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Between Races By Oscar Otis Erb Explains Needles Eccentricity Says Colt Willful But Not a Sulker Meandering Course Habit of Terrang TerrangCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville KyMay 1 The Chinese have a somewhat different way of keeping a calendar of events and for all we know this may be the year of the Cow the month of Moo but the point is if we were to keep Derby records in the Chinese manner this eightysec ¬ ond running come Saturday un ¬ doubtedly would go down as the psychiatric renewal of the Downs classic because mental quirks and likes and dislikes of the individ ¬ ual contenders will pla a great ¬ er role than ever before in a Derby decision Of course the best known thoroughbred with a the track of a morning has become the talk not only of the backstretch but of the nation Jockey Dave Erb who has patiently nursed Needles along to get him to work coaxing and pleading puts it this way I think I can explain Needles from my own experience with him He has not only a mind of his own but he uses it and it would be folly to try to force him to do any ¬ thing I believe he has enough fighting spirit to break any human that tried the issue by force Of course this spirit translated into a race of an afternoon is what makes him a good horse and gives him the will to deliver his great stretch run runThis This horse knows the difference between morning and afternoon and when he goes to the post there is none of the nonsense which you have noticed when he is about to work This horse positively is not a sulker nor is he sour but I will admit that on the surface there appears to be a fine line between willfulness and sulkiness between which the observer might have a hard time differentiating He looks to be on the verge of sulking but he never really gets around to actually sulking I mean the genuine sulk Anyway as long as he knows what he is supposed to do in the afternoon why not go along with him in the morning and humor his whims for hell make up his mind to work sooner or later and if you let the horse make up his mind you are bouriS to get better results As for me I wouldnt want to try fighting this horse ever everCrazy Crazy About Winning That Is All AllWe We are glad to pass along this analysis of Needles from a boy who should know and are happy to learn that Needles remains on the sane ide even though some of his morning actions would hint at a tinge of paranoia One of the best horsemen we have ever known a man who could do anything with a horse told us that in England sulkiness or balkiness is known as in ¬ sanity A more descriptive term than the American counterparts and that horsemen realize this is the one flaw in a horse which cannot be corrected one way or another To summarize Needles isnt crazy hes just eccentric Theres a big difference differenceTake Take Terrang Trainer Mesh Tenney wont go so far as to say he is a true problem horse but he ob ¬ serves If Terrang runs the race he is capable of Sat ¬ urday hed have better than a real chance Tenney pointed out that Terrang has not run to expectations on some occasions because Terrang has yet to learn the mathematical truism that a straight line is the shorest distance between two points He has been known to swerve and detour en route from starting point to wire but in his last race at Gulf stream when he shattered the track record except that Swaps had shattered it more drastically in the race previous he had the rail to guide him on the inside and Shoemaker and a right handed whip to discourage him from bearing to the JT right This combination made it possible for his time searing victory Verdict Terrang doesnt need a psy ¬ chiatrist but does need more cramming on geometry geometryReveal Reveal No Regrets Prone to Mishaps MishapsThe The California Derby winner No Regrets is accident prone and doctors say this in people is due more to the mind than any other factor Something has been hap ¬ pening to No Regrets ever since he started to train as a twoyearold things which kept him from getting to the post until he turned three He even had a rough trip to Louisville falling down in his stall on the plane not once but twice and it took some doing in midau to get him on four feet again Hes a colt that seemingly must do everything the hard way Actually any good trainer must understand horses the old saying is the trainer and jockey should know more than the horse a witticism good for a laugh when hurled at a turfman in jest but it just so happens that Needles in particu lar has brought this phase of equine mentality to na ¬ tional attention because of his status as future book favorite for the Kentucky Derby Its a good thing for racing in a way because the more the public comes to realize that every horse is an individual and has per ¬ sonal problems the more understanding and tolerant racing patrons will become Such problems prevail everywhere but it takes a race like the Derby to dram ¬ atize and make the average fan aware of them themGeorge George Krehbiel of the Detroit News has dubbed the Derby the longest sprint in the world and while 10 furlongs is no sprint there is a deal of sense in Krehbiels description For a Derby winner has to run all the way there is pace all the way and as often as not when one speed horse has had enough another de ¬ cides to make a run for it and unquestionably the win ¬ ner must turn in a superior effort even in socalled Confmied on Page Forty
