Characteristics of Kentucky Derby Candidates, Daily Racing Form, 1910-05-08

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CHARACTERISTICS OF KENTUCKY DERBY CANDIDATES , j . , , . j Louisville. Ky.. May 7. — There yet remain but three days before the Kentucky Derby of 1910 passes into turf history. What the Derby at Kpsoni Downs is to Kjigland. the Melbourne Cup to Australia and the Jrand Prix de Paris to the French turf, the Derby at Churchill Downs is this season in America. The few old-timers of the turf that ale left point back with pride to the days when they witnessed Orey Kagle and Wagner battle for supremacy. Those of later days recall the famous contest Is-tween Longfellow and Harry Bassett. It is not improbable that Ibis years contest may stand out in future witli tin- gn at Dcrbys of other days. The management of the New Louisville Jockey Club has done all in its ptatf to make this rear** Derby notable. It has provided a free field where the most humble citizen can see the race and cheer the victor lionie with the same enthusiasm as the man of millions on the clubhouse veranda. Net only has the New 1-oiiisvillo Jockey Club done everything possible to make this event this season the biggest of the racing year, but the city as well will add its measure to its success, for on that day a half holiday will prevail in all public ofiiccs ami most business bouses. As far as tlie actual race is concerned, there has never been a Derby run on American soil which has oeca-ioned more talk, or been regarded with si much uncertainty as Tuesdays coming event. Foi the last few weeks, though the public has always f.-vored Waldo as its favorite, he nor no at her ham in the race has stood out alone. Perhaps no field of horses ever brought together in this country has been so closely watched as have the Derby candidates of P.llO. Not only has their every move been uoted. but keen interest lias develo|M-d in the other details. For instance, even the measurements of the prohjhh ■tarteta have been noted, and inquiries have been made of the trainers of Ihe actual weight of fartaw horses engaged in the race. Waldo, the favorite, stauds close to fifteen hands three inches high, and weighs right at 1.0PO pounds. In color he is rather a light bay. which predominates lo a great extent in horses permeated with Iexingtou Mead. He is rather a bnlkiiy shaped colt, with great depth through the heart, and with the forearm as muscular as the tight arm of a pugilist. He has a clean set of legs and a line bony head of much intelligence. His neck is a little on the feminine order, a defect that age many times remedies. In all his trials at Churchill Downs this spring Waldo has not shown a disposition to do all that is in him unless paced by a mad horse. The Kuglish call this ••cutting it." Many astute trainers claim that this is an infallible sign of a great race horse. Waldo is very much in this respect like Kinley Mack. If litis as good as that noted horse, then the Derby is oxer, as Kinley Mack still stands on record as Ihe only horse that ever won both tbe Brooklyn and Suburban Handicaps. Trainer Raleigh Colston, who has had an experience of thirty-five years, contends that Waldo is a road work horse, but admits that the Derby winter favorite runs better with a horse at bis side. Colston says Waldo is a fast horse as well as a good stayer, and he has all along maintained that he could ask the rait for no better exhlUtloa than he has eaaara in his work, and that that work is good enough to win the Derby. Standing in the center of the field on Sunday last, when Waldo worked his Derby trial in 2:11. were several trainers of Jong experience. They are of the kind who play no favorites on the race tracks, but form their judgment from what they actually see. For the l enefit of those who do not look upon the Derby as Waldos inheritance, if is onlv justice to re|M rt that these good judges did not like the colts work. They did not say that he exactly writ or shut up. terms often used on the track, but they intimated that he went the liual half mile like a coif that was not much in love with a race over a considerable distance of ground. One trainer, who handled in days past Fn-elaud. without doubt one of the greatest of all American racers, said that a good horse should have worked a mile that day at Churchill Downs in 1:40. and the Derby route not far from the record of the race. He. as well as others, intimated that at least for a mile they expected more than Waldo had shown, and the colts lather groggy appearance at the finish was also opposite to what they were led to expect from his high reputation. There is no denying that aatefla Waldo in another trial on the eve of the big race shows a better performance than he did on Sunday last, the wise owls of the track will so»k another spot in which to pick the coining Derby winner, and it will be his loyal adherents and ihe public that will bach the Harrison colt. UjMH public form, viewing his two victories at Lexington, the last in tlie Camden Handicap. William Cersts Donau is crowding Waldo for tin- honors of favoritism. Donau