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Crack Field of Fifteen Vies For Kentucky Derby Honors Your Host Favorite Over Hill Prince And Oil Capitol in 00,000 Classic Middleground, Mr. Trouble 4 Also to Attract Support in Historic Churchill Fixture By CHARLES HATTON CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 5. — Fifteen of Americas finest three-year-olds have a date with destiny in the historic Kentucky Derby here at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon. Some two minutes and a mile and a quarter later one of them will have won 3,650, a magnificent, gold trophy, the plaudits of. perhaps the largest crowd in United States turf history, and a permanent place in racings hall of fame. All of the title hopes are in the field, notably Californias Your Host, Virginias Hill Prince, Texas Middleground, Oklahomas Oil Capitol and New Yorks Mr. Trouble. The front runner. Your Host, continues the favorite with the race only a few hours away, and if none of this quintet wins the roses, it will be quite surprising to most of the multitude of racegoers assembled here from coast to coast. Black George Wants Off Track The Downs club began taking entries for this seventy-sixth running of its world famous 00,000 classic yesterday morning. William Veenemans mud runner Black George, who had beaten the Derby Trial field, beat the field for the Derby itself to the entry box. Trainer Ray Barnett filled out the blanks in a mule barn converted into an auxiliary entry booth for the trainers convenience on the backstretch. Since the Downs chairman of the board has been quoted to the effect Black George will start only if its muddy, it would seem he isnt altogether convinced of the weather mans accuracy in forecasting clear skies. Derby entries were made at intervals all during the day yesterday and at closing time this morning the list of 15 included Trumpet King, Hallieboy, Sunglow, Loto-white, Stranded, On the Mark, Hawley, Dooly and Greek Ship in addition to those, mentioned above. A rather conspicuous absentee is Theory, who has failed to impress Ben Jones as a genuine Derby horse. There was some indication that Dooly would start only if the going is muddy, though he was fortunate to draw No. 3 post position. Derby history shows that most winners j t JOCKEY EDDIE ARCARO— Rides Hill Prince today in quest of his fifth success in the Kentucky Derby. break from one of the first seven positions, and the dazzling Your Host had the luck to draw the rail, with Mr. Trouble, Dooly, Trumpet King, Hill Prince, Oil Capitol and Hallieboy just outside him in that order. Farther out are Sunglow, Lotowhite, On the Mark, Black George, Hawley, Middle-ground and Greek Ship, who. is on the extreme outside. An auxiliary section of starter Whites gate will be necessary and there will be a mutuel field, unless scratches reduce the starters to a dozen. This Derby will gross 21,700 if all those named are in the post parade when the band strikes up the nostalgic refrain of My t * Battle of Sections Enlivens Seventy-Sixth Running of Stake; Theory Not Entered Old Kentucky Home. There is 0,000 second money, ,000 third and the fourth to finish receives ,500. Apart from these awards there are trainers and breeders prizes. The trainers will receive ,000, ,000 and ,000, first, second and third, the breeders ,000, ,000 and 00. This will not be the richest Derby quite, but it is very near the 6,400 net to Assault in 1946, when the race had 17 runners, the largest field in 13 years. Ten starters is the all-time average. The track was dry and the weather partly cloudy when the Derby field was drawn in racing secretary Burtons office this morning. And the vanguard of the thousands of Derby visitors were on hand to see the Kentucky Oaks this afternoon. Hotel accommodations were strained all the way from Lexington to French Lick Springs and Indianapolis. Record Crowd Anticipated General manager Bill Corum has reason to feel that his first Derby will attract the greatest throng in centuries of the sport on this continent if only the weather is favorable between now and tomorrow morning, when the vast general admission audience in this area will decide whether to attend. It is understood that demand for box reservations exceeded the supply by about 50,000, and that the sale of these accommodations has reached record proportions. Pricemakers today were estimating that Your Host would be 9 to 5 and Hill Prince 2 to 1, though the weight of California play may back the Santa Anita Derby winner into more decided favoritism when the special Derby """tote" windows open tomorrow a. m. Hill Prince would attract far more support were the track to become muddy in thb interim. Indeed some think he will supplant Your Host as the post time choice in this eventuality. The King Ranch entry of Middleground and On the Mark and C. V. Whitneys Mr. Trouble will be the medium of a good deal of support. Particularly the leggy son of Mahmoud, for he made a most favorible impression working five furlongs in :59%, within a fraction of the track record here on Thursday. At the moment Mr. Trouble is the only contender whose rider is not definitely Continued on Page Nineteen Lucky Codine Faces Older Opponents at Sportsmans Continued from Page One engagement, this being the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in the spring. Jim Branch gained the place portion of the opening day feature by downing Helen S. Reinemans Eagle River by a neck margin. Eagle River, who is slated to shoulder highest weight of 115 pounds in this outing, came back in his next start and registered in an allowance sprint of five furlongs. Don Coventry was fourth only a half length in the wake of Eagle River in the Inaugural.
