Evening star., 1949-10-06
Col. Matt J. Winn Dies at SO;
|mpresorio of Kentucky Derby
Churchill Downs
Operator Saw All
IS of Turf Classics
~ the Assoeioied Press

QaugnCerS, OtueI IeldClVcS uiio
several business associates were
at his bedside when he died.
Col. Winn's wife, the former
Mary Rosa Doyle of Louisville,
whom he married in 1888, two
daughters and a son preceded him
in death.
The surviving daughters are
Mrs. Olivia Hermann, Louisville;
Miss Clara Winn, and Mrs. Helen
Kirchberg, New York, and Mrs.
Carl Ellwanger, Chicago. All but
Mrs. Ellwanger were at his bedside
when he died.
Col. Winn was one OF the few
persons who had seen all Is OF
the Kentucky Derbies. He saw
the first one as boy of 13 and
last May he achieved his life's
ambition when he attended the
Diamond Jubilee of the Derby.
Two years ago Col. Winn be-
came critically i'll in Chicago. but
recovered and last Derby Day at
the Downs watched Ponder come
on to score a surprise triumph.
Funeral services will be held at
the Cathedral of the Assumption
here at 10 am. Saturday.
Col. Matt Winn ran no less than
a dozen tracks during his long and
colorful career. building some.
saving others. but 1t is the Ken
lucky Derby that immortalizes
him wherever horeSmen and horse
players foregather.
His genius for capitalizing on
bluegrass. mint juleps, beautiful
women and fast horses made the
Kentucky Derby as much house
hold word as the World Series.
It brought horse-racing for at
least one day of the year to every
hamlet in America, for the Derby
was more than a horse race, 1t was
a national pride and tradition.
The story of Matt Winn can
open at no more appropriate place
than Churchill Downs.
Saw Aristides Win.
He was boy Of 13, seated on
the tailboard of his fathers gro
Gerry wagon, when AristideS won the
first Derby in 1875. Little did he
realize on that summer day that,
q years later, he would take COM
mand of this track and in the
years to follow become the very
synonym of Kentucky Derby.
To his wide boys eyes, Churchill
Downs in 1875 must have been
wonderful. But the paltTy crowd
and the $3.50 Aristides won was
.meager indeed to the sol 800 won
by Ponder before a tremendous
audience.
Matt Winn was there, too, just
as he was IS years before. Friends
noticed time finally was sapping
his remarkable energy, but well
remembered were his ruddy
cheeks, twinkling blue eyes, white
hair, round face, tilted nose and
the erect bearing that marked his
latter years.
Still Counted House.
Col. Vim, still the house.
counting entrepreneur, looked
around the tightly packed stands,
spilling into almost every avail
able standing space, and esti-
mated that $4,000 people were
jammed into Churchill Downs
that day. Small matter then that
others estimated 100000 the
same capacity crowd that had at
tended for several years.
The Churchill Downs that Col.
Winn and associates bought in
1902 was white elephant that
had never made money in the %
years of it's existence. The Winn
touch began Strengthening that up
at once. From the first year he
began expanding the 285- -foot-long
stands until today they stretch
three-eighths of the way along the
mile track.
Col. Winn credited series of
three straight Derbies from 1913
to 1915 for supplying the public
appeal that put the race at the
forefront of all American classics
Gave Full Publicity.
If that was true, it was because
the colonel was alert enough to
fully publicize these events-Don-
erail's exciting $183.90 winning
price in 1918, Rosebud's record
breaking, eight-length triumph the
following year and Regrets vic
tory in 1915 to become the only
filly winner of the Derby.
Although it was annually the
first major trial of virtually un-
tested and unknown 3-year-olds,
the Derby became the race of the
year to thousands, many of whom
cheerfully or otherwise paid Louis
ville's boom-town hotel, restaurant
and taproom prices for little more
than a minute Of action.
BY 1922 Col. Winn was able to
raise the stakes to $4,000 added,
which doomed to $4,000 in 1910
and six years later hit 100000.
Had Other Ventures.