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Impressive Roster of Derby Losers7 Native Dancer Will Be Most Remembered for 53 Defeat DefeatOthers Others Also Have Gone On to Greater Fame Than Has Winner That Season but Victory in Downs Classic Helps Greatly to Earn Years Title Bimelech Also Fine Example ExampleBy By CHARLES HATTON HATTONX X CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 3 A victory in the Derby carries with it a certificate of quality a badge of distinction that outlives not only the recipient of this honor but survives the youngest of his fans enduring for all time But what of the losers Especially those at whose immediate expense the winner achieves his exalted niche in the annals of the turf If one may say so without in any way detract ¬ ing irom tne nomage aue a nero 01 Amer ¬ ican racings Blue Ribband some genuine champions have been relegated to a sec ¬ ondary order in the Derby In retrospect they went on to achieve even more fame than the winner on the basis of their whole carreers So it is not imperative that a horse win the Derby to earn the title though it undeniably helps helpsThe The Derby records are profuse in cases inpoint Possibly the most illuminating came with the decision of the 1953 renewal of the historic mile and a quarter For it was in this race Alfred Gwynne Vander bilts gray Native Dancer the darling of the TV fans sustained the only defeat in a brilliant career extending over 22 starts startsOnly Only Head Removed From Charmed Circle CircleGeorge George Brownie Leach the Downs pub ¬ licist indeed thinks that The Derby of 1953 will be more memorable for the fact it marked the only time Native Dancer was beaten than any other renewal will for another horses having won it itThat That is a broad statement recalling such past winners as Old Rosebud Regret Ex ¬ terminator and Citation But it is perfectly possible posterity will prove Leach right For undefeated champions come singly as horses of the ages and only the marginof Dark Stars head in the Derby most coveted of all races excluded The Dancer from this unique category It is one of the little ironies which have punctuated the sport since its inception in Queen Annes reign reignIt It was a tough one to lose and we do not think with all due credit to Dark Star that anybody will care to deny the gray went on to achieve a greater measure of fame Even though Dark Star deserved to win that sunny afternoon on the Downs To be sure the heavily backed Dancer was checked when Money Broker bumped him on the clubhouse turn But jockey Guerin had deliberately taken him back with the rear guard at the time and there was a full seven furlongs in which to recover Dark Star set all of the pace and won the hard way in that last desperate six ¬ teenth Native Dancer was roaring after him with a tremendous rush it seemed im ¬ possible he could deny But Dark Star kept pulling out a little extra and just lasted in a dramtic photo finish so breathtaking it will never be forgotten by those who saw it itActually Actually the Derby began back there in 1875 with the best horse beaten before the incredulous eyes of the 12000 present for the occasion Aristides stablemate Chesapeake was popularly supposed to be the better horse and he was entered asa pacemaker But he made the pace so real ¬ istic he still was in front at the end of the theContinued Continued on Page 47 D Impressive Rostet Of Derby Losers Native Dancer Will Be Remembered for 53 Loss LossMore More Than Anything Else ElseContinued Elsei i Continued from Page 42 D Dmile mile and a half which was the races distance until 1896 Then there was the third renewal of the Derby in 1878 Almost nobody even menr rtions the successful Day Star But the runnerup Himyar appears in hundreds of present day pedigrees Optimistically re ¬ garded as the onetobeat the race re ¬ vealed Himyar as a miler At the same time l e achieved a fame far surpassing that of Day Star StarIt It still is a question too if the 1883 win ¬ ner Leonatus was a better race horse than was Drake Carter who later gained renown as a rival for the wonderful mare Miss Woodford first thoroughbred of either sex to win 100000 A lapse of a few years and we come to another upside down result in the 1889 Derby The preceding year Proc ¬ tor Knott had journeyed east an arduous journey in those days and had defeated no less a horse than was Salvator The Prince of the twoyearolds for the first running of the Futurity And yet Spokane amazed everybody by nosing him out in the Derby Not only that Spokane repeated the dose later in the summer If ever one horse had the Indian sign on another it appeared Spokane had it on Proctor Knott But by and large Proctor Knott was the better racehorse not only acknowledged but hailed as a Lochinvar out of the West WestNow Now we come to the 1911 Derby and the Governor Gray incident Knowing