The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 32

1 rW'W W-IMmirilWWIWWV I i it -y rrr, -r 1 4 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 197 1 Aroyop ars es in orerunner By JIM BOLUS Courier-Journal Timts Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ky. Aroyoport, a loser as an odds-on favorite in his last start, cafne rolling home as a 50-to-l longshot winner yesterday in the $12,500 Forerunner Purse at Keeneland Race Course. Billed as a Kentucky Derby prep, the Forerunner was dominated hy horses who aren't even eligible for the Run for the Roses. Aroyoport wasn't nominated to the Derby and neither were Brunate and Emperor Rex, the third and fourth horses in the Forerunner. Of the five Derby eligibles in the Forerunner, second-place Prove Lively was the only one to finish on the board.

The other four Derby candidates finished in this order: Creole Cross, fifth; favored Don't Be Late Jim, sixth; Ways Within, seventh, and Spirit Son, eighth. Aroyoport. the longest shot in the race, paid across-the-board mutucls of $103.60, $26.20 and $7.20. In his last race, a division of the Spiral Stakes at Latonia on March 30, Aroyoport finished third as a 7-10 favorite. Aroyoport was ridden to his Forerunner score by Earlie Fires, who said he had never seen the gelding until just before the race.

"He run game." Fires said of his new friend, Aroyoport, who could have been claimed for $13,000 in his first race this year. Aroyoport didn't look like a winner midway on the turn for home. At that point, he had dropped to fourth after racing in third position for most of the way down the back-stretch. Things started to look better for Aroyoport at the head of the stretch when a hole opened up on the rail and Fires promptly knifed his mount through on the inside. Aroyoport did the rest, gaining the lead inside the eighth pole and going on to triumph by a length over Prove Lively.

The winner, owned and bred by August Muckler, was timed in 1:23 2, 5 on a fast track. Prove Lively, second choice in the wagering, paid $4.60 and $3.80 while Brunate was $4.40 on the show end. In this mixed-up season for 3-ycar-old horses, it's anybody's guess which if any of the Derby eligibles in the Fore runner will run back in the Blue Grass Stakes, an important Derby prep next Thursday at Keeneland. One horse who may have earned a ticket to the Blue Grass is Prove Lively, who held the early lead in the Forerunner but then fell victim to Aroyoport's stretch surge. "I like his race today better than any I've ridden before," said Tommy Barrow, jockey of Prove Lively.

"He run good today. When that horse (Aroyoport) got by him, my horse come back again." Don't lie Late Jim, returning to the races after a layoff of almost four weeks, weakened in the stretch. "He run good to the three-eighths pole and then he got tired," said his rider, Don Brumfield. "He didn't have no excuse." Dewey Smith, trainer of Don't Be Late Jim, said, "I think he lost a little ground, but I think he needed the race as much as anything. He's not a good work horse, and I think he just needed the race.

He come back a little tired." Asked if he plans to run Don't Be Late Jim in the Blue Grass, Smith replied, "I might." operator of Meadow Stable which bred the big chestnut son of Bold Ruler, will accept the award in Secretariat's behalf at the NTWA dinner in Louisville on May 1. Secretariat, now standing at stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, last year became the first 3-year-old "in 25 years to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakncss and Belmont Stakes and was only thf) ninth ever to win the Triple Crown. The first winner of the Palmer Award in 1964 was the late Wathen Knebel-kamp, president of Churchill Downs. John Galbreath, who owns Darby Dan Farm and also is president of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, received the award last year. Secretariat is the winner of the Joe Talmer Award for meritorious service to racing, the National Turf Writers Association announced yesterday.

The Triple Crown winer is the first non-person ever to gain the award named for the late racing writer. Helen Tweedy, ort Derby eligibl Protagonist drops from Wood scene, eyes Blue Grass fWJTJ yfi1i.iK' i 'J-'U VT'5i, iU-'''v Protagonist has been a disappointment this season, finishing fourth in the Bay-Shore and last in a division of the Gotham. Gluck said it would take "just a better than fair performance" by Protagonist in the Blue Grass for the colt to run back in the 100th Derby on May 4. WORKOUTS Three Blue Grass candidates Buck's Bid, Gold and Myrrh and Little Current worked out at Keeneland yesterday. Clockers caught Buck's Bid in 1:26 15 for seven furlongs.

The Bold Bidder colt galloped out a mile in 1:40 15. "He's as good right now as he's ever been," said A. J. (Tony) Bardaro, trainer of Buck's Bid. Gold and Myrrh went seven furlongs in 1:25 15 and went out the mile in 1:39 15.

Little Current, the Everglades winner owned by Darby Dan Farm, was limed in 1:13 4 5 for six furlongs. "I am real pleased with the work," said Darby Dan trainer Lou Rondinello. PREPS TODAY Derby hopeful Pat McGroder, who finished far back in both the Florida Derby and Flamingo, is scheduled to go against seven opponents in a seven-furlong allowance test at Keeneland today. Other Derby candidates in the race are Bronze Rail, Royal Rand-wick and Nautilus. Another seven-furlong allowance at Keeneland has drawn Derby eligibles Covered Portage, Nail Apron, Last Tango, By Your Leave and Percinto.

