Kentucky Derby

“ There is a roar from the crowded grand stand, and the twenty-third Kentucky Derby is begun.
“What all careful watchers of the turf expected comes to pass. Typhoon sweeps to the front, with the others after him. Garner with admirable judgment swings the big chestnut toward the dry middle of the track as they round into the stretch. Goshen and Ben Brown are lapped on him, lying toward the rail, but on good going. ”

“ It was after five o’clock when the bugle called the horses to the post for the Derby, in which a big surprise was in store for the spectators. Every inch of space in clubhouse and grandstand was taken, while a solid mass of humanity lined the lawns a quarter of a mile long, extending from clubhouse to the quarter pole, almost to the head of the homestretch. The procession of eight sleek thoroughbreds, trained to the minute, led by the outrider on a gray horse, garbed in a fiery jacket, made an imposing picture. ”

“ Worth, the favorite, won the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs this afternoon, just beating a heavy rainstorm, and by so doing saving the day for the moving-picture operators. The Kentucky Derby of 1912, the thirty-eighth renewal of the classic stake event, went to the horse which nine out of every ten horsemen and turf patrons conceded to have the race at his mercy. He did not win as easily as many expected, but he won, just lasting long enough to get the money and the honor from a dark horse. ”

“ The Derby was a true run race and the best horse won and as the English say, that any horse that makes his own pace at a mile or over from the drop of the flag to the finish must certainly be the best horse. It was Alan-a-Dale all through the race. The crowd yelled and cheered itself hoarse even those who bet and lost on other horses in the race, joined in the cheering. ”

“ The eighteenth Kentucky Derby was run in the cold. The weather did not check the crowd, and fully 10,000 people watched the race from the grand stand and free field and cheered Azra and Huron as they passed under the wire. It takes more than bad weather to dampen the enthusiasm over the Kentucky Derby, [Pg 50] and only a positive assurance of poor racing will lessen the crowd. ”

“ Every year the interest in the Kentucky Derby increases, and the desire to win also increases with breeders and owners, until it is looked upon as a mark of merit for the colt who is fortunate enough to bear off the Blue Ribbon of the Turf. More interest clusters in and about this race than any other of the year in America, and we have heard a number of prominent breeders and turfmen say that they would rather win the Kentucky Derby than any two events upon the American turf. ”

“ A record Derby in more ways than one was this year’s Louisville’s big racing attraction. Never was there such a crowd, the dimensions of which reminded me of Epsom and of Flemington. A vast surging mass of racing enthusiasts, which, prior to the running of the big race, were to be found eagerly discussing the merits or demerits of the Derby contestants and afterwards the whys and wherefores of the success of one and the failure of others. ”

“ Regret, a chestnut daughter of Broomstick—Jersey Lightning, to-day overcame tradition that has withstood since Aristides, the “little red horse,” triumphed in the inaugural running of the Blue Grass State classic in the spring of 1875, and gained for her owner, Harry Payne Whitney, the Eastern sportsman, the sum of $11,450 and what is infinitely more to him the honor of winning The Kentucky Derby. ”

“ This was the kind of an audience that witnessed the nineteenth renewal of the Kentucky Derby. The event itself might be regarded as somewhat of a disappointment, in the fact that the winner so far out-classed his field that he had too easy a thing of it. With Lookout eliminated, the contest between Plutus, Boundless and Buck McCann was a stubborn one, and not until very near the wire was the issue settled, as to who would get second place. There was no trouble about who would get first place; that was settled shortly after the flag fell. ”

“ Eder cut a hair at Nashville his trainer knew he was ready and that in the Kentucky Derby Ben Eder would race the race of his life. And he did. He will never run a better one, perhaps, while Ben Brush will. ”

“ Regret, the scion of illustrious thoroughbreds, achieved an easy victory, and, while she may not be the greatest horse that ever won the Derby, the daughter of Broomstick and the granddaughter of Ben Brush furnished a spectacle for more than 40,000 persons at Churchill Downs that will not soon be forgotten. ”

