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#1
04-28-2012, 01:40 PM
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facilis descensus Auerno 
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#2
04-28-2012, 09:49 PM
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Here's a Daily Racing Form column from the 1920's.   
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#3
04-29-2012, 06:02 AM
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facilis descensus Auerno
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#4
04-29-2012, 10:00 AM
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It is true that in 1920 there was more wealth in New York than any other city. A lot of owners and buyers of top class horses lived there. Chicago was also strong in that regard...and for the period when racing was struggling badly because of anti-gambling reforms -- Cuba was strong. A lot of good horses in the mid to late 1910's had been bought up by Cuban owners. Racing was going well in Havana. The Cuban Government was also buying up our race horses in a project to breed their army horses during these times when betting reforms helped create a favorable market for buying horses. That said, Kentucky has always been very prominent in the thoroughbred racing world. Organized racing had been established in Lexington well before the cival war. The Louisville Jockey Club was formed in 1875 (the first year the Kentucky Derby was run) and Latonia was formed in 1883 about ten miles from present day Turfway Park. From pretty much the existence of these tracks through present day -- they have featured some of the greatest horses, fields, and races in history. I don't think even the stuffiest of New York City elite would have ever considered it "bush" racing. The vast majority of those owners really wanted to win events like the Kentucky Derby...especially by the 1920's. A few of the very best trainers at Churchill Downs around the turn of the century were blacks. A former slave had trained a Kentucky Derby winner and was the owner-trainer of a Kentucky Oaks winner. He also won a few training titles at Churchill Downs.
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#5
04-29-2012, 10:22 AM
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In terms of speculating why Man O' War ducked the Kentucky Derby even though he would have been a heavy favorite ... his owner certainly wasn't the most sporting man to say the least and he later ducked other tough spots that season where he could have faced good older competition.
However, his erratic temper may have also had something to do with it.  Man O' War's owner did campaign War Admiral in a far more sporting way. War Admiral did ship for the Kentucky Derby -- and he did eventually bring him back at age 4 where he faced Seabiscuit in a famous match race.
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#6
05-03-2012, 10:03 AM
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today in history, willie shoemaker becomes the oldest jock to win the derby.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...kentucky-derby
__________________
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. Abraham Lincoln
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#7
05-03-2012, 01:19 PM
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1952 The first coast-to-coast, network-televised Kentucky Derby aired on CBS. Favorite Hill Gail won, giving Eddie Arcaro a record fifth victory in the Derby, and his trainer, Ben A. Jones, the record for most number of wins with six. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo2sleWPOx0 Arcaro's record was matched on this day in 1969 by Bill Hartack aboard Majestic Prince, who was trained by HOF jockey John Longden, the only person to have trained and ridden a Kentucky Derby winner. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBuAcOEWc0 1958 CBS used a split screen for its telecast of the Kentucky Derby, necessitated by the presence of the popular runner Silky Sullivan, who was famous for running far off the pace. Most of the screen was allotted to the main group of runners, with a small corner given over to Silky Sullivan. Although one of the favorites, he failed to deliver his customary winning drive in the stretch and finished 12th, beaten by more than 20 lengths by victorious Tim Tam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-sgeHWC5g (newsreel film, can't find a copy of the CBS coverage)
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