Derby

For months before the Derby one horse was talked of more than any other--Reigh Count, son of Sun Reigh and Contesina. Rumors had gone round that he had lost weight early in the spring, that his time trials were misquoted, that he had pulled a tendon, that he had been poisoned, but although everyone repeated the rumors few believed them. Reigh Count went to the post at 8 to 5. And on a sodden track at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky., in front of 80,000 people, Reigh Count won the Derby by three lengths.

As usual the race lasted a little more than two minutes. As usual the richest sporting gentlemen and ladies had come many miles to see it. There wasn't room in the freight yards for all the private cars. On a landing field near the track a line of passenger airplanes was parked. Furnished rooms that rented all year for $5 a week rented for $30 a night.

As usual a heavy rain fell at breakfast time and cleared off at lunch. In long sheds filled with betting machines men and women stood in line to put their money on the mud-horses--Distraction, Bonivan, Bobashela, Toro. Some liked outsiders--Petee Wrack at 20 to 1, Rumplestiltskin, Sun Beau. Some liked the English colt, Strolling Player. Many thought that Misstep was just as good as Reigh Count and maybe better. Finally when the 22 starters paraded to the barrier, and were sent off, some people yelled, some wept, and some turned pale. "Misstep!" they shouted. "Reigh Count! . . ."

Misstep was leading. The first time the field passed the stand Reigh Count was in the little group that had been forced to the front. At the eighth pole Misstep still led the wafting line of color moving through the grey air opposite the stands. In her box Mrs. John Hertz of Chicago, owner of Reigh Count, stood with the tears running down her face watching the yellow shirt of her jockey, Chick Lang. As the horses moved into the turn Reigh Count swung out wide around Misstep, then pulled away to win. Toro was third and the rest of the field stretched out for a sixteenth of a mile to Strolling Player who ran last. When Reigh Count had had the usual horse shoe of American beauties hung about his neck and Chick Lang had been cheered by the crowd, Mrs. Hertz took home the usual gold plate worth seven thousand dollars and a check for $54,900.