Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-01


and Rey del Carreras were-and that's Eddie
van Kuren, now of the most reliable clock
ers watching the workouts at Belmont Park
He was stable jockey at that time, and
rode both of these colts, as well others in
the Baldwin Stable
Eight years after Rey del Santa Anita's
Derby tried to win it again with Abe Frank
a colt which had disappointed me in the Ken
lucky Derby. peculiar thing happened in
connection with that American Derby Three
stables each had two colts in the race. John A.
Drake had RunnelS, which was first faVorite
and wyeth; Sam Hildreth had McChesney
which second choice. and Lucien Appleby;
and besides Abe Frank, the third choice, George
C. Bennett had Aladdin.
Not one of the favorites finished in the
money, but the second string of these three
stables ran one, two, three in the order Of their
favoritism-Wyeth, first Lucien Appleby, sec
0nd and Aladdin, third
Sun Briar which trained for W. S. Kilmer
was a tremendously fast horse over mile. As
q 3-year-old, at Saratoga in 1918 in the Della
ware Handicap, he made a new American rec
ord over that distance of 1886 is in a gallop,
and in the following year, in the same race, was
beaten only head in the same time by Gn-
ford Cochran's good but cratic mare Fairy
Wand carrying 1913 pounds to her lot.
This record has since been lowered by Cherry
Pie at Belmont Park when Mrs. whitney's
horse ran the mile in IS Us to beat Prince
OF Umbria. Sun Briar still holds the mile
and-a-furlong record. which he made a year
later when he won the Champion Handicap at
Saratoga in $50
After Sun Briar had won the Travers
Stakes, in which he beat Johren and War
Cloud, it was decided to keep him in Saratoga
and not run him in the Lawrence Realization
Stakes at Belmont Park His owner wanted to
see Just how fast Sun Briar could run a mile.
Andrew Miller's great little gelding Roamer
had run mile against time in "a As during
the meeting which had just closed, and Mr..
Kilmer was anxious to better this record.
So I was instructed to have Sun Briar ready
to do his best. On September IL, 10 days
after the meeting closed we brought Sun Briar
out on the Saratoga track. We couldn't get
the services of an official timer, as the season
had closed, but there was more than enough
men present who knew how to split sec
Ond watch.
The day was fine, the atmosphere good and
the track was in perfect condition. There must
have been at least 800 persons present, and
four or five of them had their watches ready.
Stepping off like a quarter horse, Sun Briar
reeled off the furlongs after another at
undiminished speed and finished down the
stretch as fast he had begun.
1 snapped my watch on him as he flew past
the winning post and, to my amazement and
delight, it registered "a fiat. check-up
with others showed that this was correct,
though in few cases their watches made 1t
1874 Is
mat was the laSIeSL nile I've ever tA1tlcu
It was a great effort by mighty fast horse.
This was the horse we had withdrawn from
the Kentucky Derby of 1913 which we had
with Exterminator at Unexpectedly long
odds In the excitement following Extermi-
nator's victory little thing happened which
gave us all laugh at the time.
livery one, every race course in America
- and Canada knows w. A. Porter, who
has been associated with me for the last Is
years They know him as Billy Porter, but
to me he is just plain Bill"
Making a rush down to the judges stand
after the finish of Exterminator's race, BILL"
powed through one of Col Matt WINS
fancy flower beds which adorn the infield at
Churchill Downs. 1t was a very wet day
and it didn't require a red Indian to follow
Bills tracks. He had cut up the flower bed
to a considerable extent
The adornment of the infield is pet hobby
with the Churchill Downs management,
when one of the groundkeepers saw the ruin
he aghaSt.
THE fellow who did this ought to be hned
$1OO!" he exclaimed.
II wonder If Winn would put up a re
ward remarked an onlooker. Because If
he would I'd walk right off with it. Nobody
but a man with Billy Porter's feet could have
left that trail
The year after Exterminator had won we
had another try for the Derby with colt
called Frogtown. He just didn't have class
enough for that kind of race, but / man
aged to find spot two months later at the
Empire track when told Mr.. Kilmer I
thought he was sure to win.
At the last moment stuck for a
rider. We had engaged Fator, but John
Boden, who had previous claim on him,
decided to start his horse, and this took Fator
from us When told Kilmer Of our trouble
he few off the handle, declared it would be
better not TO start the colt and that he would
go home and not wait for the race.
This didn't suit me at all, as I thought
Frogtown could win. The horse was at top
form and the opposition not too strong. 1