“ The Derby of 1894 had not about it quite that glamour and fascination that has characterized several former contests for this event perhaps because there was no horse in it of particularly high-class, and of such individual prominence as to attract and absorb public attention for weeks prior to the race, which reaches the public thru the medium of the press. Horses are something like men in that some of them possess a kind of magnetism that draws around them a coterie of admirers, who become as much infatuated with him as does the most ardent admirers of a political leader. ”

“ George Smith, the winner of the forty-second renewal of the historic and classic Kentucky Derby, is a superbly made black colt of average good size and much quality, with a superior way of going. He is very sightly in appearance and has a perfect track disposition. ”

“ The ugly little brown boasts blood that long has been the pride of the Blue Grass. His dam is by Hamburg, which got Jersey Lightning, the dam of Regret, and Hamburg’s sire was the immortal Hanover, by Hindoo, winner of the Kentucky Derby of 1881. Hindoo was from the loins of Virgil out of Florence, by Lexington, and he by Boston, the great Boston. ”

“ The good people of the Falls City were hungry to see a race and they turned out in large numbers, irrespective of color, class or circumstances. A free field made it possible for those who were unable to pay the price of admission to see the racing at little or no cost at all. There was an immense crowd in the infield, and the fence from the head of the stretch to the clubhouse turn was lined with a dense mass of humanity, each moity of which was struggling to either gain or maintain his position. ”

“ The populace availed themselves of free entrance to the inner field, which had a large number of people, on foot and in all kinds of vehicles. The inside or training track was lined with people from the timing stand to near the three-quarter pole. The Grand Stand and betting ring was crowded to overflowing, and the ladies were out in large numbers. For the twelfth Derby, ten started, Ben Ali was the favorite, Free Knight second choice and Blue Wing third. ”

“ Seven of the starters were bred in Kentucky—Ben Ali, Blue Wing, Free Knight, Sir Joseph, Grimaldi, Harrodsburg and Masterpiece; and Lafitte and Jim Gray are by Kentucky owned stallions, and the sire and dam of Lijero were bred in Kentucky, showing the State still holds the highest place in the production of the horse. Take it all through it was the best race, so far as interest and contest are concerned, ever run for the Derby or any other race, and we doubt if such a field and such a contest will be witnessed again during the year. Every year seems to add interest to this great race. ”

“ The third race was the Kentucky Derby, with three starters, Huron, Phil Dwyer and Azra. The betting was on the Corrigan pair, while Azra’s few friends put up their boodle freely. Three minutes before the start the same persons who were most enthusiastic at the finish were repeating over and again: “Oh! what a farce the race will be. Three horses only to gallop around like the hippodrome races of a circus.” The following is a description of the race:
From the first jump Corrigan’s intentions may be read, Huron is to set a pace that will kill Azra, and Phil Dwyer is to win. ”

“ What would have happened it is hard to say had Jupiter Pluvious again gone to work. The going itself was more than fair. The Churchill Downs course never becomes holdings as does Lexington; proof of this is the winner’s more than good time, made when competing for the Derby. ”

“ As Barcelona was tossing his cancellation at the Steward and preparing to make a full and plausible explanation to the gambling instinct of the Kentucky Derby crowd, I considered the matter carefully:
"Let's see," I thought. "He wants 'em not to run and so he can't complain to me if they do not. I didn't fix the race, so Lieutenant Delancey can't accuse me of that. That makes everybody happy, and I win!" ”

“ The crowd waited patiently for the Derby, which was the fourth race on the card and at 15 minutes past 4 o’clock the three colts passed from the paddock out into the broad, heavy path. A cheer that is almost a roar goes up from the crowd. The parade takes but a few minutes and they passed on up to the turn, where Starter Dwyer gives the boys a few words of instructions and almost before the crowd has had time to realize it, they’re off to a beautiful start, and here they come on the trip that means so much to the admirers of both star performers. ”

