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► I. ■ .,.. /■■! ■ Mm mrnrn jSPtEv**???? Wmw lt 91 * Sis,, , ,.* « * sam* "V *M,m3m vas*"! *"* "" W * MORVICH — The puzzle horse, who registered a front-running victory in the 1922 Kentucky Derby and then went off form. Riddle of Morvich Remains Unsolved Kentucky Derby Winner of 1922 California-Bred Never Triumphed Again After Score in Downs Classic By LEON RASMUSSEN Staff Correspondent i CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville. Ky.. April 30. — The riddle of Morvich lengthens like a late afternoon shadow with the passing years. Today, 31 years after the son of Runnymede gave his Derby rivals the "Bill Daly" treatment in the forty-eighth renewal, it is difficult to find anyone who agrees on just what kind of horse Morvich was. Some believe he was a colt of top class, others contend he was just a fair runner who caught an easy Derby field. Some say he was nothing but a sprinter, while others assert he was a classic per-; former. Those who maintain he was nothing but a sprinter, say that only a magnificent training job won the Derby for him; while those who argue for his distance ability, vow that it was this training job that "cooked" the colt so that he was never the same again. What is the real story? Through old books, old clippings and old hearsay, lets drift back three decades and see what was being said and written about him then. Today, for the most part, he is remembered as the only California-bred to win the Derby and as the unbeaten colt who won that race, then never won again. But what was Morvich before time and prejudices biased opinions and warped judgment? Spin Calendar Back Spin the calendar back to 1919 to the Napa Stock Farm of sugar king A. B. Spreckels in California. Two snappy colts appeared in this crop and by late 1920, Bill "Catfish" Carroll, the Spreckels trainer, felt that the run of bad luck the farm had been having in producing top colts was at an end. One of the colts especially looked and acted like a champion. This was Runstar, a glib, easy-going, long-limbed animal. The other one, despite having a hind leg with a crook, was Morvich. He was smaller, but he displayed plenty of dash. Runstar was a dazzling chestnut, while Morvich was mouse colored. Runstar was named for all the rich Eastern juvenile races of 1921, and the stable was already counting the money they would make in a betting coup with Runstar when they went East. Morvich was sent along because he was the only one the stable had to warm up Runstar and at the same time keep him company. Spreckels also remembered that not many months before another Calif ornian, Inchcape. had been sent East and sold for 25,000. Well, after they put Runstar over, perhaps he might listen to the proper offer. Once back East, Runstar went amiss and Carroll was forced to let up on him. Morvich. the stand-in, now entered the stage. He had been working with Runstar and showing plenty of zip, so Carroll entered him in a claiming event at Jamaica. With Albert Johnson up, Morvich won off by 15 lengths at 30 to 1. Some accounts say it was 50. His connections, sold on him because of what he had done against Runstar, were down with plenty of the "soft" stuff — as it was called in those days — and Morvich defrayed all expenses and then some. A few days after this canter, "Catfish" sold Morvich to Max Hirsch, who shortly thereafter resold the colt to trainer Fred Burlew, who later sold first an interest in the colt to Ben Block and then sold him outright to the latter. After First Success After that first success Morvich kept right on winning, until at the end of the season he had won 11 straight, including the Hopeful, the Eastern Shore and the Pimlico Futurity and 15,234 in purse money. He was the shortest priced winter book favorite for the Kentucky Derby — and why not? He had never been extended in whipping the best of his age; he had carried 130 pounds without apparent concern; he had won on all types of racing surfaces, and he had won up to a mile under the most exacting conditions asked of a juvenile. How could any one ask for more? Wintered on Long Island, Albert Johnson, his jockey, recalls those days and praises the training feat of Burlew which, he insists, was "the best I ever saw or heard of." Burlew, who trained in England and France, conditioned a horse on slow distance works, yet retained his speed. "Well," says Johnson, "Morvich wintered in the Long Island snow. They housed him in a big glass barn at Jamaica, but he seemed as gleeful as a school boy on vacation. Fred took him up in January and told me the mount was mine. He and Block had also decided to avoid all races before Derby Day, concentrating on that event. I felt sure they felt he might have trouble going a mile and a quarter. I felt the same way. At a mile, or up to a mile and an eighth, okay— but a mile and a quarter— that 1 would be a long haul