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ZEV As he appeared In his racing days Many turf fans recall the feats of the 1923 Derby winner in particular his victorious match race against Papyrus Englands Epsom Derby victor and his rivalry with In Memoriam and My Own Ownduring during sports golden age Zev Electrified American Imagination Derby Winner of 23 Became First Horse of Radio Acclaim Native Dancer Now Parallel As Television Star Sande Hildreth Sinclair Recalled y KKON ItASMUSSKN Then uic tliose who will miy that the romance the flavor of the Kentucky Derby IN not due to rosert and Jullps and frhiky threeyearold NtrotehlnK out over a vnst dlstanco of wound but rather depend ¬ ent upon the memories of reat Derby and nreat Derby horses of the pa t And they may be rluht ThLs year beeause of the wave of Internationalism that IH break inn over the turf world and beeause Am ¬ ericas memory of Native DancerH unex ¬ pected defeat last May is still us fresh as an early morning workout there come persistent thoughts of Zev winder in l2j l2jWhy Why do international races and Native Dancer and Derby hour bring Zev to mind mindIts Its a 31yearold story storyIn In 1023 Zev the Kentucky Derby winner met arid defeated Papyrus Englands Ep ¬ som Derby winner In an international match race at Belmont Park that Ignited the interest of the American public during that Rolclcn age of sport After a long era of repression that spectacle and its hero Zev caused racing to burgeon in public esteem and interest Today with in ¬ ternational races fixtures racing finds It ¬ self never held in higher esteem or creating more Intercut Some of this accrued capital bolonwi to ZevH account accountAn An for the connection with Native Dancer la t year The Dancer became rac IUKH Unit TV lar the new medium of naaw communication making Vanderbllt MWI metal way the inont popular and bewt known thoroughbred In the history of the sport Zev was a firit too lie was the flr t hon e whow name became a household word through radio Many track records have gone by the boards since 1923 but Zev was a hero and a horse of exciting deeds delightfully tinged with that in ¬ tangible crowdpleaser called color A golden name In a golden age he was asso ¬ ciated with titans in a fabulous era His breeder was the celebrated John E Mad ¬ den his Jockey was the seldom equaled Earl Sande his trainer was the Incredibly capable Sam JTildreth and his owner wn the amaIng billiondollar oil tycoon Harry Sinclair They represented a pat hand in American racing especially when they led with their ace Zev ZevAlthough Although Sam Hildreth called Zev a great horse the son of The Finn is held in more moderation by turf historians He is generally accepted as a good horse and a lucky one whose toughness enabled him to be around for the big prixes when leading rivals were clinical cases He came along when turf prizes began to soar and when the publics Interest tinderdry and andContinued Continued on Page Fifty Zev Firsf Horse to Attract National Attention on Radio Derby Winner of 23 Became Household Word Todays TV Parallel Is Native Dancer DancerContinued Continued from Page TwentyTwo TwentyTwoparched parched for the thrills of competition among thoroughbreds was ready for the match Zev with his peculiar name named for W H Zeverley a friend of Sin ¬ clairs was the mostest horse at this psychological time His flair his name his deeds like a concerted shout reached the people and the walls of prejudice came tumbling down downAt At two Zev was one of the leaders of a soso crop and while not considered the best of his age he like the unfortunate Turnto who might well have been the big horse in todays festivities was considered by many to be the most likely to succeed That he did didAfter After opening his threeyearold season with a triumph over Vigil in the Paumonok Zev journeyed to Pimlico for the Preakness then run prior to the Derby where he ran a dismal race finishing in the ruck after having been close up early His early critics put on their best I told you so smiles figuring his Preakness proved their premise that he could not handle a route However Earl the handy guy Sande told Hildreth that the colt had been kicked at the post and that he had been unable to run his race The Preakness was on May 12 Three days later back in New York Zev was entered in and won a sprint Four days later came the Derby DerbyIt It may have been Sandes pleading that won Hildreth over Or it may have been the sprint victory that convinced the cagey trainer Anyway it was decided that Zev would have his Derby chance chanceAs As soon as the field broke Zev took com ¬ mand over his 20 rivals and was never headed cutting the tape with daylight be ¬ tween himself and Martingale with Vigil third Held at 201 Zev was a big surprise According to Hildreth he shouldnt have been to anyone knowing what had hap ¬ pened to him at Pimlico But the facts back up the growing legend that it was really Sande who was responsible for Zevs trek to Louisville LouisvilleCompared Compared to Man o War WarWhen When Zev followed his Derby win with impressive scores in the Withers the ex ¬ acting Belmont Stakes and the Queens County Handicap his fame reached new heights and he became the first of many to be compared with Man o War WarAt At the same time his critics if heard at all were playing it pianissimo pianissimoZev Zev was the horse of the hour and his fame was the accelerator for events of great moment momentIn In England Papyrus was the winner of the Epsom Derby He was a son of Tracery a Kentuckybred and Americans took much pride in Papyrus With the turf enjoying this renaissance of favor it seems natural that the powers in racing should have tried to capitalize on the situation by matching the winners of the worlds two most re ¬ nowned Derbys The Jockey Club with August Belmont William WoodwardvJ E Widener and R L Gerry shaping the pro ¬ posal and with C J Fitzgerald as the official emissary to England soon an ¬ nounced the match between Papyrus and Zev at a mile and onehalf for a purse of 100000 80000 going to the winner winnerIn In setting up the International Belmont surprised many by scheduling a National Trial Stakes to decide the opponent for Papyrus Zevs connections declined this issue in which he would have met Admiral Graysons My Own on the grounds that Zev was Americas threeyearold king and was therefore entitled to meet Papyrus without any preliminary folderol Tlie pub ¬ lic didnt like this but the colt was excused from the Trial when it was shown that he had torn a frog in the Realization and could not be at his best bestPapyrus Papyrus arrived in America and finally a committee of jockey club members se ¬ lected Zev as this countrys logical entrant entrantSoon Soon after Papyrus arrived his rider Steve Donoghue Britains premier jockey put in an appearance Papyrus trials and Donoghues style were impressive The newspapers began to play the story Then anxiety was thrown in with enthusi ¬ asm when Zev came down with a cough had trouble with his digestion and just two days before the race broke out with the hives The committee convened and called on Hildreth in a body at his stable He practically promised them his horse would win if he were allowed to start They agreed but My Own was shipped in from Mary ¬ land just in case caseDid Did Hildreth Know the Odds OddsA A brisk fall day greeted the crowd of be ¬ tween 50000 and 60000 but the Belmont strip was deep in slop a factor not con ¬ sidered detrimental to either and particu ¬ larly not to Zev But considering all things Papyrus long and rough sea voyage his unfamiliarity with our dirt tracks his running smoothshod he was a 100 1 shot against Zev by Hildreths own estimate And Hildreth was a man who knew odds The race proved him right trainer Basil Jarvis of the invader congratulated Hil ¬ dreth on his victory well before the horses had turned into the stretch At the finish it was Zev by five but it might as well have been 10 10Zev Zev was not through with the Interna ¬ tional tionalAfter After being humiliated by In Memoriam in the Latonia Championship he was given a discredited decision over the latter in a match at Churchill Downs Zev had become cute and cunning and he would not extend himself when nothing was in front of him He should have been retired his earnings of 272008 for the year constituted a new record and his total of 299673 was a world record but he came back in 1924 and be ¬ came the first horse to win over 300000 300000His His genetic influence has been negligible But when we think of the Roaring Twenties of Ruth Tilden Dempsey Jones and Man o War one must think of Zev too
