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Needles Must Overcome N Jinx at Downs Today TodayNo No Horse Whose Name Begins With That Letter Won Derby DerbyCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 4 In addition to the field he will face in Saturdays Kentucky Derby D H Stables Needles will have some strong opposition from another source The colt is up against the N jinx no horse whose name begins with that letter ever having won the Run for the Roses although many have tried The two most recent N horses to suf ¬ fer defeat in the Derby were outstanding choices to break the jinx but even the likes of Native Dancer in 1953 and Nashua last year couldnt do it Native Dancer was beaten a head by Dark Star while Nashua bowed to Swaps SwapsTwenty Twenty letters of the alphabet are rep ¬ resented on the roster of Kentucky Derby winners nwith the Bs leading the list with 10 Baden Baden in 1877 Buchanan 1884 Ben Ali 1886 Ben Brush 1896 Be ¬ have Yourself 1921 Black Gold 1924 Bubbling Over 1925 Burgoo King 1932 Brokers Tip 1933 and Bold Venture 1936 1936Besides Besides N the other letters in the alphabet not on the winning list for the Derby are I Q V X and Y YThere There have been 13 N horses who tried and failed to win the Derby In addition to Native Dancer and Nashua they were Newsboy 1882 Norse King 1915 Nassau 1823 Nautical 1924 Needle Gun 1925 Naishapur 1929 Ned O 1930 Nellie Flag 1925 No Sir 1937 No Wrinkles 1943 and Nabesna who went down to defeat along with Nashua in 1955