for Morvich. a sprinting type. "On a trainer this was a terrible strain. Never beaten, this horse Morvich. No prep race. Public favorite. Hard spot for Fred Burlew. Like to worry him sick. He seemed to age 10 years. "When the weather broke we took Morvich on the track. Started him on short breezes, long, slow gallops. Nothing at speed more than three-eighths. Sharpeners. One morning the colt was sent a mile, but still hard held. "Two weeks before the Derby, Burlew shipped Morvich to the Downs. The three-eighths sharpeners were continued. Kept him legged up. Then a slow mile and one-eighth — farthest hed been at any time. Wagered Heavily "This brings us to the Derby," continued Albert. "I didnt underrate my great responsibility. Theyd bet heavily all winter on Morvich — real big money. Plunged is the proper word — far more money than normal. "I took him to the front. We won wire to wire, and Morvich never won another race." v Johnsons close contact with the stable and the horse would seem rather definite proof that Morvichs connections didnt regard him as a stayer. No Derby winner ever did so little work, and he never did drill the full distance. It is obvious Burlew was afraid a mile and a quarter work would leave the colt with nothing for the race itself. Old-time trainers have often said that you can make a sprinter go a distance just once, but that the horse will never be the same after that. Is that what happened to Morvich? If it is, one can applaud Burlew s training achievement while decrying the reasons for which it was done. After his Derby win, accomplished in hand, Morvich was compared with Luke Blackburn, Hindoo, Salvator and Man o War, and it was freely predicted that he would sweep all before him at three as he had done at two. But his star was at its zenith and the nadir was not far away. Have you ever been to a Fourth of- July celebration and noted the brilliance of the rockets and the framed displays as they burn in the night sky? How brief and beautiful they are, and how sad as the last sparks fall quickly away into darkness. So it was with Morvich as defeats followed. His rocketing brilliance accentuated the dark decline of this fallen turf idol, and before the year was out he was retired to stud in Kentucky, where he was also a victim of a fickle public that remembered him for his defeats rather than his victories. One Cannot Speculate One cannot speculate on what would have happened had Morvich gone wrong following his Derby win. If he had been forced into retirement when his fame was almost epochal, today we would use his name in the same breath with Man o War, Count Fleet and Citation. He would have been the winner of 12 straight races without ever having been put to a crucial test. At stud, instead of courting mediocre and poor matrons, he would have received the finest broodmares. Perhaps he would have revived the flickering Hermit line and made it live again. As it was. he sired many good winners, but few of the highest class, and his influence is practically non-existent. Much has been made of Morvichs "precarious underpinning," and all seem to ad- Continued on Page Forty Four Riddle of Morvich, Winner Of 1922 Derby, Unsolved Continued from Page FWe mit that he did have a "knee." However, no real complaint can be found from trainer Burlew about them. One Daily Racing Form reporter at that time noted that one of them had a "gouty appearance," but also noted that it didnt bother his action or ability as a juvenile. Mor-vichs defection after the Derby must be laid at some other door. Either excessive use was made of his speed at two, or the Derby was too much for him because he was, as a descendant of Voter, not bred to run classic distances. In 1940 Morvich. at the age of 21, returned to California, where he finished out his days, dyins from the infirmities of old age in 1946 while romping in his paddock. The brown son of Runnymede — Hymir, by Dr. Leggo, was never a riddle when it came to disposition. It was said of him, "He was docile as a work horse, in or out of the stable. His beautiful head, with its mar-velously luminous eyes of a liquid brown, with centers of deepest blue, are set apart in his skull. These and his sharp, ratlike ears bespeak intelligence of the highest order and tell the reason he has never been a moment concern to those who have had to do with him." Our personal appraisal of Morvich is that he would have been a brilliant middle-dis- tance performer but for being sacrificed for that one big crack at the 1922 Derby. The trainer of John Schorrs Lieber Karl told the owner that he could "make him go on once, but after that you may as well shoot him." Lieber Karl went on to win the Tennessee Derby of 1898. but never ran back to that race, just as Morvich never ran back to his. For such a price, it is too bad that today California isnt still looking for its first Kentucky Derby victory instead of the second.