Hard Boots felt the wests champion first im ¬ portant gray of this century could not lose But an otherwise unremarkable animal called Meridian chose this occasion for his day in the sun The authenticity of the re ¬ sult was questioned for many years cynics going so far as to insist that it was pre ¬ fabricated It was the Kentucky Derbys equivalent of the notorious Running Rein case in the Epsom original Otherwise it was a rather pointless Derby DerbyComing Coming down to more modern times one recalls the Rose Run of 1921 Col E R Bradleys Behave Yourself and Black Serv ¬ ant finished noses apart in that order But everyone felt that it should have been re ¬ versed and Col Bradley stood to win a fortune in the winter books of the day if Black Servant got home There was a bland assumption around Idle Hour Behave Yourself would dutifully play his role of pacemaker and as dutifully fold up when the real racing began beganJockey Jockey Charlie Thompson a second stringer and Behave Yourself had other plans however In a furious battle the length of the quartermile homestretch Behave Yourself beat Black Servant a nod on the post This was surprising but none ¬ theless profitable for the myriad backers of the entry Col Bradley accepted the trophy with mixed emotions Time was to prove him right in his appraisal of his two colts for Black Servant distinguished him ¬ self against such as Grey Lag and from Kentucky to Canada while the other did nothing of particular moment momentBradleys Bradleys Derby fortunes wavered again in 1940 His Bimelech last son of Idle Hours foundation sire Black Toney had been undefeated at two the previous year when he included the Hopeful Belmont and Pimlico Futurities among his successes He was a prohibitive future book favorite and went into the Derby sfill unbeaten Two minutes and five seconds later an obscure animal called Gallahadion had stolen through along the rail with a stretch run and relegated him to second place Galla ¬ hadion promptly went into the limbo again and Bimelech went on to win the Preak ness and the Belmont Once again the best horse had finished second secondBlanket Blanket Finish of 1947 1947We We turn now to the 1949 Derby Almost everybody saw this one as a duel between the Trial winner Olympia and Greentrees Capot who had won the Chesapeake It was for the first mile Olympias head went into the air at that juncture and Capot went out to a daylight lead But the unexpected Ponder coming from far off the pace overhauled and passed him down near the finish Capot then administered Ponder two narrow but decisive beatings in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes Moreover he went out of his age division and dusted off Ponders vaunted stablemate Coaltown in the Sysonby and Pimlico Spe ¬ cial clearly demonstrating he was The Horse of the Year It was one of the most inconclusive of Derby results resultsAgain Again one remembers the threehorse blanket finish in 47 when Jet Pilot Fault ¬ less and Phalanx came to the line on terms as even as they had left the gate The front running Jet Pilot barely lasted long enough to repel Phalanx belated stretch rush It was devastating for favorite players who may have taken some solace from Iater events however Jet Pilot anticlimaxed his Continued on Page 48 D Derby Roster of Name Losers Very Imprsessive ImprsessiveNative Native Dancers Defeat in 1953 Probably Best Remembered of All AllContinued Continued from Page 47 D DLouisville Louisville form in the Preakness then van ¬ ished from public view Conversely Phalanx won the Belmont Stakes and was the ac ¬ knowledged leader of his generation generationThere There was also the Derby of 39 in which Challedon gave futile chase to Johnstown finishing second at quite a respectful dis ¬ tance then all but drowned the Belair colt in mud which prevailed for the Preakness Challedon was ineligible for the Belmont won by Johnstown but won the Classic Pimlico Special and Horse of the Year honors Somewhat similarly Hill Prince could only finish second to Middleground in the 50 Derby then reversed the result in the Preakness and Belmont and capered off with the seasons laurels laurelsPerhaps Perhaps it is of only too vivid memory and loyal Native Sons will object strenu ¬ ously but this writer fancies much the same sort of thing happened when Swaps beat Nashua in the Derby of 1955 Nashua went on to capture the Preakness Belmont Classic and Gold Cup taking the Horse of the Year citation That the Derby result was not conclusive was amply demon ¬ strated when Nashua gave Swaps a re jsounding thrashing in a match race at Washington Park He had simply concen ¬ trated on the wrong horse Summer Tan at Louisville and had permitted Swaps to breeze on the lead too long longSo So if the horse of your choice finishes second tomorrow do not feel too badly about it In the end you may be right
