The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-05-09

nuires is a route, and the Pl shorter than the mile and g ql
 Rosemont, of the Foxcatcher Farms, and Black Helen, the little xiiiy from Col. Edward Riley Brad- iey.s Idle Hour Farm, are the only two which did not start in the Derby, that have the slightest chance of out-running Omaha in Che Preakness, provided, of course khat the long-iegged son of Gall lant Fox doesn't bump into hard tuck.
 Rosemont was a high-class E. year.Old and won in fine fashion in hia only start this year. Black Helen captured seven stake events before being beaten as a juvenile. { She decisiveiy defeated Roman Sol- dier, which ran second in the Ken- lucky Derby, in the Florida Derby.
 However, the great majority of racing men will be far wrong If Omaha doesn't take the Preakness and sweep everything before him in marching to the 3-year-old championship as did his illustrious sire.
 Omaha Must Have Company
 Like Gallant Fox, Omaha Is a loafer, which accounted for his pre- Derby reputation as a promiser which always would fall just a bit short. Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons used to work Gallant Fox in re- lays, Gallant Fox wouldn't pick lem up ad lay 'em down until an- other horse showed his nose in sight. Omaha has the same Idea in regard to racing. M
 Omaha won the Derby on the same kind of track and day that saw Gallant Fox prevail five years before.
 It was an off track at Louisville. The Churchill Downs course has a big clay content. It had rained just enough to moisten the track, leaving 1t in what racing men call a greasy condition. Flying hoofs slip just little on a greasy oval. That accounted for Gallant Fox's slow time of 2:07 3-5 and Omaha's comparatively slow 2:05.
 Twenty Grand holds the record for the Kentucky Derby, 2:01 4-5, recorded in 1881.
 Omaha had very poor 2-year- old. record. He scored only one victory-in a cheap allowance affair, yet in four or2five high-class seconds the awkward-running chestnut revealed flashes of even greater promise than Gallant Fox. It was in his juvenile year that Omaha gained the reputation of being a promiser which always would fall just a bit short.
 Fears Quickly Allayed
 Yet after the Wood Memorial, Willie (Smokey) Saunders, the 20-year-old Bozeman, Mont., boy who rides Omaha. says that his only worry in connection with the Derby was in getting his mount off.
 "Omaha had never gotten off so nicely before, so with the start I knew we were 1n' in the Derby" asserts the happy Saunders, who made his first ride at the Downs. ssOmaha is the best horse ever rode. reused him just once just . outside of the eight pole.
 "Omaha should have won the Wood Memorial even though he was knocked down and left in last place leaving the gate. He was running over horses at the windup to finish third by q nose"
 There was no occasion for Omaha to loaf in the Wood Memorial, but he nearly sloughed off his maiden effort at Jamacia this spring after coming from the ruck to take the lead. It wasn't until Special { Agent, of the Brookmeade Stable. i rushed up alongside of him that Omaha again swung into his long stride.
 Field Horses Beat Cracks
 Unless 1t was due to the greasy condition of the track, the Derby appeared too badly run to be accurate.
 There was Roman Soldier, a win- ter horse, second and extending { Omaha until the final strides, and Whiskolo, another winter per- former and mutuel field horse, showing ahead of Nellie Flag, the xavorite. Yes, . lilly carried the rnost money despite the fact that the sex had disappointed in the Derby for 20 years.
 Blaclkbirder, a field horse not long removed from the class of pIafers. finished fifth ahead of Psychic Bid, and the veteran Mack Garner, who rode Cavalcade a year ako, botted Morpluck. another field hprse, in seventh ahead of Plat E|ye.
 Mccarthy, victor in the Louisi- ana Derby and . field horse, ran ninth ahead of the well regarded Commonwealth and Sun Fairplay and Today, winner of the Wood and which c. V. Whitney pro- nbunced sound.
 Boxthorn, hope of Colonel Brad Icy and which carried the hard h6ots' money, finished 18th in 6 f5eld of IS in back of the field horses. whopper. Bluebeard, and ~ ANtk4GukAUs
 Boxtllorn was very much in the x1nning and evidently just galiop- i4E upu tos the mile.
 s1 h1yen's any excuses for him." z1ys Don Meade, who was aboard x0xfhorn and very angry as he changed his clothes. '.He may have x|eeded race. 1t was his first time o|nf. you know. but he just quit"
 Tho ahoWings of winter horses 1[xe1n proved that the Derby is run E hlk too eeriy to give true line 6n tI1s elars of 3-year-olds, yet 0m*ha convinced everybody. that il 41ill take e lot of running to IEecp fIiNl ifrpua sweening every <<i1E in the s-year-old line before
 xb red<headsd Smokey Saunders @tg& eItb only question of get {&o<' him olk and soinG for a.ride."