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Bill Knapp Three Old-Timers Discuss Derby- Notter, Loftus and Knapp Tell _ Of Their Winners in Classic First Was On Regret, Second,* George Smith, While Knapp Booted Home Exterminator BELMONT PARK, Elmont, N. Y., May 6. — Unnoticed by the milling crowd, three men stood in a group the other day and their talk was of horses, three-year-olds in particular, and the Kentucky Derby. These men, former jockeys, played stellar roles in this nations gripping turf spectacle, but to the great majority of newcomers their identity was unknown. They were Joe Notter, Bill Knapp and Johnny Loftus. Their names three decades ago blazoned across the sports pages of the country. Individually and collectively they had inserted several pages into the glamorous history of the Kentucky Blue Ribbon. Discussing the impending race, they were divided in opinion as to the outcome, as they were three decades or more ago. Knapp and Notter had one thing in com- | mon. They were successful in their first | try for the Derby. Knapp was up on I Exterminator when that gelding carried | the silks of the late Willis Sharpe Kilmer. Notter had preceded Knapp to the winners j circle three years before, in 1915, when he I guided Regret, owned by the late Harry Payne Whitney. Loftus did not take down his first Derby until the following year when he was up on George Smith, who had ! been purchased by John Sanford. Loftus j had ridden in previous Derbys. His first mount was on Flamma in 1912. It required little prodding by the newcomer to the group to open the flood gates I of memory. Stories and anecdotes of train- % ing trials, riding orders and barrier man- ±. nerisms came tumbling from their lips as __ one tale led to another: Notters success O astride Regret, as fast as a bullet from the » barrier and as game as a pebble when called * upon to drain that reservoir of hidden strength; Loftus* triumph on George Smith, H and how he had to keep him going to stave off Star Hawk, who closed like a cyclone — i from a slow beginning; Knapps tales of Old Bones, who was formerly known as r* Exterminator. -. "That was the Derby of all Derbys," i mused Knapp. "That was the story book - Derby. Exterminator was acquired for a pittance, in comparison with prices paid for * horses today. I think he cost ,500 and ~: when he was purchased it was understood * between Henry McDaniel and myself that we would race him and not sell him to Kilmer. However, Kilmer got him and that was that. Loftus and Notter looked at each other and grinned in a sheepish manner. "Yep, we remember that race very well," the two exclaimed in unison. "I was on Escoba ", said Notter. "And I was up on War Cloud," interjected Loftus. "That was the War Derby and how deep that track was in mud. My horse was not a true mud runner." "Neither was mine," chimed in Notter. . 4 Knapp Bets on Old Bones Knapp laughed gleefully and said it did not make any difference for Exterminator could have whipped the field on the dry just as easily. The conversation drifted to incidents in the running of the race. The dinner party the night before when Knapp was ridiculed when he expressed the opinion that he could win. The long hours of sweating in the Turkish bath in the morning. Notters misgivings about the mud. Loftus not so Continued on Page Thirteen Notter, Loftus and Knapp Tell of Derby Winners Continued from Page Eleven sure of his War Cloud in the going. Knapps wager, 00 to win, made in a cocksure manner. The start. The run to the first turn. Viva America carrying Es-coba out after rounding the turn. Knapp driving through on the inside. Loftus getting shut off and knocked about. His rallying charge entering the stretch, only to falter. Notter moving up on the outside near the final furlong pole when Escoba looked all over a winner. Knapps final desperate drive to the wire and victory by a length. These and other recollections surging to mind while scant heed was paid to the running of a race in which platers participated, their cost more than the price paid for Exterminator. Knapp has a .500 riding average in the Derby. He rode one winner, Exterminator, and, the following year, finished last astride Vindex, with Johnny Loftus guiding Sir Barton, an easy winner, in a cocksure manner. "That was a good horse," remarked Loftus, referring to the first Triple Crown winner whom he guided also in the Preakness and Belmont. Knapps last association with the Kentucky Derby was in 1929, when he saddled Upset Lad for the Belle Isle Stable. The
