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Christopher T. Chener Tom Gray L rtt P MMMM Mk.,1 - J Hlkf -Asm C. V. Whitnef * V Snapshots of Derby Personnel,"! 950 Thumbnail Draft Of Those in Cast Owners, Trainers, Jockeys; Background of Principals In Classic Renewal Today William Goetz, owner of Your Host, favorite for the Kentucky Derby today is the executive in charge of production for the Universal-International studios in Hollywood and is one of the foremost figures in the motion picture industry. Born in New York City, he was educated at Pennsylvania College, and entered the film business as an assistant producer for a series of Corinne Griffith pictures made before the advent of sound. He has also been associated with Paramount, M-G-M? and 20th Century-Fox. In 1943, Goetz and a group of other motion picture figures organized International Pictures, Inc., which subsequently merged with Universal Pictures, at which time he took- charge of combined film production for both companies. He is married to the former Eddie Mayer, daughter of Louis B. Mayer, head of the M-G-M studios and a noted thoroughbred owner and breeder. Goetz name recently hit the front pages as an art collector when it was disclosed that he had paid 0,000 for a Van Gogh painting which was subsequently examined by a panel of experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and declared to be of "questionable" authenticity. The painting is still in Goetz possession. Goetz was a prominent buyer at the dispersal sales of his father-in-law the past three years. Buying Your Host, he seemingly acquired the bargain horse of those vendues. Before joining the owners ranks, he was a frequent visitor at San ca* Anita and Hollywood Park meetings. Your Host is the star of his small stable. Owner of Hill Prince Man Who Has Varied Interests Christopher T. Chenery, owner and breeder of Hill Prince, is a Virginia gentleman, who now divides his time between his breeding farm at Doswell in his native state, his business offices in New York, his stables at Belmont Park and the Boulder Brook Club at Scars-dale N. Y. Chenery is one of the genuine sportsmen in racing and has been a horse lover all his life, which began in Richmond, Va., in 1886, though he has been racing thor oughbreds only a little more than 10 yeafs Before coming into the thoroughbred sport, Chenery was interested in hunters and followed the hounds at the Golden Bridge Club, which is on the Connecticut-New York State line. He built the Bouldei Brook Country Club, one of the countrys finest, in 1926, and has maintained it al considerable cost to himself ever since the depression. He is also a member of the Blind Brook Club, Pelham Country Club and Union League Club, among others. While a sportsman and clubman, the slender, tanned, graying man with" the rather military bearing, is also an active business man and sometimes expresses the rather hollow wish that Hill Prince hadnt turned out quite so well, as the colt takes up time that he feels belongs to the stockholders of the Federal Water and Gas Co. and Southern Natural Gas Co. Chenery is president of the former, which is a New York concern, and chairman of the board of Southern Natural, which is a Birmingham, Ala., company with executive offices in New York. Prior to the advent of Hill Prince, the best horses to race for Chenery were Hornbeam, a Gulfstream Park record holder who died prematurely, and Mango-hick, a half-brother to HUT Prince and still one of the fleetest sprinters in training. Tom Gray Buys Oil Capitol Despite Cribbing Addiction Tom Gray, genial Tulsa sportsman and owner of Oil Capitol, was born in Illinois but moved to his present home in Okla- homa in 1929. He is a Tulsa business man, owning an automobile distribution agency and a small producing oil company, Hilltop. While he first became nationally known as the owner of Oil Capitol, he has owned and raced horses before, both thoroughbreds and quarter horses. He had a small but hardhitting stable of thor- . "oughbreds some years ago, which he cam-[ paigned mostly in the Southwest, but for i one season at Fairmount Park, i "Perhaps the best horse I ever owned • was worth about ,500," says Gray. "But * I did have good quarter horses; some of ! them who were unbeaten. The day that ; Miss Princess raced at Del Rio, Texas, and ! Assault in New York, and Mr. Kleberg WILLIAM GOETZ — Owner of Your Host, California sensation and favorite for todays Derby. chose to see the race at Del Rio, I started a horse at that meeting." A couple of years ago, Gray decided to re-enter the ranks of thoroughbred owners — he had dispersed his other holdings at public auction some years before. He met his present trainer, Harry Trotsek, through mutual friends in Tulsa. He phoned Trotsek in Detroit and asked if he would take a yearling — if he purchased one. Trotsek said he would. The two attended the Keeneland sales and picked a number from the catalogue as worthy of bidding on. One of these was Oil Capitol. When it was announced that Oil Capitol was a cribber. Gray turned to Trotsek and said, "I guess that lets us out." Trotsek answered no, it didnt; "well just get him cheaper." Gray . says he had expected to go to 0,000 for Oil Capitol, and that he was pleased when he obtained him for 5,000. Since then. Gray has purchased other To Victor Accrues Fame and Fortune For Some.lt Represents Fresh Glory; Another May Experience Initial Thrill thoroughbreds and is building a truly : formidable stable. He also is casting about • the Lexington area for a farm, where he intends to stand Oil Capitol at stud. Mendelbaums Trumpet King Likes Distance of Ground Jack