view raw text
Churchill Downs I By Charles Hatton Mrs Markeys Views on Rose Run Calumet Lady Fond of The General Plans Visit to France in Summer SummerCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky April 30 How does it feel to be Mrs Gene Markey with a string of horses like Gen Duke Iron Liege Barbizon and Bardstown and the favorites in the Kentucky Derby Frankly I ana frightened to death the gracious owner of fabulous Calu ¬ met said today She was here to see Gen Duke and Iron Liege disport themselves in the Derby Trial coming up from her white Colonial residence on the farm Her perspective regarding Satur ¬ days Run for the Roses is one of hope the same hopefulness whiph has kent this snort eoine for centuries rather than one of confidence and com ¬ placence I think this is going to be the hardest Derby of all to win Mrs Markey said And when we mused that her rival owners were not without reason as scared as herself for Gen Duke and Iron Liege are a fearsome pair she replied I wish some of them would be too terrified to run Mrs Markeys favorite is of course Gen Duke though she observes that Iron Liege seems to be improving Chatting of the Florida Derby recordbreaker as an individual she said Hasnt he a grand head One of the finest I ever saw I think He has indeed with a wide fprehead mild intelligent eye and neatly turned ears When it comes to the aes ¬ thetic appeal of the 1957 threeyearolds however we must cast our vote for Barbizon He could hardly swallow his food his throat was so sore Mrs Markey said sympathetically but he is coming along in his training The first horse race Mrs Markey can re ¬ member seeing was here at the Old Downs That was Reigh Counts Derby in 1928 she recalled We didnt have any horses then but I enjoyed it and was becoming interested interestedEuropean European Stakes Purses Too Small SmallThe The Markeys have postponed their annual sojourn to France this summer leaving about Aug 31 We dont go racing much over there she said adding but we usually see the Grand Prix Asked if she had ever considered pointing one of her colts for the Grand Prix Mrs Markey replied Oh we have been invited to race there each time we go But the purses in France are so small you know and maintaining a stable and stud like Calumet is expensive Each time we win a 100000 stake people think that is what we made They have no idea how much it costs She is so right It is difficult to show a profit on such an operation Just now Calumets popular owner is enjoying the de ¬ lightful spring weather and watching the new crop of foals in their impromptu races and sham battles You look at them and grow fond of this one or that and like to think that some day they will make a name for themselves There are many disappointments But it is fun when one does You cant give up hoping hopingA A word about the Oaks This traditional Derby eve feature was introduced in 1875 when a group of ro tarian hard boots gathered in the old Gault House here and planned a stakes program imitating that at Epsom Downs In bloodstock breeding circles it is a criterion of broodmare potentialities of the highest order Leallah pronounced leelah by Charlton Clay now is in New York Lebkuchen and Romanita are not ready And Alartesian vanished from public view at Belmont last fall But the Oaks could produce a worthy com ¬ petitor for any of these At the same time we must confess that the Oaks Prep was not especially compli ¬ mentary to those who gave futile chase to the surpris ¬ ing Pillow Talk and Great Pride The worth of that form is questionable except that it seemed to expose Nile Lily as a sprinter and encouraged a notion the first two will stay a fair mile and a sixteenth Pamper Me a symmetrical gunmetal gray Alsab who won the Jasmine had no chance after the start She is another of the stretchrunning persuasion persuasionJones Jones Still Has Hopes for Rosewood As one who ig prone to see racing and horses in relation to the stud and bloodstock in relation to rac ¬ ing Mrs Markeys homegrown Rosewood intrigues us She embodies quite a lot as a sister to Coaltown and half sister to Wistful who won the Oaks and is the dam of Gen Duke Up to now Rosewood has embod ¬ ied more than she has personified if you follow us But Jimmy Jones says hopefully I have not given up on her yetI will not say she is just filly After all she did run up Jota Jotas neck in Florida and Jota Jota won the Ashland It seems that each time I finally have her ready to win one she runs a dumb sort of race I think probably she wants a distance In any case she is a keeper one you hang onto for breeding By Bull Lea from Easy Lass by Blenheim n Rosewood yields to none of the threeyearold fillies we have seen thus far in the spring on the score of individuality She is well named almost ebony in color with no marks and the strong triceps forearm and scope of the Bull Leas Her dam was meant for a head liner but flipped over in the gate Jn he Lassie d dCMffmurf CMffmurf M F0ft ftrfyTtoe CHURCHILL DOWNS DOWNSBy By CHARLES HATTON Continued from Page Five Fivescratched scratched herself from further competi ¬ tion Plain Ben was disconsolate disconsolateTurfana Turfana Barbizon has developed a little hickey on the outside of his right fore cannon but there is no heat in it His handlers prefer to care for these things without recourse to firing whenever possi ¬ ble Meanwhile his training is uninter ¬ rupted The boys were talking about starting particularly walkups and lap andtaps Mr Fitz recalled being at the post an hour and 10 minutes when he was riding at Gloucester I told the handler Im getting tired and this horse is getting He said If you see a break come on knock me down if you have to Then we got one My horse knocked him into a big hole outside the track Maybe there were longer delays Ill never forget that one Bold Ruler has a charm a green war ¬ like figure tacked on his stall door Goes from here to Aqueduct then to Pimlico Mr Fitz is training twoyearold brothers to the 56 Futurity winner and to Misty Morn and a sister to High Voltage who beat 23 seconds back at Miami Mayor Jimmy Jones has a strange pony Seems his mount developed a suspicious tendon The trainer trimmed his hooves a little close so that they would be tender for a time and prevent his moving about too much and turned him out to mend It may be apropos these humid days to men ¬ tion that Derby Town is one of the few places in which one still can find pine ¬ apple sherbet sherbetGen Gen Duke won his first start at two with his copyrighted stretch run bucked his shins soon thereafter He was not precocious and clever as some others Jones says but fie was a goodlegged sensible colt He is a brown just a touch under 153 the approximate height of As ¬ sault deep of girth with straight gal ¬ loping hind legs Since Miss Disco and Loser Weeper were low of pastern behind suggesting a tendency to run down we asked Snag if Bold Ruler had shown it Smiling he flipped He doesnt take time to run down Tommy Quinn who gal ¬ lops and works Bold Ruler has a jockeys license here and in Ireland We saw this native of Dublin ride on Tile Curragh sev ¬ eral years ago Mr Fitz may introduce him to American turfgoers You would hardly guess it but Jimmy Jones used to be a rider out in the sage brush country around his native Parnell Mo Won a few races too Bold Ruler was on view paddocked between races May breeze pub ¬ licly Wednesday
