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SYLVESTER E VEITCH Veitch Twice Saddled Colt Who Was Intrinsically Best in Derby Missed With Phalanx ana Also Had Counterpoint Both Later Horse of Year YearBy By BOB HORWOOD HORWOODSylvester Sylvester E Veitch has twice saddled the colt who was intrinsically the best in the Kentucky Derby at any rate proved the best of his generation at the end of the year and sent out another real good one but has yet to win the classic at Chur ¬ chill Downs He narrowly missed with Phalanx who was nosed out by Jet Pilot in 1947 and he saddled Counterpoint who finished up the track in 1951 but went on to become Horse of the Year Then in 1954 he tightened the girth of Fisherman who had won the Wood Memorial and eventu ¬ ally became the only American winner of the Washington D C International but was unplaced in the Derby This year he is trying again with two colts who may not be favored but who would surprise no one by running onetwo They of course are Career Boy and Head Man or vise versa versaAll All of these horses carried the light blue silks and brown cap of C V Whitney for whom he became farm superintendent at Lexington Ky in the fall of 1938 Eight years later Syl became the trainer of the Whitney racing stable When Veitch first came in from the farm he remarked on the switch in these terms I have to reverse my alibi now When I was the farm man ¬ ager I could always blame the trainer for messing up the fine stock I had sent him Now Ill have to blame the farm manager for the poor condition of the horses sent me to train Veitch however was deprived of this recourse because he remained large ¬ ly in charge of the farm operations operationsRemarkable Remarkable Success Past Ten Years YearsActually Actually Syl has had little need for alibis of any sort his success with the Whitney stock in the past 10 years having been truly remarkable and sometimes as in the case of Phalanx with horses that were far from sound soundSyl Syl Vcitcli was born about six furlongs from Belmont Park in Queens Village 47 years ago and comes from an old racing family His grandfather trained thorough ¬ breds and jumpers who were not always thoroughbreds in Scotland while his father rode and trained in this country Of his three brothers Leo is a successful trainer Sidney quit riding to run n laundry at Saratoga Springs and Thomas worked Tor u time on a horse farm farmSyl Syl begun working with horses at 35 He had been in high school when his father died and young Veitcli went to work He chose a farm in Maryland and did what all yearlings and take care of the broodmares After two years of this he moved over to William Zieglers farm at Middleburg Va for another three years of the same work workAt At 20 Veitch began training horses starting with jumpers at the hunts meet ¬ ings in Maryland and Virginia He also rode in a couple of hurdle races with no success or indication of talent whatever Syl continued to scuffle with his small stringbarely keeping his nose out of the water until 1938 That summer he had enough gave his two remaining jumpers to brother Leo and went back to Middle burg Then came that fortuitous telephone call from Ivor Balding who was then man ¬ ager of the Whitney farm and is still what you might call a supervisory manager of the C V Whitney racing and breeding interests interestsToday Today Sylvester Veitch is one of the most cooperative trainers on the racetrack running Mr Fits a close second in his can ¬ dor in discussing his horses with news ¬ papermen who arc after all his contact with the racing public that makes the sport possible Always as amiable in defeat ns following a triumph he has a lot of per