Mendelbaum, who races a small string of thoroughbreds in the nom de course of the Willorene Stable, has been active in the sport for the last seven or eight years, but the first really good prospect to carry the colors of the New York womens wear manufacturer is Trumpet King. This colt by Bqlingbroke out of the Action mare, Miss B. Grable, has shown little in his 1950 starts, but trainer Earl Steffen is not discouraged about his chances, holding that Trumpet King will be seen to far better advantage at the longer distances. As a juvenile, this distance-running colt came from far off the pace to defeat George D. Wideners Lights Up in a mile race at Belmont Park. Trumpet King was claimed last season from the Hirsch Jacobs stable, going to Mendelbaum for 2,000. C V. Whitney Yet to Win His First Kentucky Derby C. V. "Sonny" Whitney inherited Equipoise and Tqp Flight, two of the best horses he. or any one else, has ever owned. from his father, the late Harry Payne Whitney, who died some ten days before the running of the Pimlico Futurity of 1930. The elder Whitney died leaving orders that "Ekky" run and the colt went on to beat Twenty Grand and Mate on a muddy track, after being all but left at the start. rne younger wnitney has never had anything quite as good as Continued on Page Eleven Clifford Mooers ✓ Mrs. Dodge Sloane YfilHom Veenemon Snapshots of Kentucky Derby Personnel, Series of 1950 For Some It Represents New Glory; Another May Experience Initial Thrill Continued from Page Three those two and has yet to win a Derby, though Phalanx, whom he owns in partnership with Abram S. Hewitt, missed by a matter of inches to Jet Pilot in 1947. His filly. First Flight, for a time appeared" almost as good as Top Flight, but suffered a long series of misfortunes that hampered her career. Today, Mr. Trouble may give him a Derby score. Less actively interested in racing than his father, C. V. Whitney has held many high government posts, both during and since World War H., but maintains an extensive farm near Lexington, Ky. The biggest money winner bred by him was Vulcans Forge, who gleaned most of his earnings in the silks of I. J. Collins, to whom he was sold at auction a little less than two years ago. Vulcans Forge was carrying the Eton blue with brown cap, however, when he administered a stunning defeat to Coaltown in the Withers of 1948 and when he won the Champagne Stakes the year before. Mooers Starting Second Horse in Derby Today Clifford Mooers, who entered thoroughbred racing as a breeder-owner some seven or eteht years ago, started his first horse in the Kentucky Derby last year when Old Rockport finished -fourth to Ponder, Ca-pot and Palestinian. Old Rockport was one of first horses Mooers bred at his Walnut Springs Farm in Kentucky, a farm developed by Robert Sterling Clark. Prior to his entry as a breeder and owner of thoroughbreds. Mooers had owned many famous show horses. One of his most noted show horses was Kings Genius, one of the greatest of that breed. Two years ago Mooers displaced all his show horse breeding stock at. Walnut Springs Farm and the sale attracted buyers from all over America. The reason: Walnut Springs Farm was the only source for much of the most desirable show horse blood. Mooers also owns Post Oak Springs Ranch at Boerrie, Texas, and his legal residence in Houston, Texas. Mooers spent considerable time locating the graves of famous saddle stallions in order that their graves might be marked. Mrs. Dodge Sloane Prominent Lady of American Turf Mrs. Dodge Sloane, automobile heiress, whose white silks with the blue cross sashes will be carried by Greek Ship and Sun- glow in the Derby, is a leading candidate for the honor of succeeding the late Mrs. Payne Whitney as "First Lady of the Turf." Last year, Mrs. Sloane was voted by the New York Turf Writers Association as the "Breeder of the Year," for which she will receive a plaque at the associations next annual Saratoga dinner. Few women or men for that matter have weathered the extremes of good and bad fortune on th« turf with equal grace and equanimity. It is 16 years since Mrs. Sloane literally swept the boards with Cavalcade and High Quest and became the leading money winning owner of the year. Lean times followed swiftly and her successes in stakes were almost exclusively confined to steeplechasing, until the past two seasons, when the stable has made a remarkable comeback under the direction Of Preston Burch; But Mrs. Sloane refused to become discouraged, continuing to breed at her Upperville, Va., farm, when Lancegaye, the sire of Cavalcade met with an untimely end, and continuing to buy heavily in the yearling market. In 1934, Mrs. Sloane had two good colts in Cavalcade, winner of the Kentucky Derby and many other stakes, and High Quest, who beat that stablemate in the Preakness, with the mighty Discovery a close third. Whether Greek Ship and Sun-glow are their equals remains to be seen. The one sure thing about it is that no one who has the interests of racing at heart will begrudge Mrs. Sloane, her success should one of her colts get home in front in the classic mile and a quarter. Veenemans Black George Fancies Soft Racing Strip William Veeneman was extremely pleased by Black Georges fine victory in the Derby Trial and now hes hoping for the greatest thrill of his life. There are a large number of close observers who believe he has a chance to attain that goal. Veeneman is a native of Louisville, and is chairman of the board at Churchill Downs Veeneman has. been in racing for about 10 years and has been fairly successful, especially with two-year- olds, among those being Phar Mon and Irish Sun and others..
