The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-05-07
THE KENTUCKY DERBY.
Ben Brush Captures the Great
Equine Prize,
BUT BEN BDBR SHOULD HAVE WON.


The Bad Riding of the Latter's Jockey
Alone Prevented the Fonso Colt from
Coming in First-As 1t Was lie was
Very Close Second.
LOUISVILLE, May ITO Willie Simms,
rather than Ben Brush, belongs the credit
of victory in the twenty-second kentucky
derby. The great son of Bramble was not
fit for a bruising race, such as he had, but
under the careful guidance of Simms he
landed the coveted prize and the first Ken
lucky derby ever run at the shortened dis
tance of a mile and quarter All the
honor and the s., 900 which went TO Ben
Brush properly belonged to Ben Eder and
had 1t not boen for the stable boy who es-
sayed to pilot Ben Elder there would have
been several lengths of daylight between
Ben Brush and the colt which should have
showed the way under the wire.
For the first time in the history of the
course there was no free field, but in the
stand, in the betting ring and on the lawn
1t was solid mass Of humanity. Every
place of vantage was occupied, and even
then there were hundreds who only got
a glimpse of the bright colored jackets as
the crack 3-year-olds Of the country raced
for the glories of the Kentucky derby.
From one end to the other of the betting
ring men were crowded, jostled and fairly
fought their way through the throng to
the man on the block. But every one of
the nineteen bool1ies had more than they
could do to accommodate the people, and
when the flag finally went down thou
sands of uplifted hands were still waving
greenbacks in their futile efforts to place
it, Aside from Ben Brush, probably the
heaviest play was made on Ben Elder, for
he opened at 10 to l, and when the books
were finally closed he had been backed
down to half
When the flag went down Starter Chinn
had the horses well in hand, with Ben
Elder having the advantage of neck, The
Winner second First Mate third, The
Dragon fourth, Parson fifth, Ulysses sixth,
Ben Brush seventh and Semper Ego last.
When the stand was passed for the first
time Thorpe was showing the way on
First Mate by half length from Semper
Ego, who was neck in fronJ of Ben
Eder with Ben Brush nose behind him,
and the others close up.
Thorpe seemed determined to make a
runaway race of It, and in going around
the turn the first time he let First Mate
have his head until two lengths separated
him from The Winner, with Semper Ego,
Ben Brush, The Dragon, Parson, Ben
Elder and Ulysses following in the order
named. 1t was In going down tho back
stretch that Tabor, who is but littlo better
than stable boy, committed the error
that cost the Hot Springs stable So, 600
From safe position he had pulled the
colt back In sevanth place at the first half
mile. In this position he raced down the
back stretch, making no attempt TO come
through the field until they had turned
into the stretch. First Mate continued to
show the way, and when the first mile was
finished he had AN advantage of half a
length, Simm5 having moved Ben Brush
up to second place, with Semper Ego still
third The Winner fourth, The Dragon
fifth and Parson sixth, followed by Ben
Eder and Ulysses.
Simms began riding on the last turn,
and when they were Strengthened for the
final run he was leading by neck from
Ben Elder, whom Tabor had brought up
from next to last in half furlong of
the journey. First Mate was third Sem
per Ego fourth, the Dragon fifth and the
remaining three strung out. ben Brush
wins" went up from thousand throats
almost simultaneously, as Willie Simms,
inch by inch, increased his lead to the
eighth.
But there was another horse in the race
who, despite the poor riding of his jockey,
| promised the son of Bramble the race of
his life. Ben Brush did not havo much
| left, but Simms was getting what little
that did remain out of him, while Ben
Elder, with even, steady stride, was gain
ing on the colt. For the last sixteenth of
the journey a prettier battle of equines
was never witnessed. Simms, by his
good work, kept Ben Brush in front by a
scant nose, while Tabor, apparently un-
conscious that he was in a horse race, sat
idly on Ben Eder and saw the Fonso colt
lose race that properly belonged to him.
"lt's dead heat" came from the crowd
around the judges stand as the horses
shot under the wire five lengths ahead OF
Semper Ego, who was five lengths from
First Mate, the same distance separating
The Dragon The Winner was sixth,
Parsons seventh and Ulysses eighth
The judges seemed a little uncertain
themselves, but after wait of minute
they hung out the numbers which made
Ben Brush the victor and Ben Elder Sec
ond. Time, 207s4.