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Between Races — - By Oscar Otis Trial Looms Top Stake in Own Right Brilliance Lures Folks Here Earlier Downs Strip Now Rated 2:03 for Derby CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 2.— Churchill Downs off icials vhave suddenly awakened to the fact that in the mile Derby Trial, they may have the foundation of one of Americas best stake races even though its added money value is but 0,000 and that it is quite frankly, as the name says on the label, a trial. We have a notion that lightning struck, to coin a phrase, with last years Trial in which Hasty Road beat Determine in a rip rousing race from the head of the stretch in new track record time of 1:35. It was a race which contributed a great deal to Derby interest during the three-day interim lead ing up to the big decision of the Saturday, a decision which went to Determine in rather decisive fashion. The Churchill moguls must have mulled this over at length, and they didnt have to look back very far to discover that six of the last seven runnings of the Derby have been won by colts who finished either first or second in the Trial, a rather brilliant record. "We may have overlooked something in past years," observer Stanley Hugenberg, executive vice-president of the Downs, said. "Because we have encountered, now and then, a disappointed horseman who forgot to make his Derby colt also eligible for the Trial. "So, next year, we shall have both the Derby and Trial nominating form on the same blank, with a check off place for a nominator to declare himself that he DOESNT want to run in the Trial. And it will be just as easy to write one check for both races as for just the Derby." We think Hugenbergs thinking on this subject makes good sense, for, to be frank about it, the days when the Trial was a vehicle to "get ready" for the Derby are over. Any horse who wasnt given a bold effort in the Trial usually wasnt quite fit for the-Derby either, and was beaten off. This being the case, the. Trial is rapidly developing into a first class stake on its own account and any trainer who might look upon it as a sort of glorified work is deemed a long way off the beam — if he wants to win a Derby. Many Visitors Spend a Full Week The Trial also is displaying an unanticiapted meritorious jpurpose in that its growing brilliance is serving to attract Derby day visitors here a few days in advance of previous scheduling. It may or may not be true that the Hasty Road-Determine thriller of last year had anything to do with the fact that sale of boxes, pre-Derby type, was at an all time high this spring. This advance sale has nothing to do with Friday and Saturday, always a sellout, this year in February, but is a hint that more and more people are coming in for the Trial and making a full week of it. This is something the Louisville Chamber of Commerce has been promoting with fervor— come early and stay late, see the other tourist attractions of Kentucky while you are in this area for the Derby. , It has become traditional for the night after the Trial to witness the annual gathering of the Kentucky breeders, ostensibly for the-presentation of the "Broodmare of the. Year award," but in reality a. national forum of considerable consequence on matters affecting the turf. Cliff Lussky has made it a custom in late years to invite someone of national standing to air his views on turf topics, and this years guest of honor speaker will be John Stelle, former governor of Illinois. The KTBA dinner is unparallelled in many respects as a sounding board, for at no other time in America are so many turf writers gathered under one roof. Other good backgrounds on which to unveil a new idea are the NASRC conventions, the TRA conclaves, and, on occasions, the dinners of the TCA in Lexington. Goose Heads the Long Shot Clan Roscoe Goose, a leading figure in the promotion of the dinner, has promised to divulge his "long shot selection" for the Derby at this meeting, and "no one would be surprised if it turned out to be the California colt, ►Swaps. When Goose rode the 1.45-1 shot Donerail to victory in the Kentucky Derby back in 1913, he never dreamed that by piloting the longest shot in history of the Derby he. would in later years be elected, by newspaper acclaim, as the president of the "Knock Down the Favorite Club." At first, he shied away from being the titular head of the great clan of American long shot players, but the publicity would not die down, and now he takes it gracefully and his selection to beat the favorite is taken seriously because the man is an able . horseman and handicapper, and he really puts some thought into his price choice. We questioned Tom Young, track superintendent, about his cushion, and he told us, "If the track is fast on Saturday, it will take 2:03 or under to win the Derby. Yes, some years back, we figured our track at 2 : 04, and calculated that anything under that time was one way of judging the calibre of three-year-olds of that year. But the old Churchill strip is faster now, Id say about a second to the mile and a quarter. Therefore, the new standard of 2:03 would be about the correct one." Last year, Determine won in exactly that time, 2:03, while the year before, it took Dark Star 2:02 for the same gruelling ten furlongs, while Hill Gail, in 1952, accomplished it in 2:01%.
