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MRS DODGE SLOANE Cavalcade triumphed in her Brookmeade Stables Royal Blue and White colors in 1934 MRS JOHN D HERTZ Reigh Count 1928 and Count Fleet 1943 were her herKentucky Kentucky Derby winners Important Role of Women in Derby Fair Sex Own Two Leading Candidates in 83rd Running Mrs Markey Seeking Second Success Mrs Hertz and Mrs Payne Whitney Have Doubles DoublesBy By CHARLES HATTON HATTONCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 3 There is a cliche old as racing that it is The Sport of Kings That say ¬ ing went out when the queens came in Anne who established Royal Ascot Vic ¬ toria who bred an extraordinary number of classic winners and Elizabeth II whose Aureole became Englands Horse of the Year and who now has serious bidders for the 1957 Guineas and Epsom Derby DerbyNot Not to be outdone the fair sex among the colonists on this side of the Atlantic are playing an increasingly important role in racing particularly in the Kentucky Derby In fact one wonders what the recorded history of modern racing would look like without them Not only the women who own and breed horses but those who make up a good portion of the average crowds with corresponding contributions to the volume of play And Churchill Downs once had a track rule precluding lady guests from patronizing the iron men menBoth Both Maintain Large Stables StablesThere There is a tendency to overlook the fact that the Calumets and Bold Ruler prin ¬ cipals in the ensuing Derby are ownea by women everyone has been so preoccupied with appraising these colts chances in Bill Corums classic Bold Ruler carries the muted yellow and purple blouse of Wheat ley Hills N Ys Mrs Henry Carnegie Phipps Gen Dirke and Iron Liege the flashing Devils red and blue of Lexington Kys Mrs Gene Markey leading money winning owner in 1956 1956Both Both these ladies maintain large strings and studs at an annual expense ranging well up in six figures With exemplary sportsmanship each has gone on uncom ¬ plainingly accepting the losing seasons as graciously as the successful ones Along with Mrs Dodge Sloane Mrs Richard Lunn Mrs Elizabeth Graham Mrs Charles Ship man Payson and others of the fair sex they have helped to preserve the sporting aspects of thoroughbred racing against the encroachments of commercialism It is only appropriate that the turf should toast them in mint juleps this Derby Day DayIn In the event not altogether unantici ¬ pated Gen Duke or Iron Liege roars to the finish the winner of this 83d Ken ¬ tucky Derby Mrs Markey will become the third of her sex to have brought off a double in the most coveted of all American races As Mrs Warren Wright she won our turfs Blue Riband with the airy going Hill Gail back in 1952 1952At At the moment Mrs John D Hertz and Mrs Payne Whitney are the only women to have scored this dual success Mrs Hertz Reigh Count splashed home on three legs in the 1928 Derby and his son Count Fleet carried her canary and black colors with distinction in the 1943 renewal Mrs Whitney had won with Twenty Grand in 1931 Shut Out in 1942 1942As As every Louisville schoolboy knows the Kentucky Derby had its inception in the long ago of 1875 when Churchill Downs was new replacing a forgotten course at Magnolia and Fourth Avenue None of the fair sex won the Derby until Mrs C E Burnetts unsung Elwood captured the 1904 renewal Indeed few of the entrants in earlier Derbys ran f in the interests of sportswomen Remember that society ex ¬ pected them to stay at home in those days when they were supposed tp conform to a manmade notion they were all as demure fragile and had about as much individu ¬ ality as so many Dresden dolls If Mrs Durnell shocked her sisters back there in 04 she must have astonished horsemen even more for she herself donned gum boots to train Elwood So never say a woman has yet to condition a Derby win ¬ ner Mrs Hoots Inherited Black Gold GoldThe The ensuing years brought new customs tastes and manners along with something of an emancipation for women Unob ¬ trusively more and more of the miscalled weaker sex began to invade the domain of thoroughbred horse owners Who that saw it shall forget the stir created in turf cir ¬ cles when Black Gold inherited from her late husband by Mrs R M Hoots made her the first woman in fairly modern times to win tt Derby To be sure it was close a blanket finish but by way of authenti ¬ cating the form Black Gold went on to win a whole assortment of derbys before his tragic end when he broke a leg at New Orleans In the latter half of The Golden Twen Eies Mrs John Hertz campaigned one of the countrys most formidable strings Her Reigh Count was the best twoyearold of 1927 by common consent He literally jumped out of a tub of ice to win the suc ¬ ceeding springs Derby on three legs in an inspiring display of raw courage Only three years later in 1931 Mrs Payne Whit ¬ ney The First Lady of the American Turf saw her leggy bay stretch runner Twenty Grand devastate Mate Sweep All and others of a splendid field in new Derby record time of 201 201Then Then in 1934 Mrs Xodge Sloane who had assembled one of the largest and most important racing establishments on this side of the Atlantic realized her fondest hope Cavalcade won her the chaste gold Kentucky Derby clip perhaps the hand ¬ somest trophy in the sphere of the thor ¬ oughbred sport and she realized an ambi ¬ tion often expressed to the late Col Matt J Winn There followed an hiatus of six years in the series of feminine successes in the Derby when Mrs Ethel V Mars rawboned bay colt Gallahadion amazed everyone fcy slipping through along the rails to administer Bimelech his first de ¬ feat in the 1940 version of The Run for The Roses RosesShut Shut Out Beats Stablemate s In rapid succession in 1942 and 43 Mrs phenomenal luck to win their second Derbys Mrs Whitneys Shut Out less highly esteemed than was his stablemate Devil Diver in some quarters surged out of the pack to win f roin that colt Alsab and Requested in 1943 The succeeding sea ¬ son Count Fleet proved pounds and lengths superior to Blue Swords and others of a small field mustered to oppose him Mrs Hertz homebred retired a Triple Crown winner unbeaten as a threeyearold and many to this day consider him one of the outstanding performers of all time timeMrs Mrs Elizabeth Graham the cosmetician had spent lavishly in the yearling market to assemble a high class racing establish ¬ ment as the nucleus of a stud and in 1947 Jet Pilot crowned her efforts with achieve ¬ ment Ironically Mrs Graham the pre ¬ ceding year had started three of her horses as favorites for the Derby and was dis ¬ appointed when the prize eluded all of them Jet Pilot had no runningmate made all the pace still had the pluck to win a spirited finish with the favored Phalanx and Faultless FaultlessThe The only Derby victory for a colt cham ¬ pioning the fair sex since Jet Pilots year was recorded in 1952 when Hill Gail won for Mrs Markey The betting is that Mrs Markey or Mrs Phipps will further the cause this af temoon The 83d Derby could find the hallowed ground of the winners enclosure graced by a woman for the llth time in the races history
