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Hod gins Makes Fifth Attempt After Running Second Twice JACK HODGINS, trainer for Dixiana, will be making his fifth assault on the Kentucky Derby this afternoon, an assault which has seen him, on two occasions, saddle the second horse. He saddled Spy Song in 1946 and Sub Fleet last year. His other Derby starters were Amber Light, fourth Continued on Page Forty-Two i Derby Fame, Fortune Await Many for First Time Today I Its Old Story for Some, [ But to One and All Its ! | A Never-Forgotten Thrill : : Continued from Page Twenty-Four ? in 1943, and Star Reward, sixth in 1947. j He is one of Americas more widely known ! trainers, having handled the Dixiana i horses ever since 1939, when he quit han-; dling a public stable. i Hodgins was associated with the Derby .. for a long time before he became a trainer. • He was born in Illinois in 1894, but now • lives in Lexington, Kentucky. He started , his turf career as an exercise boy, but, . growing too heavy, he became an assistant • starter. As an assistant, he helped send : many a Derby field away "in the old days." With a fundamental knowledge of horses, ! he embarked on his career as a trainer in 1915. Hodgins has an even temperament, i an understanding of horses, and real devo- ; tion to a thoroughbred. It was ironic that i his two better Derby horses should face, in their respective years, two of the best thoroughbreds of modern times. Spy Song met Assault, while Sub Fleet "caught* Hill Gail.
