New-York tribune., 1918-05-05
kentuckyDerby
Has Best Clas.
In Its FIistol,
Picking Winner Of NJ,
Sundays Classic Is s..
ceedingly Difficult

LOUISVILLE, May An San y.
and War Cloud, the former the h;s..
money winning thoroughbred a. q
age on the American turf last sea.o,
the latter winner of the $1,000 VT.
Stakes at Pimlico in Novembet -
colt the experts Of the East :.
picked as the likeliest of the two.s..'
olds of 1917 to distinguish hinsel,
distance runner-the forty-fop,..
Kentucky Derby has attracted a..
appear to be the most formidabl. :,
the foreign-bred -year-olds H..
will race on this side Of the Atl,,..
this season.
In Escoba, Exterminator, Free Cass.,
James T. Clark, Sewell Combs. Eye,,s
Aurum and one or two othera Il i.
drawn group Of the smartest An.s.
can-bred three-year-old colts that IN
race west of the Appalachian ditis.
With Rosie o'Grady. Atalanta, oea,
Sweep, Olive Wood, Plum and ",
America also among its eligibles
bids fair to bring to the post a filly i
the quality of Regret, which in is,tI
under the silks of Harry Payne Wiz
ney, of New York, upset the forty.rss,
tradition that winning a Kentnsi,
Derby was a task above the powefs i
any racer of the softer sex.
And since it is generally coness.s
that in the colts Sunbriar. Esens.s
Sewell Combs, Freecutter and M,
Cloud and in the fillies Atalanta, Ro.s
O'Grady, Enfilade, Olive Wood ~
Plum, and, possibly, one or two other
for there are many good fillies Il
Kentucky this spring and all Of th.r
are eligible-the forty-fourth DelS,
will attract field generally higher 4
regards class than any Of its predeee,.
sors ever drew. next Saturdays rsc,
has nothing of the look of a cut al
dried affair.
All Starters Ready
None of these horses seems to stsnd
out over its fellows. And every potsu.
tial starter is ready for the colon
The weather, all over the country has
been all the most exacting trainen
could have asked these ten or clever
weeks and no man with Derby horss
in his stable has neglected his oppor
tunities. One and all realized ionf
ago that it would be worse than useless
to send an unready horse to the post
this spring in Churchill Downs $i5aW
race.
Students of Derby form who remen.
Der Ben Ali and Blue Wing, Leonatus
and Drake Carter, Typhoon II and Or
nament, as we'll as the more recent
struggles between old Rosebud and
Hodge, George Smith and Star Hawt,
Omar Khayyam, Ticket, Midway and
Rickety are in unanimous agreement
that picking a winner from this lot i
going to be a difficult affair. If The
states were up no speculator Of knovt
edge and experience would accept |,
shorter price than to / for his mons,.
AS it is agreed that the field thsl
will take Part ~ this springs renewal
of the Derby surpasses as regards elsa
any Derby field of the past, it is equalJ
certain that the crowd that assemAa
at Churchill Downs next Saturday d
witness the race will be the biggesta1d
most representative gathering the Nev
Louisville Jockey Club will ever hsy,
been called on to entertain.
Derby Popularity Spreads
The popularity of the Derby hsa
steadily widened these fifteen OF
twenty years. In the last four or five
seasons it has come to be regarded Is
Americas great national turf event
To-day it bears the same relation h
racing in the United States that tie
derbies of EPSON and Newmarket have
for upward of a century borne 70 rae,
ing in Great Britain. In all parts Of
the country interest in its annual n
newals is keen.
From every point of the compass
north, south, east and west-loyers Of
the thoroughbred and of racing flock to
witness its running. There is only one
other American race of as great valus
the Preakness, which is run at Pin.
lico, and which. like the Derby, is .
gallop for three year-olds exclusively,
also is a $4,000 race.
Interest in the impending Derby y
keener than usual, perhaps because VI
the interscctiorai character Of ths
ownership of the most formidabie ct
its potential starters. There is some
thing peculiarly appealing in the 90
called struggles between the equine
representative of Eastern and West
ern racing stables, no matter what ths
nativity Of the competing horses nisy
be, and from the way things are shap.
ing up to-day it looks very much y
though Saturdays race will develop cus
of the most interesting battles betwees
East and West that will have been
witnessed at Churchill Downs in yess&