is certainly a remarkable colt, considering what he went through as a two-year-old. Forty-one times he faced the starters barrier, and was on his feet, it m-jy lie said, a.11 year. Horsemen were surprised at Donaus appearance when brought to this track from his winter quarters in Tennessee. lb- had grown and spread out amazingly and seemed a Hercules. He is in color aliout the MM as Waldo, perhaps a shade darker, much en tbe Hindoo type of horse, with lots of length and leverage. He weighed something like 1.0M noaadf when put on the scales. He is a £ree-nmi.ing horse, though in all his trials this spring lie was either Miced bv Hatibridge or some other good horse in the lerst stable. It is reported that be had worked a mile around 1:41 at Nashville before being brought here. At the local track he failed to show anvlhing like the speed he exhibited In bis recent races at , Iy»-xington. Trainers here have always contended he was the fittest horse handled at tUntrchlll Downs this spring, and was really almost up to a race when trainer ieorge Dam shipped him here from Tennessee. A good many of the races that he ran la-t year would have l een victories hud he met his op|M ■Cats at anything like even weights, but in spite of the fact of Immiii; up against it on so many occasions. he still made the marvelous record of winning fifteen times as a two-year-old. and ran unplaced only six ■ times out of his forty-one starts. I Indian resembles on the track a horse that came here from Tennessee many years ago — the great I rd Murphy-atid that horse has gone down in his- tory as the only colt that ever heat Falsetto. Fighting Bob. Mother of the eligilJes. bears a marked resemblance to his celebrated near relative. Henry of Navarre. He is colored tlie same as An- t gust Belmonts great horse, being a rich chestnut. Itorderiug rather on the dark as he sheds. In height be stands a shade under Donau. bur right up to I Waldo. He is on the lengthy order, and surprised ] trainers greatly this spring by training up instead of down. His conformation rather sugsrests a bores that would grow thin in severe preparation. At I that, lioth lVmau and Waldo will outweigh bni. I but neither in bis stride covers quite jis much I ground. His trials for the Derbv at tlie Downs are I as good, track conditions considered, as any colt trained here in recent years. He may be just the opposite to Waldo—a good work horse but deficient as a track performer. This, of course, remains to be demonstrated. Captain J. T. Williams says that Fighting Bob reminds him not a little of Joe Cotton, with which he won the Ifc-rby here in IMS. It Is probable n It ever started in the big race here I that will have quite as much promiscuous backing t .-•- this son of Knight of Kllerslie. Aiming all the I shrewdest trainers at ihe track II matters not what i any other lsirse may do publicly or privately before i the bij: race, they will liuve a "stiver" oa lighting . , ■ I t I ] I I I I Bob i ven though they bet their roll on some other From the farm which has given the turf a Dick Helb-s and an Ort Wells comes to wear colors in the coming Derby Joe .Morris, the pride of the blue grass region. J ie Morris ranked well as a two-year-obi He holds the track record at "Churchill Downs for four and one-half furlongs in ." 2*. and he came right -.long after that and won the Bashford Manor Stakes. He is a son of Peep oDay. a horse that was an honest racer in the colors of James R. Keene. Tliere are a great many who even fancy Joe Morris on his si.. .wing so far this season frotii the fact that he has pt -formed better in public than I he has in private. To those who follow public form I strictly this is a strong recommendation, and it is j safe to haaard that this good colt wilt l e backed on , Derby day. Joe Morris is a bav in eater, but rather on the dark order. Iiordering on brown. He shows a great ileal of the Kuglish type. Is a hlocky colt, and I in height just a shade under size, but he makes ; up for this in his good coupling and superb back, which indicates good weight carrying ability. He . lias a bounding action, a peculiarity noticeable in , many speedy horses. Rosolicn for instance. A great many fancy this style of going in a colt more than they do one of sweeping stride. It is perhaps not so , wearing on thr- colt, especially on a hard track. Joe . Morris has many friends also for the big race on account of tlie skill of his trainer. Jack Baker, who 1 annually conies to the big meetings with very few horses but who always wins many races. His owner is a wealthy banker of Ceorgetown, Ky.. and his success would be popular locally. I-ouisville is represented by two probable starters ; in the Derby race this year, and one has shown promisingly. This is Topland, in the stable of C. C. Van Meter. This rangy bay colt last Monday at Lexington was timed tlie first mile in 1:40 in a race in which the track record at I-xington was broken for a mile and twenty yards. It is also to be noted that while he was defeated it was by an older horse, and what other three-year-olds that ran in the race ; finished