Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-07
WIN, LOSE OR
DKAW By FRANCIS srANN
This in the Immediate Wake

LOUISVILLE MAY 7.-As is customary after matters Of
conquest and failure the claims and counercams in con-
the Kentucky Derby extravagant For ex-
ample there Col Bill Corums wet party and Hugh Fon-
tane trainer of the victorious Needles discovered himself in
great pain as he made pronouncement Needles, he
ntoned, lis better colt than Nashua was last year"
Most reactions toward the first Florida-bred to win
Kentuckys halowed favorable although more re-
strained than Fonanes In it was agreed that
superior colt probably has good chance to
the Preakness and Belmont-whch means the Triple
Crown-as any years Certainly it is with
respect that Needles winning Ponder u949
grandson of the ditto Pensve 944 is being regarded
He now has beaten every 3yearod of any stature and
the Derby he did spectaculary with his ouof-
running that for winner he received minimum
mentions from the callers Needles in manner
so like his daddy that it was eerie.
DESPITE NEEDLES WINS in the Flamingo and Florida
Derby entirely sold himself the solid colt of
some evidence trainer from Tennessee named Ode Clel
land had vowed all during Derby week that he would scratch
his outsider Come On Red rather than expose him to any
such luxury a fast track.
Comes muddy or sop I'll rum" he drawed. IF it be
fast or good keep my colt in the barn"
it turned out. Churchill Downs fast as it'll
be and Come On Reds stable parted with the final
$3.50 necessary for complete eligibility
Astonishingly, perhaps Come On Red got third money
purse $l25OO He went off at 20 to l. but this
only because he included in field of -four horses BY
himself Come Red probably might have been 100 to L.
AL Popara his rider put in the jockey ROOM They
tell me this thing only mud But after mile there's
only FabuS and No Regrets ahead OF So said to myself
"'A you can take it ALL Then in the stretch heard
swooshng noise and knew it Needles So this time said
to myself AL old boy better concentrate on finishing third
DEPENDING UPON THE viewpoint, of course, the fact
that money might have been submitted evidence
that people had yet placed Needles pedestal They
socked record s436O232 into the muue machines good
deal of it invested in hopes of knocking off the favore
better than fair chance, now, of becoming
very weknown horse, televson personality to rival
recommendation but aside from this Needles uncommony
handsome Like Rocky Marcano, he doesn't look imposing
dressed other than action But in silks he is
one to remember.
A bay colt he is so handsomely dainty to have a
show ribbon Additionally he is sort of do-it-yoursef
Saturday he hadn't competed since March
"a In all the weeks intervening, Needles had reluctantly
agreed to leave his barn only nine times.
he put of his heart into workouts Of
hve-eghths of mile The rest, up to the Derby distance,
Needles condescended only to galop.
HUGH FoNTAINE, THE gnarled man who is credited
with being the Souths first World War flying and one
has known hard times in racing, too resen the dot
yourself" tag Fonaine rebuttaland pretty hard to dis
approves that Ne dies hasn't been unpaced since July
1855 And that in 5l2-furlong, race
Whether greatness is to be bestowed upon Needles re-
be Much has been made of his coming from
next-o-last win Erb rider first estimated that
Needles made up Is lengths after going into the far turn
Later he ammended that might have been 10 20 lengths
Checkers watches pretty nfaibe The magic
which trace horse from break finish disclose that Needles
wasn't too much of ball of fire. although lucky to get racing
But he going faster than any other including
Calumets Fabius.
SADDEST OF ALL who departed from Louisville the
DelawareNew York contingent The oratory Of Donald Ross
Bryan Field embraced by greedy seeking long
shot and so a lot of money was put on Countermand.
The colt had raced we'll in the Derby Trial five days
earlier 1t felt and needed only extra distance to show
such Fabus.
What developed was that Countermand wound up 18th
In field of H. He nothing although bruised foot may
have been big factor The official chart bruSquely COM
mented: "Countermand could not keep up"
In the Jockeys Arnold Kirkland the rider uttered
statement which may take long time to live down. Aboard
dead-ast horse, Kirkland bandly acknowledged:
HE Countermand hard TO handle the turns
Otherwise, he ran a good race"