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MRS HENRY CARNEGIE PHIPPS who maintains the Wheatley Stable and her celebrated trainer James Fitzsimmons Mrs Phi First Ladv Claimant Wheatley Colors Made Bow in 26 26Bold Bold Rulers Owner Modest Retiring Never Interferes With Mr Fitz Turf Plans PlansCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 3 The American turf like that across the Atlantic has been graced through the 3ears by a good many grandes dames One thinks immediately of the late Mrs Payne Helen Hay Whitney who established the formidable Greentree Stable and stud When she passed away her son John Hay Whitney US Ambassa ¬ dor to the Court of St James and her daughter Mrs Charles Shipmah Payson inherited her racing interests and her pink and black colors Among those who could lay claim to her mantle as the First Lady of the American Turf is Mrs Henry Car ¬ negie Phipps PhippsSince Since she began her Wheatley Stable back in 1926 this wonderful old ladys yel ¬ low purple sleeves and cap have been a symbol of r a c i n g exclusively pour le sport Mrs Phipps has always shunned the spotlight Modest and retiring little is known of her actually by the track crowds She has quietly enjoyed her horses visiting them with her trainer Mr Fitz on cool mornings during the season at Saratoga or standing unobtrusively by as he saddled one of her homebreds in the afternoon at Belmont BelmontNever Never Protests Weights WeightsShe She has never interferred with Fitzsim mons campaign plans never protested the weights assigned her horses Thus while Mrs Phipps is not herself a conspicuous figure on the turf her sporting precepts come through clearly and sharply And racing men honor her as she honors rac ¬ ing ingBold Bold Rulers owner and breeder is a slender white haired softeyed gentle ¬ woman who was born Gladys Mills about 70 years ago at Staatsburg N Y As a girl she was little exposed to the turf Then she married Henry Carnegie Phipps and established their home at fashionable Wheatley Hills on Long Island plumb in the midst of the society of Whitneys Van derbilts and Wideners to whom the thor ¬ oughbred and the sport they provided was almost a way of life While rearing a fam ily of three daughters and a son Ogden who now himself maintains a stable and stud Mrs Phipps decided to join in the fun of her neighbors and race a few horses She purchased three horses in 1926 Sturdy Stella Starset and Potent none of them very good But the next year she acquired Dice Diayolo Distraction Swiz zlestick and Pixie from the late Harry Payne Whitney and with her brother Ogden Mills Secretary of the Treasury under Herbert Hoover formed the Wheat ley Stable StableDice Dice Died Unbeaten UnbeatenMr Mr Fitz was appointed their trainer and the success of this new establishment was immediate even sensational For the prod ¬ ucts of the Whitney stud all were very good horses They won stake after stake stakeDice Dice died unbeaten before his time Diavolo became a champion handicap per ¬ former later a worthwhile sire even though he once was so ill Mr Fitz had a grave startMrs dug for him before his first start Mrs Phipps established a private stud in Kentucky where the late A B Hancock Sr kept her mares and stallions at Clai borne almost concurrently with forming a racing stable The Hanco6ks always have looked after the Wheatley breeding stock indeed do to this day with Bull Han ¬ cock succeeding his father as master of Claiborne ClaibornePerhaps Perhaps the most important horse bred and raced by Wheatley until Bold Ruler came along was the mighty Seabiscuit onetime money wanning champion Ex ¬ cept that ironically enough Seabiscuit never gave the slightest suggestion of his intrinsic form whlie eating Mrs Phipps oats oatsIt It was not Until his sale to Charles S Howard for about 5000 that The Bis ¬ cuit became a name to conjure with Matter of fact he was so lazy and back ¬ ward that when Mr Fitz went to breeze him mornings he would pass the colts rider a whip and bet him a quarter to nothing he could not make the son of ofContinued Continued on Page 37 D Mrs Phipps Colors Made Bow in 26 26Bold Bold Rulers Owner Modest Rgti Rgtiring ring Never Interferes With Mr Fitz Turf Plans PlansContinued Continued from Page 14 D DHard Hard Tack beat 26 seconds for two fur ¬ longs P S That is a big bet for Mr Fitz FitzBut But Mrs Phipps luck with her home breds has been mercurial rather than con ¬ sistently bad Bold Irishman who beat Whirlaway and Our Boots the fast Merry Lassie the Wood Memorial winners Teufel and Melodist the filly champions Misty Morn and High Voltage and many others of note who carried her colors with dis ¬ tinction tinctionWhen When her brother Ogden Mills passed away in 1937 Mrs Phipps continued to maintain Wheatley in partnership with her husband Henry Carnegie Phipps Simi ¬ larly wheri Phipps died in 54 she carried on the stud and stable under her individ ual ownership ownershipSaw Saw Bold Ruler Win Futurity FuturityWith With the death of her husband Mrs Phipps appearances at the tracks have be ¬ come more and more infrequent She was at Belmont to lead in the lovely gray High Voltage when that filly won the Coaching Club American Oaks Again last fall when she stepped up smiling and a little uncertain to lead in Bold Ruler after he had slammed the Futurity field fieldThe The wellmannered even courtly Bold Ruler is her favorite He has afforded her a great deal of pleasure And this Wood winner presents her best hope of winning the Kentucky Derby Todays Run for the Roses marks the fourth time around for Wheatley Teufel and Melodist both tried and failed rather igriominously Distraction managed to get himself left at the post postIf If you should chance to see in the pad ¬ dock a smartly but casually dressed old lady with a waist any of her 14 grand ¬ children might envy accompanied by a tall ruddy dignified man of middle age hovering around Bold Ruler that would be Mrs Phipps and her son Ogden Many turf trophies are on her sideboard At last she may win the most coveted of all
