Evening star., 1943-05-02
Fdvorite al Is
Ga||ops 10 Win
By ; Lengths
Blue Swords Second
Slide Rule Is Next;
Wave Misses Race
Continued From Page Al.

Wave Misses Race
Continued From Page A-1.)
Count Fleet paid his hackers 81 80
to win, $240 to place and 1920 to
show for a 50 ticket. Blue Swords
paid s34O and $500. Slide Rule
paid $500.
Certainly. there have been no
Derbies which have had any more
trouble or hurdles to jump. A few
months ago. there was a brief time
when it looked as if there would
be no Derby at all. Then Col. Winn,
the promotional patriarch of the
Downs, got his back up" and
pledged himself to run his Derby
as a "street-car" affair, with only
the neighbors and their children
from Greater Louisville sitting in.
Count Takes Lead Early.
To the best of his ability, he did
just that. OF course, there were
some outsiders who came to the
party today, but mostly it was
crowd that travelled on jam packed
streetcars, on A cards and afoot.
Still, the Downs infield although
lar from being the sardine can of
other years, was full up with milling
crowds throughout the entire stretch
fronting the grandstand. The stands
were packed as were the lawns at
either end of the long, greenland
white board stands.
The folks saw quite a horse in
the Fleet, colt which already is
being tabled as "the greatest since
Man O. War and considerably more
than Just a chip off the old block"
OF his daddy, Reign Count, who
stopped through the mud to victory
In the 1928 Derby.
He broke up with the leaders to-
day. played with them until thev
rounded the clubhouse turn. then
said so long, pals and went away.
Only once in the last three quarters
OF mile Of this mile-and-a QUAR-
ter journey along what has been
called "Heartbreak highway"-so
tough is ibid any other colt pull
up to threaten. This was as they
headed into the stretch turn, three
eighths of a mile from home.
Blue Swords Threat Mild.
Blue Swords pulled up to the
Counts long, slim quarters. But
little Johnny Longden, the 'front.'
riding veteran from Wakefield, Eng
land, just clucked, Lets 60, SON."
to the Count-and that was the
end of it.
The chart says he won "handily"
and II was even easier than that
for the last eighth of a mile. He
just coasted to the wire and the re-
suit was he was clocked in only 2
minutes 4 seconds-slow time for a
colt who last fall set world rec
ord of 1:34+5 for a mile for a 2
year-old colt.
AS matter OF fact, the entire
horse race followed form almost to
the finish. With Ocean Wave sit
ting this one out, Blue Swords was
expected to run second; Slide Rule
was more or less regarded as
shoo-in for third and Amber Light
was expected to finish fourth.
Gold Shower, bred and owned by
MIS-. Vera S. Bragg of Greenwich,
Conn, had been looked upon as a
money" possibility because of his
high speed. But the Showers
breeding-his daddy was the sprint
er Jean Valjean-caught up with
him early and he faded badly after
giving the Count a run for it
around the first turn. He finally
finished eighth.
Bankrupt Closes Fast.
Townsend B. Martins Bankrupt,
one OF the two New York-owned
gallopers in the field of 10, came
alcng in hurry the final few yards
to wind up fifth, trailed in order
by No Wrinkles, the hope of Mrs.
Ethel V. Mars of Chicago-who
owned Gallahadion-for her sec
ond Derby triumph; Dove Pie, sur
prise entry from the barn of ].
Warfield Rodgers of Memphis.
Tenn; Gold Shower, Modest Lad,
| carrying the colors of Mrs. Henry
L. Finch, wife of a New York stock
broker, and finally Burnt Cork.
which ran far worse than any of
the gags his comedian-owner ever
pulled over the ether.
For Count Fleets entire family"
from his daddy right down to
Jockey Longden-the triumph eli
NAKED long hard road.
His trainer, G. Don Cameron. one
time University of California 900
yard dash man, had spent a string
OF sleepless nights since the Count
was caught in a scramble coming
out of the starting gate in the
Wood Memorial two weeks ago at
Jamaica and had his left hind foot
gashed badly.
There was no trace of the injury
today as the tall, rangy brown
lightning streak-a freak" horse
until he turns loose his effortless
speed-packed the heavy 126-pound
Derby load and went to town.
For Jockey Longden, it ended a
string of Derby failures stretching
(See DERBY, Page CD