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THE LATE E. R. BRADLEY and H. J. DICK THOMPSON were successful with four starters in the Kentucky Derby. Derby Exerts Influence in Breeding Victors Command Large Stud Fees, Offspring High Dollar Bradley, Wright Successful With Classic Bloodlines; Camden Failed, Mayer Tries By CHARLES HATTON CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 1. — It is almost impossible to exaggerate the Kentucky Derbys importance to racings allied industry of bloodstock production. It is the most famous American turf classic, and as thoroughbred racing and breeding may not be disassociated, it follows quite naturally that the Derby, perhaps more than any other individual fixture, exerts a tremendous influence on the "fashion" in bloodlines. Derby winners command large stud fees, their yearlings fetch the high dollar at the auctions, and in short they are horses of demonstrably top class, the stallions turfmen expect to reproduce quality in future generations of thoroughbreds. Significance Shown in World War II. This significance of the Derby to the stud in America was never more clearly illustrated than it was during World War "II., when Washington bureaucrats threatened to cancel the race as a gas rationing measure more than mildly tinged with discrimination. Central Kentuckys breeders stood solidly behind the late Col. Matt J. Winn, who declared, "The Derby will be run if only two horses and two people are at Churchill Downs on the appointed date." The breeders urged that any hiatus in the continuity of the Derby would be a devastating loss to this countrys bloodstock industry, stating that it was vitally necessary as a criterion of the class of their studs output. In the end, Winn was permitted to carry on with a "Street Car Derby," as it was called, almost all the patrons taking recourse to this means of transportation. Many men have been inspired to establish racing stables and studs, investing fortunes in bloodstock, in the hope of one lay leading in a Kentucky Derby winner of their own breeding. One such is Louis B. Mayer, who has not yet quite realized his objective however. In another era. Col. ► E. R. Bradley and Sen. Johnson N. Camden established vast stud farms with this goal, the former succeeding eminently with Behave Yourself, Bubbling Over, Burgoo King and Brokers Tip, the latter, unfortunately, not at all, though he bred horses many years, and won a great many other stakes. The late Warren Wrights trophy room sagged under the weight of silver medallions, goblets and plate, but he liked best of all winning the gold Derby vases with the produce of his fabulously successful Calumet Farm. He was, like Col. Bradley, one of fortunes favorites, the produce of his stud capturing five renewals of the classic. There are now many 00,000 races in America, but there is only one Kentucky Derby. Wealthy breeders have invested infinitely more in the importation, breeding and development of fine bloodstock in an effort to win this event than Churchill Downs ever is likely to distribute in prize awards. The value of the race is to many secondary. It is a challenge to them as sportsmen, and in accepting it they have enhanced the general quality and wealth of the thoroughbred in this country. If the Derby were, perish the thought, stricken from the agenda of U. S. stakes, it would not matter greatly to the economics of racing. But it would remove an incentive which has been of incaluable value to breeders, both private and commercial. The premise that the Derby is indis-pensible as a criterion of the quality of the bloodstock we are breeding will stand examination. It is like the Epsom original, a tremendous test of speed and stamina. The St. Leger and Ascot Cup are longer races than the Epsom Derby, and there are longer fixtures in America than the Kentucky Derby. But the Derbys have in common that they are decided at a desperate sprinting pace, requiring more stamina actually than is necessary to win some marathons. The conflict between oxygen and lactic acid, which is the chemistry that fatigues thoroughbreds and causes them to stop, is intensified when the animal attempts to sprint a middle distance. The Derby pace, at either Churchill or Epsom Downs, permits no breathers. And, of course, a three- year-old must successfully undergo a demanding, rigorous training period in order to be fit to carry 126 pounds a mile and a quarter against the best of his age the first Saturday in May. On the whole, Englands Derby winners have fared more successfully at stud than winners of other classics in the thoroughbreds "mother country." Our own Derby is comparatively young, for all this is its seventy-ninth running. But its winners include many stalilons that have, and are contributing notably to "improvement of the breed." In another generation, such as Hindoo and Ben Brush founded great sire lines, the same may be said of Himyar, second to Day Star as the favorite in the 1878 Derby. Prom modern Derbys emerged such successful progenitors as Gallant Pox, Bold Venture, War Admiral, Count Fleet, Pensive, and an extremely promising "un tried stallion" in Citation. To these we think it fair to add Whirlaway, though he was expatriated to France. If he was a failure, it was only in the sense none of his many winners was so capable as himself. His stud record would look good on the average sire. Perhaps the most illuminating aspect of Derby winners importance as sires is the recurrence of winners in succeeding generations of male line descent. The 1928 winner, Reigh Count, sired the 1943 winner, Count Fleet, who, in turn, sired the 1951 winner, Count Turf. The 1936 winner, Bold Venture, sired the 1946 winner, Assault, and the 1950 winner, Middleground. The 1930 winner, Gallant Fox, sired the 1935 winner, Omaha. And the 1944 winner, Pensive, sired the 1949 winner. Ponder, before he expired prematurely. All of this coinci- Continued on Page Forty-Two i 4 Handsome trophy that will go to the owner of the winner of the 79th Derby. Derby Plays Important Part in American Stud Bradley, Wright Successful With Classic Bloodlines; Mayer Tries Continued from Page Forty dence suggests breeders are correct in attaching the significance they do to the Derby as a "yardstick." It is entirely possible that the winner of this Derby will himself found a "Derby dynasty." The favored Native Dancers sire, Polynesian, was not prepared for the Derby, but won the Preakness at the expense of the Derby winner, and he stems from the male line of Phalaris, ancestor of many Epsom Derby heroes, including Nimbus and Dante. It is many generations back to Phalaris in Native Dancers pedigree, but there is burgeoning in breeding circles a notion that he is a throwback to some such brilliant ancestor. A victory for Native Dancer would be most encouraging to Marylands bloodstock industry, since he is to stand at Sagamore Farm there. Somewhat similarly, a Derby triumph for Correspondent would inspire breeders in California, for he is a product of the Golden State, where his sire, Khaled, is at stud. And by the same token, the many breeders in the Louisville area would rejoice were Royal Bay Gem successful, as his sire, Royal Gem, serves here. It is incidentally indicative of the tremendous expansion of bloodstock breeding that the three leading candidates for this week ends Derby were reared in areas 3,000 miles apart. It seems rather superficial, not to say downright silly to buy horses by coat color, and yet grays have been been very fashionable at the yearling auctions in recent years. We expect they will come into even greater vogue if Native Dancer proves the first of this romantic hue to capture a Kentucky Derby. And whether some of those who bid on gray yearlings realize it or not, there really is a connection, for virtually all the animals of this color now at stud derived it from the same source. Mahmoud was the first to popularize what is known as "gray blood" here, and the recent importation, Nasrullah, also has it, though he himself is brown. Native Dancer is making even casual turfgoers conscious of the theories of Gregor Mendel.
