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■ Judges Stand By Charles Hatton — Everything Depends on the Weather, Corum Races Appeal Defies Analysis, Duplication Downs Hangs Its Only Regret for All to See CHURCHILL DOWNS. Louisville. Ky.. May 1.— The. influx of Derby visitors now is at flood tide. All the usual auguries point to another festive concourse of more more than than 100,000 100,000 by by the the witch- ■ more more than than 100,000 100,000 by by the the witch- witching hour of 4:30 p. m. Saturday. Everything depends, as Col. Corum reflects dryly, on the weather. Though the countryside is a confection of springtime, the Ohio Valleys weather is notoriously casual about what it will do next. On occasion we have even seen several brands simultaneously, a phenomenon as familiar here as on the Doncaster Town Moor. Sudden Sudden squalls, squalls, bursting bursting over over the the Sudden Sudden squalls, squalls, bursting bursting over over the the surrounding "knobs," have transformed the Derby going from fast to muddy within minutes of post time. Earl Sande "was recalling only the other day the time Flying Ebony won. "I expected to ride King Nadi. a really good horse, in that one," the Hand Guy said. "But the track was dry, and he wanted mud. The Trox-lers would not get up the 00 to start him. I was. left without a mount. So I took one on Flying Ebony, a "fielder" who was supposed to be only a nice, sprinter. Ironically for King Nadis camp, a cloudburst hit the course on the post parade. And mud was Flying Ebonys leather. You know the rest." Conversely, there was the: incident of Kentucky Cardinal, in that same Derby, 1925. Frank Croissant had given "Mose Is Back" Sha-poff carte blanche to buy him the best Derby eligible available. He was delighted to obtain Desha Breckinridges Kentucky Cardinal for 5,000. Only to discover belatedly that he could not "mud." The day was grand, and Kentucky Cardinal was one of the "fancied" competitors, at .50 to . Then came the deluge and he was ninth. Atmosphere of Confidence Prevails The artistic Eddie -Arcaro and Ivan Parke were discussing Jewels Rewards chances in the event of wet going for the upcoming Derby. Naturally, and traditionally, everyone hopes for firm footing. But Parke concluded: "It shoujd not matter much to our chances, A soft track might even help, in the sense it would have less effect on Jewels Rewards chances than on some of the others." Pinky Browne, who is Plain Bens longtime ead lad, is confident Tim Tam can "run up a tin roof," if necessary. Calif ornians are as~supremel7 confident Silky Sullivan is amphibious. If you happen to believe that to entertain should be the thoroughbreds main endeavor, then this trenchant stretch runner belongs in a class by himself among these Derby horses. Concerning track "conditions, however; it is reassuring that the local meteorologists can foresee no occasion fof alarm sounding. ". The Downs revisited is always a sentimental journey for this wanderer, who cut his incisor teeth on CoL Winns classic, and was baptized in ink by the Courier-Journals great editor Marse Henry Wattersoh. The .Derbys allure is essentially a nostalgia, a conjunction of the past and present. Other races appeal is subject to analyses by avant garde experts in promotion, advertising public relations. It may be pin pointed and transmuted to mathematical terms on a slide rule. And it is thus possible to duplicate. Not so the Derby and its legend. For you see the Derby just grew. No egg head has yet discovered the square root of 83 years of juleps, bands, the finest horses, and how to abridge this. When we are away from this magnolia-and-old-lace citadel of southern hospitality and someone mentions the Derby we think of many things, all of them pleasant. Citation again overtakes Coaltown, Reigh Count again wins on three legs and a swinger,. Behave Yourself, "the wrong horse," beats out Col. Bradleys Black - Servant. We see again the little white cottage- of a clubhouse, with a broad porch full of white coated Uncle Toms serving ambrosial toddies. Old Rosebud breaking the record in the mud, and "the only Regret." Honor Lady Who Made the Derby An etching of Regret has pride of place on the wall of the capacious clubhouse lounge, which ;overlooks the paddock, and is a popular rendezvous of the sporting gentry these. May afternoons. Col. Matt Winn always told us Regret "made" the Derby a national event. This was in 1915. So far as we are concerned, H. P. ■Wliitneys blaze-faced, 16. hands chestnut was unrivaled among the mares we have seen, here or abroad. It would be foolish to call her superior, she was so much more than that. As the French would say, "elle est dune autre essence." the only one of her sex canonized In the turfs Hall of Fame. It is not only that Regret won the Derby from end to end in her first start of the year, and later in her career beat three other Derby winners; she loved to race, in the era "before Anslinger," when many rivals took false courage. She could be hauled out at any hour of the day or night and work faster than most horses can be induced to run. No workmates, not even blinkers, were necessary. She is above suspicion. Regret came by her singularity naturally. Her granddam Modesty won the first American Derby, with I Continued on Page Filtf-One | JUDGES STAND By CHARLES-HATTON Continued from Page Fire the cantle of Isaac Murphys saddle tilted skyward, "the colored Archer" had so much hold of her. Her great, great granddam Balloon is the "only horse who ever won an entire race meeting. This was at Lexingtons dismantled old association course. It was a four days meet, with stakes at a mile, 2-mlle, 3-mile and 4-mile heats. Ba-loon won them all! The family goes back to Maria West, dam of Wagner who appears in Iduns pedigree, conqueror of Gray Eagle in a match at a long since- forgotten course in what now is midtown Louisville. Shelby West used to; tell us how an ancestor, the owner of Maria West, brought her through Cumberland Gap from Virginia, hitched to the back of a schooner carrying his pioneer household and its effects. She became the ancestress of six Kentucky Derby winners. Derby history is like an old song, like "My Old Kentucky Home," which never goes out .of fashion, but becomes more mellow and delightful with the passing years. Turfana: Mrs, Graham is at Maine Chance; inspecting the new crop of foals, already numbering more than 30. Entertains high" hopes for Gun Shot as a sire. . . . Corum has self consciously remodelled the ramshackle Downs pressbox, with ersatz tile flooring, panelling or rare Japanese wood, "decora." the installation of a former C. and O. dining car waiter as the concierge. But it leaked in the recent cloudburst. So everybody felt "at home." Nothing changes Wag on the race bus said: "Even if Hartack could ride Tim Tarn with his leg in a plaster cast, he would have to cut off the other one to make the weight." . . . Tim Tarns two-year-old half-brother On and On, the apple of Plain Bens admiring eye, resembles no other Nasrullah. Male edition of his dam Two Lea, long bodied on short legs. . . . Col. Winn started a horse in the Derby once, or rather induced W. S. Kilmer to run Exterminator, when Sun Briar developed ringbones.