far behind. In his work in preparation for the big race over the Dow us course, with but one exception, no horse has done more satisfactory performances than Topland. He has gone aiwut his business unassisted by any pacemaker, worked over indifferent as well as good courses and finished all his trials running his ls-at at the end. He is a colt of fine action, a pood rater and game to tbe core, lie is a bay in color and of a physique that stands a lot of work without getting low in tlesh. He hears a resemblance to a horse that won the Derby many years ago— Ihe miglily Vagrant, victor over the great Parole. The other Louisville candidate is George J. Longs Relluf. J. N. Camdens peculiarly named Boola Boola Is i the largest of the Derby candidates in size. If some of Ids opponents get on the off-side of this leviathan colt in the running of the Derby, their admirers will be fortunate in seeing them in the race at all. Boola Boola is a seal brown, breeding back to the Australian line of horses, the sire of his dam. Midlothian. He is a long-striding colt, which makes him a rather poor heytaan In his races and be is credited witli preferring to rate alo:ig rather than to be carried at a high rate of speed. Like Joe Mofris. his trials for the big race have not been so Hashing as his public performances, and this will also gain for him strong backing Derby day. He is also the sou id a Derby winner, but some of the critics do not bank much on this, as in the long history of the race but one Derby winner has sired a later winner of the race, that being Halnia. which ill after years sent Allan-a-Dale to the post. Ben Brush, Boola Boolas sire, has gotten two types of great horses. Broomstick is one. Broomstick is a miniature type of horse, while on the other hand. Delhi, also a son of Ben Brush, is built on heroic lines. Boola Boola is of tbe Delhi type and those who recall the brilliant victories of this great -"i.t 40 winner have the more respect for J. N. Camdeus Derby nominee. John Furlong, the most promising maiden in the race, is a Longfellow type of colt about fifteen hands three inches in height and colored like the famous tribe to which he belongs. His stable has all spring been "sweet" on Ids Derby chances. Never will old-timers forget the remarkable races John Furlongs sire, the mighty Wadsworth. ran as a three-year-old, trained by "Ohio James" Murphy, who titled J. B. Haggins only Kentucky Derby winner. Ben Ali. which won the event in LSKti. and beat the great Blue Wing with Harrison on his back. J. R. Waiuwrights lallant Pirate is a sightly colt of alee action, plenty of size and substance anil of the wear and tear order of horses so prevalent ill the get of his sire. Pirate of Penzance. The appearance of Woodford and lizers Kyc White dare not phase the critics. He is on the small order and is not one that the expert would pick out as a good weight carrier. Trainer W. II. Fizer. however, thinks well of the son of Yankee. E. R. Bradleys Colinet is good enough looking to win the Derby, as are most of the get of his remarkable sire. Star Shoot. He has plenty of size, a nice war of going and is all in all a very handsome bay colt. W. II. Fizers Bis-a Qnade may or may not start in the Derby. He is a beautiful bav in color with the action of a jack rabbit and. while he has not grown as much as a three-year-old as some would like, still he is a colt of good size. His two defeat- in Florida have lost him a lot of friends in the last month, but others go back and cannot forget his long string of straight victories. Lexington. Ky.. May 7. — A quartet of Kentucky Derby candidates worked a mile and a quarter each aver the local track this morning, as follows: Horse. 14 12 3-4 Mile. 1 1-4 tee Morris 26 51 1:10- 1:4.1* 2:0"Ji Donau 24*. 4!i* 1:M 1 :4: !t 2:10 John lurlong 24* 4*i t:l.i* l:42i 2:lo BMh Boola 2.i; Tyiti 1:17 1:44 2:12 F.oula Boola and John Furlong worked about five oclock when the track was je.st getting soft and while it was cold and with a strong wind blowing. Joe Moiris worked at seven oclock and Donau at eight oclock when the track was getting sloppv under the rain. All of .these horses worked well within themselves. Donau was paced the first three quarters by Sureget and the last half by Minot. The others worked without pacemakers. Donau was tint on a car at noon and shipped to Louisville. The other three will go tomorrow morning on a special ri iu of ten cars. Herbert will ride Donau in the Derby; T. Rice will have the mount on Boola Boola; tianz will probably ride John Furlong and it is likely thai Molesworth will have the mount on Joe Morris though this has not been detinitelv settled. George Ham said this afternoon i aits work was entirely satisfactory and I feel secure in the belief that he will be returned tin- winner of the big prize Tuesday." Trainers Baker. Keene and Crater were likewise well satisfied with the final trials of their charges.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1910050801/drf1910050801_1_3
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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800