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■■ i imw wSSf H laBk. EARL SANDE Sande Tells of Derby Experiences , Was Up on Zev, Flying Ebony, Gallant Fox in Their Years r E Lucky With First Two But 1 j Woodward Colt, Decidedly Best, Star Ex-Rider Relates C BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 6. — "I was lucky the first time, lucky £ that Zev was in the race at all," Earle l Sande said, telling us the other day the story of his winning — and losing — Kentucky Derby mounts. "But once we were on 3 our way, there was nothing to it. I was z lucky the second time with Gifford Coch- rans Flying Ebony in more ways than one —lucky to get the ride at all, and lucky with the weather. But there was no luck ] about Gallant Poxs score. He was the best p that day and all that season, one of the I best colts I ever rode. We beat Gallant Knight easily at Louisville, and if the finish was a lot closer at Chicago, when we met him again in mid-summer, it was because Mr. Woodwards colt was a trifle off. The ship from Long Island in hot weather and all." Other riders may have had a longer connection with the Kentucky Derby than Earl Sande. Jim Winkfield, now training a stable in Maryland, rode the winners of the 1901-02 renewals of the classic. Other riders have tied or surpassed Sande s record of three successful mounts. Eddie Ar-caro now has four Derbies to his credit, while Isaac Murphy, the great Negro jockey, long ago established the triple that Sande was later to equal. Over the years, however, no horseman now active has had a closer association with the "Blue Ribbon" of the American turf than the "Handy Guy." He has led the field and trailed the field. And if fortune smiled at times, there were afternoons when the face of the fickle goddess was turned in the other direction. Leaning against a stall door at Belmont Park as a group of his two-year-olds cooled out after a morning gallop, Sandes memory went back over twenty years to his first Kentucky Derby mount. "That was a bad beginning," he told us. "I was an apprentice boy then, -and I rode Major McDowells American Eagle — last from the ►— drop of the flag. That was Exterminators year. The Major had won the race, back in 1902, with Alan-a-Dale, and hed been third the next year with Bourbon. Hed waited a long time for another good colt, but American Eagle was not up to the mark, even though he had shown a couple of good races at Lexington that spring." Sir Barton Game Weight Carrier "The next season," Sande continued, "I was riding for Commander J. K. L. Ross. I had Billy Kelly, but our stablemate was Sir Barton, with Johnny Loftus up. My little horse was good, but his little horse was better. Riding for the stable, I rode Sir Barton plenty of times that season and the following year, and I believe he was one of the gamest weight-carriers in my experience. I remember a race he won at Saratoga against Exterminator, The Porter and Mad Hatter. But Im wandering. We were talking about the Derby. "Grey Lag, I will always think, ought to have been my first Kentucky Derby winner. I was to have ridden him in 21, the year Colonel Bradleys Behave Yourself nosed out his stablemate, Black Servant, and nothing will ever convince me that the Rancocas colt could not have beaten both. He had shown Mr. Hildreth a wonderful work, but coming back to the stable after the trial, Grey Lag stepped on a stone, twisted an ankle, and that was the end of him for that season. Its always the good ones who stub their toes! "Zev was my next mount in the big race and my first winner. I was riding for Rancocas again in 1923. The Preakness preceded the Derby that season and Zev had shown badly, such a bad race that Mr. Hildreth did not even make the trip to Louisville to see him run. He was the most surprised man in America when he got the telephone call back at the farm that evening. Mr. Sinclair was there. He always came to the Derby, bringing a party of friends in his private car. He didnt think we had a chance to win, either. "But I knew differently. And it was because of my persuasion that the colt got this second chance. Hildreth could not see what happened to Zev at the start of the Preakness, but I knew he had been kicked, and from that moment on his mind was not on running. He was mad clear through, and wanted nothing but to savage the other colts. He did reach for one of them before we had gone a furlong. I knew that was not his true race, and maybe Hildreth shipped him south more to humor me than anything else. "After that — in 24 — it was Bracadale, also a Rancocas colt, and bad luck again. I set all the pace, but Chilhowee got to me in the drive. I knew the finish was awfully close, but I wasnt sure whether he had actually caught me or not. I couldnt see Continued on Page Thirteen Earl Sande Relates4 Derby Experiences Lucky With Flying Ebony, Zev, but Gallant Fox Was Much the Best, He Says Continued from Page Six Black Gold, the winner, out in the middle of the track. Well, the placing judge mistook my colors, confusing Bracadale with Beau Butler, and so, officially, we wound up out of the money. "Then came Flying Ebony, the very next spring. This time, I did not have the same confidence Id had with Zev, but I wanted very badly to win; in fact it was one of my wishes at a Novena I did that year. Ran-cocas did not have a mount for me in the Derby, and for a while it looked as if Id be on the ground. When I finally made arrangements to ride the Cochran colt, he hardly impressed me. In a work at Jamaica before shipping to Kentucky, Flying Ebony was beaten in moderate time by a stable-mate. I rode the stablemate and it was a discouraging trial as far as our chances in the Derby were concerned. "Luck was with us. The weather was beautiful at Louisville, so fine that Johnny Troxler, who had the mud-running King Nadi, scratched his colt rather than pay the 00 starting fee. Then a couple of hours before the race there was a cloudburst, and Flying Ebony liked an off track nearly as well as King Nadi. I broke in front, and the only trouble I had was with Captain Hal, who really didnt favor the slop. Once Captain Hal was put away in ►the stretch, Flying Ebony won pretty easily. If the track had been fast, maybe Captain Hal would have beaten us. If Johnny Trox- o ler had gambled on the weather and made the final payment on King Nadi, it is very r~ likely HE would have won. As for me, I was ~* glad I made that Novena." "It was hard luck losing the 1927 re- newal, when McAtee on Whiskery headed — Osmand after you had nearly gotten him g home," we suggested. "Maybe you can say it was good luck to !" get Osmand as far as I did," Sande coun- § tered. "He was a sprinter, you know, and a mile and a quarter was never his dis- " tance, but I think he would have gone the S£ route that day if a training mishap had __j not forced him to lose three works shortly C before the race. g Skipping the Gallant Fox year because . that race was too obviously easy to offer - * a story, we asked Sande about the fine pair of colts, Stagehand and The Chief, with whom he, as trainer, had aimed at the Kentucky classic eight years later. "Bad luck again," he said with a rueful C*"1 smile. "Stagehand began running a fever — after shipping from California, and he j2 could not start. As for The Chief, you re- *° member what a high strung colt he was. That clown was never better than on Derby day, but the music and the crowd upset him. He wasnt himself at all in the race. Later, his Dwyer and his Brooklyn proved what he could do when he felt like running." And so it goes. One year on the head end, with a wreath of red roses, an ornate trophy and the applause of the nation— the next, up the track, or maybe, home in the barn. Next spring, one of these two-year-olds now walking the ring under Sandes watchful eye may be in the paddock at the Downs with Sande to saddle him, or, again, he may be treading this same path, awaiting another day. — E. S.
