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Tempo of Derby Set by Aristides First Winner in 1875 Was Top Horse and Each Since Has Been Classified Thus CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 1. — Aristides, the first winner of the Kentucky Derby back in 1875, set a tempo for the stake that has never let down. He was a real good horse, one of the best of his year, and down through the decades it has taken that kind of horse to win this Run for the Roses. Good and great horses of the American turf have graced the winners circle after the Blue Grass special. The best horse not always has won it, but at least a truly bad one never has. It was on May 17, 1875 — the first day of racing at Churchill Downs — that Aristides m won the inaugural Kentucky Derby before a young fellow of 14 by the name of Matt J. Winn, who witnessed the running from his dads buggy in the centerfield or the limb of a tree the legend varies, along with 10,000 other patrons. The "Little Red Horse", as Aristides was popularly called by the expressive turf writers of that day, raced a mile and a half in 2:37% and won by a length from Volcano and Vedrigris. The also-rans, all good horses, included Aristides brilliant arch-foe, Ten Broeck. Gain in Tradition Since that history -launching run, the Derby has gained in tradition, largely because of Matt Winns flair for sportsmanship, until now the three-year-old classic is acclaimed Americas greatest sporting event, with crowds of 100,000 recruited from every walk of life and every corner of the nation jamming rustic old Churchill Downs for the brief two minutes and a few seconds of action. But every second is a throbbing, thrilling, wonderful measure of time. Each second is a memory as the horses break, run past the historic stands the first time around, swarm into the clubhouse turn, head down the backstretch, skirt the far turn and then charge for home down the 1,234 1/2 -foot stretch in the supreme test of quality. What about Aristides? The "Little Red Horse," who start-. ed all this? Aristides was foaled in Kentucky in 1872 a chestnut son of Leamington and Sarong, a daughter of Lexington. It was through Aristides exploits in 1875 that Leamington | broke the 14-year reign of Lexington as [Americas leading sire. The chestnut colt first appeared on the race track at Lexington on May 12, 1874, and ran second in a half-mile sweepstakes. He then was shipped east and raced unplaced in the Juveniles Stakes at old Jerome Park. In a Hopeful, then run at Long Branch, he was also unplaced. Racing six furlongs for the first time, he finished second in the Thespian Stakes, and again was tardy in the Saratoga Stakes at Saratoga. Next time out at the Spa he was sent a mile and he proved then that he was a colt who wanted to go on. He ran over his rivals in the stretch. Three times more he started as a juvenile, twice at a mile and once at three-quarters. Both mile efforts were impressive victories, but he couldnt get up in time in the sprint. Adistides record as a juvenile showed only three wins in nine tries, but they all came in his last four races and stamped him as a colt of promise. As a sophomore in 1875, he wasnt long in proving his quality. Bows to Stablemate in Belmont First, he ran unplaced to Ten Broeck in the Phoenix Hotel Stakes at Lexington, then, a week later, drove to his history-making win in the Kentucky Derby. Shipped east, he followed his Derby score with another in the Withers Stakes. In the Belmont Stakes on June 12, he ran second to his stablemate, Calvin, when that colt was declared to win by his owner. It was obvious that Aristides was superior to the winner throughout. Such equine titans of the time as Chesapeake, Ozark and Tom Ochiltree couldnt keep pace with him that day. In his other three-year-old engagements he placed to Ozark in the Ocean Hotel Stakes, was third to DArtagnan in the Travers, captured the Jerome Stakes from Calvin, Joe Cerns and Tom Ochiltree, raced unplaced in the Dixie behind Tom Ochiltree and then closed the season by winning the Breckenridge Stakes, besting Viator and Tom Ochiltree. At four, Aristides appeared but twice and won both times, the most memorable victory being over Ten Broeck in the four-year-old sweepstakes at two miles and a furlong. It was a terrific struggle — a desperate fight between two marvelous horses — but Aristides prevailed in the then unprecedented time of 3: 45%. The, son of Leamington did not race at five, and ran but once, unplaced, at six. He died in 1893 at the Fair Grounds in St. Louis, hailed by turfgoers of that era as a horse of great courage.
