Judges Stand: Correlation Plausible Derby Favorite; Racing Luck, Jockeyship Will Be Factors; Downs Race Reflects Sports Evolution.; Event Is Inspiration to Stud Industry, Daily Racing Form, 1954-05-01

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JUDGES STAND By CHARLES HATTON CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky April 30 This observer has been going to the Derby since a lean black colt called George Smith nosed out Star Hawk In 1916 but we cannot think when we were less positive and opinionated about the result than on the eve of this 80th running of the Downs classic Correlation gets the best marks at the distance based on the flourish with which he won the Wood and is a plausible favorite De ¬ termine also has won at nine furlongs however And that is the distance of the Blue Grass Stakes in which Eddie Arcaro timed Goyamos winning maneuver so nicely Fisherman runs on heartily enough though he seems not to have as long a run as has Correlation Hasty Road ap ¬ pears the speed of the field but one finds it difficult to visualize a Roman staying a mile and a quarter bravely as this colt fought back when Determine moved to the attack in the mile of the Trial Whether or not Hasty Road is exceptional among Romans progeny he strikes us as a wonderful prospect for those summer stakes at Arlington and Washington This seems one of the Derbys in which jockeyship and racing luck are likely to prove factors of unusual pertinence Many will always think Native Dancer would have won the last one except that in the frenzied dash around the clubhouse turn Money Broker careened into him In r large field it often happens that horses racing on the pace stop in front of rivals who are moving up causing them to hesitate for a little in ¬ stant which can spell the difference between winning and losing Again horses sometimes bear in or out as they tire committing unintentional fouls We have seen very few that appeared deliberate in Kentucky Derbys and the Correlation Plausible Derby Favorite Racing Luck Jockeyship Will Be Factors Downs Race Reflects Sports Evolution Event Is Inspiration to Stud Industry Downs now has the film patrol One may hope the best horse wins winsA A A A AThe The Derby has evoluted in some respects with the turfs development in America these last two decades Time was when New York could boast virtually all the outstanding talent Only Fisherman and Goyamo among the prominent Derbyites were developed in New York racing last season Correlation and Determine are prod ¬ ucts of the comparatively new California circuit Hasty Road compiled most of his record twoyearold earnings at Chicago last summer Somewhat similarly there was a time not so long ago it was considered unthinkable to race colts of Derby potentialities during the winter But the magnitude of winter racing and the Derby form of colts seasoned in competition in California Florida and at New Orleans has changed horsemens thinking in the matter With the lone exception of Fisherman who trained in South Carolina all of the fancied runners in this Derby were raced during the winter From time to time the Derby is quoted as the race responsible for breaking down all the horses One wonders if the vast majority who are fragmented training for it would not break down when the pressure is applied preparing for any other race later in the season The circumstance that the Derby is the first of the Triple Crown events na ¬ turally places it in position of exposing those colts who are somehow fragile Also it is this circumstance that it is the first of the seasons classics bringing together the finest threeyearolds from all the nations turf centers which makes it so climactic and appealing to the public publicA A A The late Col Matt Winn always considered the Derby essentially a breeders race a view in which the breed ¬ ing industry heartily concurred when it was threatened by wartime transportation restrictions The Colonel never much cared for sprinters From time to time he was urged to reduce the distance from a mile and a quarter but he steadfastly refused pointing out that one such concession already had been effected for originally it was a mile and a half Across the years the Derby has be ¬ come invaluable as a criterion of potentialities for the stud Hindoo Ben Brush Reigh Count Gallant Fox War Admiral Count Fleet and the enormously popular untried sire Citation all inscribed their names on the Derby rec ¬ ords and made an impression on the Stud Book It is among the stakes offering breeders awards with pre ¬ miums of 2000 1000 and 500 respectively for the breeders of the first three to finish The honor of breeding a Derby winner is an inspiration of tremendous signifi ¬ cance to bloodstock production in this country Indeed many sportsmen among them Col E R Bradley Johnson Camden and L B Mayer became interested in thorough ¬ bred breeding in the hope of one day producing a win ¬ ner of the classic classicA A A A ATurf Turf ana Hasty Road made Johnny Adams like him in the Trial Cherokee Rose grabbed a quarter stumbling out of the gate at Keeneland missed her Kentucky Oaks engagement has departed for New York Winn Wil ¬ liamson is becoming a commercial breeder on a larger scale Fisherman is one who will appreciate the longer spell now afforded between the Triple Crown Continued on Page SixtyThree JUDGES SfAN Dm DmBy By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page SixtyFour SixtyFourevents events Syl Veitch amused newsmen when he remarked upon deplaning here that Fisherman shipped better than I did Bill Evans notes entrants in the Keeneland Summer Sales will be selected from more than 600 applicants probably limited to about half that number The Trial recalled Equipoises and Twenty Grands KJC Stakes to Bill Corum


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