“ Azra is at his saddle, at his withers, at his head, gaining at every stride, slowly, but surely forging to the front. They are in the stretch and on even terms. Grandsons, both, of the great Leamington, the blood of the great race horse that flows in their veins has no taint of the coward, such as that of the colt that labors four lengths behind them. Azra is on the inside, and Britton has pinned him so close that Clayton can not use his whip. The boys knees must touch as the two colts race head and head. The crowd goes wild. Men yell the name, first of one and then the other. ”

“ Mindful still of the war time, but mindful more of the play time—of Kentucky’s great play day of the May time—35,000 citizens of everywhere came from the high and low places of earth to-day to make Derby Day in Louisville what Derby Day always had been. ”

“ To beat a performer like Hodge as handily as he did to-day makes Old Rosebud one of the champion three-year olds of all time. Hodge beat the previous Derby record for a mile and a quarter as well as Old Rosebud, and the race was run over a track more than a second slow. Had the Downs course been at its fastest undoubtedly Old Rosebud would have beaten the world’s record for the Kentucky Derby distance on a circular track had he been pushed. ”

“ Her sire lines are those of Kentucky Derby winners, Hanover, her sire, having gotten Halma, winner of the event in 1895, which in turn, sired Alan-a-Dale the victor in the race in 1902, whereas Bramble, sire of her grandam, got Ben Brush, the Kentucky Derby winner of 1896.
Donerail is a nicely made colt of more than average height, being close to 16 hands high. He has never been credited with speed of the sprinting order, but what he can do is of the rating sort, which tells for a lot in his favor in a long race. ”

“ Long before the hour for the first race the grand stand and surrounding grounds were a solid mass of restless but good-natured humanity, all on the qui vive for the sport so near at hand. Locomotion was the next thing to impossible, and those not content to remain in one place had a formidable undertaking in trying to get around. ”

“ A long roar like the snarl of a multitude of bulldogs comes from the stand and spreads itself over the crowd in the infield and reverberates from the whitewashed barns on the other side of the beautiful course. ”

“ Nearing the first quarter the wrap on Azra is slackened a little and, though all go wide at the turn to seek the dryest going, Clayton takes ground by passing nearest the rail. Down the stretch to the stand they come, and it begins to be apparent that a stubborn contest is in progress. Huron’s head is swinging, he is running easily, and as he swings along with his splendid action two lengths in the lead, a cheer breaks out. In every way he looks the winner, but at his heels comes one that will follow him with dogged courage till the last gasp. ”

“ For the Kentucky Derby, only half a dozen sported silk for this valuable and important event. Hindoo was such a big favorite that little money was wagered on him, he being the favorite at 5 to 2 over the field. The race [Pg 25] was never in doubt, but Hindoo had to have the whip, his jockey giving him two raps as he entered the stretch, and he won easy at the finish by four lengths, Lelex beating Alfambra half a length for second place. The official time of the race, 2:40, is not correct, but will have to stand. ”

“ One race is just the same as another. The horses all start, and run the course, and come in. One horse wins, and a dozen lose; as in the American game of keno, one man exclaims “Keno!” and forty-nine utter a profane word. A quarter-race in Kentucky is precisely the same as the Derby, except that one is witnessed by a hundred men in jeans, and the other by some hundreds of thousands in all sorts of clothing. ”

“ For more than a quarter of a mile fronting the grand stand the inner rail was hugged by a heterogeneous mass of humanity, made up of men, women and children, white and blacks all bent upon getting the best position possible under the circumstances irrespective of the rights of others. Further back, a line of vehicles, every available inch occupied by a sightseer, extended nearly the entire distance of the back-stretch, so that only occasional glimpses of the horses could be caught by the occupants of the pressstand, upon whom those not present depended for an accurate description of the races. ”