eton I blue and brown cap were prominent two j decades ago. Since then many of the "old j guard passed on or retired their silks I and the newcomers have taken their place. There will be J. W. Rodgers, Dixiana, I probably William Helis. Henry H. Knight, Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Moore, King Ranch, C. C. Tanner and countless others I who have invested great sums in yearling i purchases, as well as "ready-made" horses, represented during the five weeks of the sport. ; Veterans Returning J. Cal Milan. C. C. Van Meter, Howard Oots and a number of other veterans of the sport have horses in training at the Louisville tracks, but in most instances it is the i love of the sport and the desire to be represented in it, and not the riches it may bring them, which draws them. That is the melting pot awaiting the opening of the five wreeks of racing, the greatest of which will be Kentucky Derby week. The oldest race in America, as to continuity, will be run for its seventieth time on May 6 and probably it will be the most open. However, with the Wood Stakes and the Chesapeake and the Blue Grass and Derby Trial preceding it, there will be a short-price favorite installed between now and the race. From the backstretch, where thoroughbreds were arriving in great numbers, the track proper, where 100 horses were called upon for work, to the secretarys and general office, the historic Downs course was a veritable beehive of activity. Some 100 horses, brought here from Florida, Arkansas and Lexington, swelled the horse colony to near the 1,200 mark, and as Tom Young and Cliff Burke, his chief assistant, put it, "there are only stalls for those horses having reservations, and I dont mean those usually to be had off the grounds." There were no ambitious works on the part of Kentucky Derby eligibles, for the heavy rains during the past several days left the track in a trying condition. However, Jack Hanover broke Hyman Fried-bergs Harriet Sue from the Bahr gate and she was clocked three furlongs in :372/s. High on Two-Year-Olds Alfred Parkers By Jimminy, who has trained in fine style over the Keeneland track, arrived today, with Biloxi Bay as a companion. Smith has some 20-odd head for Col. E. R. Bradley at Keeneland, and he will commute here to direct the training of the Pharamond II. offspring, who has a Grand Union Hotel Stakes to his credit. Under the direction of starter Reuben White, the schooling period was a long one, some 50 two-year-olds visiting the barrier. "Looks like we have many good two-year-olds," said White. "They all appear to be well advanced, and I believe there is a champion among them. 1 It was not necessary to open section • "E" in the clubhouse last year, but Russell 1 Sweeney, resident manager, stated today ; he was selling boxes out of it today. This • means that a crowd surpassing that of 1943 will be present for the Derby, and only residents of Greater Louisville are being 5 granted requests. 1 Sweeney left his office near midnight : Sunday, returned early Monday and closed j shop approaching midnight. He has seven j assistants. The late passage of the new tax bill prevented Churchill Downs from taking i care of the requests earlier. I | j Detail work is all that remains to be I I I completed before the opening, the car- | penters and painters patching up ugly ; j spots have completed their work and the I | I gardens are ready lor tne transplanting of • I j the roses and tulips, without which the Derby would be incomplete.
