view raw text
BETWEEN RACES Oscar Otis CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 5 It was evident that Hill Gail is a horse of far better quality than many folks conceded heretofore when one analyzes his victory over Sub Fleet and Blue Man in the seventyeighth running of the Kentucky Derby here Saturday Hill Gail was running all the way and while all the early fractions of the race were not his he never was far away from the pace never worse than second and the fractions are illuminating The first eighth hi 12 quarter in 23 three fur ¬ longs in 34 half in 46 five furlongs in 59 six furlongs in 111 flat seven fur ¬ longs in 123 mile in 135 and mile and a furlong in 148 Thats race horse time for any of the distances mentioned and makes it clear why Eddie Arcaro was forced to ride it out at the end even though his whining margin over Sub Fleet was a clear two lengths Sub Fleet incidentally impressed us as a horse who will go places from here on as he came up to the Derby with but two races all spring under his belt and it may be that he will give Hill Gail and others a run for it in theBelmont Hill Gail is the leading threeyearold to date but the season is by no means over even though Hill Gail now has a lot of cash to his credit 306315 to be exact of which he earned 226725 in his three yearold form formA A A A AI I rather like winter racing and have never believed it has had any harmful ef ¬ fects on a threeyearold comments trainer Ben Jones who made Derby history with his sixth winner in Hill Gail I have raced in the winter most all my life and find that it has its advantages Jones used to race at old Tijuana and Caliente in the winter time there developed some truly hardhitting horses and they went on to sturdy exploits the rest of the year Actually Hill Gail started four times at Santa Anita last winter winning only two of these races He was beaten twice by Windy City n al ¬ though he defeated the latter in the big one the 100000 added Santa Anita Derby Windy City n came out of that race a trifle gimpy and later was fired and turned out for the rest of the year It was at Santa Anita that Hill Gail got the repu ¬ tation of being temperamental specifically that he did not like to be eyed by other Hill Gails Derby Time Fast Training by Jones Proves Okay Colts Earnings Pass 300000 Brooks Comments on Sub Fleet horses with speed Jf that was true it also is evident that Ben Jones has cured the horse of the trait perhaps by his unortho ¬ dox methods of training Hill Gail GailA A A A AOver Over at Keeneland Jones had most all hands talking to themselves when he worked Hill Gail of a morning and ran him of an afternoon But as Ben explained it to this writer later You dont train every horse alike and there is no set pattern for get ¬ ting a horse up to the Derby You have to meet conditions from day to day as they arise In the matter of giving the horse a brisk drill in the morning I did so because such a work fitted into his training sched ¬ ule and I wasnt sure whether I would run him in the afternoon or not He did work faster than I had intended but it also is better to let a horse work to his own con ¬ tent if possible than to unduly restrain him Incidentally they also conceded that far be it from them to question the tactics and methods of the man known as Ben Hes too old a hand not to know what he is doing one remarked and Im string ¬ ing along right now with Hill Gail to win the Kentucky Derby if only for the fact that hes better than an empty stall and Ben Jones is training trainingA A A A AWhile While California failed in another quest for the Derby when Arrpz ran sixth after encountering a large amount of trouble and while not serious it occurred in a series of dribbles so to speak West Coast ¬ ers can be cheered somewhat by the fact that Hill Gail has spent much of his life the other side of the Rockies He went to Santa Anita as a yearling did not race until the next summer in Chicago and re ¬ turned there last fall making his debut as a threeyearold as noted above He thrived during the winter during his light campaign although he has put on weight and substance since winning the Santa Anita Derby a race in which while the winner he did not impress particularly It was a slow race 150 The smashing effort in the Kentucky Derby should put to rest once and for all time the old canard that a horse cannot come across the Rockies and win We think the point has pretty well been proven if the horse ships at the right time to wit on or about April 1 By so doing a horse acclimates into the warm weather gradually Incidentally to spice up future interest in the threeyearold situation the remarks of Steve Brooks on dismounting from Sub Fleet were enlight ¬ ening Said Brooks If he keeps on run ¬ ning like he is now no horse will beat him A A A AThe The Gift Silver incident one of the strangest in the annals of the Kentucky Derby had a happy ending for most every ¬ one concerned except perhaps his owners Mr and Mrs Odie Newell of Ottuma Iowa Hes the exrailroad engineer who came to Churchill Downs insisting that Gift Silver would win the race but who was forced to withdraw at the last minute because of an injury to his horse The nomination and arrival of Gift Silver was all good colorful copy for Churchill until it became appar ¬ ent that the man was dead serious on starting an item which scared other own ¬ ers and trainers out of their wits for fear fearthat that the erratic horse and indicated in works might not only jam up the entire Derby start but perhaps injure a number of horses in so doing Legalistic minds pondered the problem involved and all hands came up with the notion that there was no possible way to bar the horse from starting That problem did not actually have to be faced because the course of ofi i events eliminated Gift Silver although not until the proverbial last moment Jack S Young steward for the State of Kentucky tells me however that the so called sa ¬ cred laws of contract concerning stakes are not as sacred as they once were and that under certain conditions lie believes the stewards could remove a horse from a sfake if they so desired and invite such suits as the owner wished to bring It is a matter of public interest being now para ¬ mount in racing explains Young For instance if a horse did not pass a vet test I believe we could order him scratched not only in the public interest but for humane reasons I would have no fear of any legal legali i technicalities on such a problem We can report that Mr and Mrs Newell are tak ¬ ing Gift Silver back to Iowa for a rest future to be decided after that They did pay their own expenses and that of their horse to Churchill and back by appearing j appearingj on a TV program Incidentally while few bad horses ever get to the Derby track officials agree that the worst in modern years was Senecas Coin a brilliant last lasti and beaten about a quarter of a mile in i 1 1949
