Word: whirlaway
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Kentucky hardboots have often kicked themselves after the running of the Kentucky Derby. But last week they yipped with glee, This time they had picked the right horse, Warren Wright's Whirlaway...
...took a lot of courage to stick to Whirlaway. Bred at Millionaire Wright's farm in the heart of the Blue Grass, he is a colt of whom Kentuckians might well be proud: a handsome golden chestnut with a tail that almost sweeps the ground. But Whirlaway has inherited a tendency to run out (veer away from the inside rail) at the turns. That trait cost him several important races last year (he was defeated nine times in 16 starts). But Whirlaway proved that he is a stretch-running fool...
...week, four days before the Big Race, he was given another tuneup in the Derby Trial Stakes-only to be beaten by Blue Pair, a colt that cost $600 as a yearling. In desperation, Trainer Ben Jones got canny Eddie Arcaro, a genius at handling headstrong horses, to ride Whirlaway in the Derby...
...racing fans began to pour into Louisville's Churchill Downs, the two "solid horses" were Our Boots and Porter's Cap. But by the time the bands tootled My Old Kentucky Home and eleven of the nation's classiest three-year-olds paraded to the post, Whirlaway had become the favorite. In the paddock, the picnic-like infield and the $100 boxes echoed and re-echoed the hardboots' enthusiasm: if Arcaro can keep Whirlaway from bearing out, there is no horse that can outstay...
...bookmakers promptly made Our Boots an 8-to-5 favorite. Quoted at 4-to-1 were Whirlaway and Charles S. Howard's Porter's Cap (son of The Porter and The Blonde), who ran away with the rich Santa Anita Derby last February. At 8-to-1 were Texan Robert Kleberg's Dispose, big horse of Florida's winter season, and J. Frederick Byers' Robert Morris, a 200-to-1 shot in the winter books-before he outran half a dozen older horses in the Excelsior Handicap at Jamaica last fortnight...