Covered Portage, owned by Darby Dan Farm, won the first start of his career last week by eight lengths. tv Vvs Staff Photos by Bud Kemenlsh How sweet il was if you bet on Aroyoport LONGSHOT Aroyoport, with Earlie Fires up, scores by a length over Prove Lively in yesterday's Forerunner Purse at Keeneland. Aroyoport, Kindred sports editor need a Derby jockey? Ussery may be for hire By JIM BOLL'S Courier-Journal Timet Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ky. Max Gluck, owner of 1973 juvenile champion Protagonist, confirmed yesterday that the colt will pass up Saturday's Wood Memorial and receive his final Kentucky Derby prep in the Blue Grass Stakes next Thursday. Gluck, speaking by telephone from New York, said the size of the Wood field was a factor that led to the changed plans for Protagonist.

"It's a helluva big field here," said Gluck. "They're talking about 22 horses in the Wood, but if a few drop out then they'll start 18 or 19 in one gate instead of splitting it. That's no good for us because our horse is a come-from-behind horse. I don't know if we could get around 17 or 18 horses." Reminded that the Blue Grass at Keeneland also is expected to draw a large field, Gluck said: "Well, it's hard to figure out. Originally we wanted to run in the Blue Gra.ss.

Then we were tempted to run in the Wood because of the bigger purse (SlOO.OOO-added). But now we think it would be better to run in the Blue Grass, and we think he's in good shape to make the trip." Todai otakrs rare Golden Gate SIS. 000 added, Time to Leave Slakes; 1 turf: Lucky Scell 1IB. Soanish Lark Barn's Penny in, Ve 1 Run the Kevs 112. Scurrilous 112.

Innocent Lady 114, still Bazmg 114. jujmumflni i'inniiii Brown-Forman Distillers Corp Louisville, Ky. 1973. -T a gelding who is not eligible for the third time in 10 career starts and paid apparent. "I'm enjoying myself.

I don't necessarily ride every clay. I like to stay fresh. Last year, I made myself $75,000 or $100,000," he said. "It's not that I'm not ambitious. I am ambitious.

But that's enough." Not really. What Ussery wants is a ride in this year's Kentucky Derby. With Lover John, Ussery won a major 2-year-old race last year, the Arlington-Washington Futurity that paid the winner $97,470. But in this Derby year, Lover John broke down. Ussery currently is riding a Derby eli-igble named The Scotsman, who is training at Keeneland.

"The Derby depends on what the horse docs in the Blue Grass," Ussery said, referring to the Blue Grass Stakes to be run next Thursday at Keeneland. If The Scotsman skips the Derby, Ussery will be available to ride anything else. "I'm just seeing how things go," he said. "That's all you can do when you're scufflin', right?" Ussery has ridden only nine horses at Keeneland in two weeks. He hasn't won, has finished second twice.

For the year, he's had 113 rides with 14 victories for earnings of $130,403. Ussery's first Derby victory came unexpectedly. The Thursday before the Derby, he was hired to ride Proud Clarion. Braulio Baeza, with a choice to make, went with Successor, who finished sixth. "I was more or less following Damascus," Ussery said, naming the favorite.

"I didn't think Damascus would flatten out like he did. But whoosh! we went right on by." As for the Dancer's Image race, Ussery said, "I moved with him turning for home. We cut the corner. He loved the fence. I did a nice job on him." Ussery first rode in the Derby in 1960.

He was second with Bally Ache. The next year, he was 12th with Ambiopoise and in '64 was fifth on Quadrangle. Then came Proud Clarion and Dancer's Image. So Ussery is 2-for-5 in the Derby. Would that experience help him now? "Yes, sir.

It's a tough race to ride in. Everybody is wanting to win. You have to be careful where you're going, because those guys who haven't won it they get a little nervous. Everybody's all geared uii." Including Bobby Ussery? "Oh, yeah," he said, smiling. Sjiorts on the air TELEVISION 8 p.m.

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'Ar t': ft Dave Courier-Journal LEXINGTON, Ky. They give a trophy every year to the jockey who rides the winner of the Kentucky Derby. So in 1968, done with his work aboard Dancer's Image, Bobby Ussery accepted the golden memento with thanks. It sits now in the den of his house in Hialeah, FJa. There is a story here.

First across the finish line in that star-crossed '68 Derby, Dancer's Image lost the race five years later in a courtroom. A judge decided the horse ran under the influence of an illegal medication. The winner's purse, the winner's trophy and the winner's prestige fell to Forward Pass, the original runner-up. The trophy that went to the winning jockey? "I kept it," Ussery said, crisply. How did he manage that? "I just walked out with it and kept it." Has anyone asked for it back? "They'll have to sue me for it." Ussery figures what's his is his.

"They made the mutuel payoff on my horse, and that's good enough for me," he said. "That other holocaust, the trial and everything, I don't want to get into that." You'd like Bobby Ussery. Maybe his record of success at the New York tracks shapes an image that isn't real; but if they ever make a movie called "The Bowery Boys Go to the Races," Bobby Ussery should play the part of the little kid who becomes a jockey. His face is a map of Brooklyn, his voice is tough-guy-with-heart-of-gold. No visitors Hancock closes Claiborne to Secretariat's public PARIS, Ky.

(AP) Claiborne Farm, home of Secretariat, is being closed to the public because the farm can't accommodate the number of tourists who want to see the famed Triple Crown winner. Claiborne president Seth Hancock said he was taking the action regretfully, but that the large number of cars on farm roadways has made it "impossible to conduct the farm's normal business." The farm was opened to the public shortly after Secretariat and his stable-mate, Riva Ridge, arrived to enter the stud last December. In recent weeks, visiting hours have been 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hancock also announced that of 18 marcs bred so far to Secretariat, five definitely are in foal, four others probably are pregnant and only three have been booked back to the stallion.

Riva Ridge has five of his first 15 mares definitely in foal and only one has been booked back for a second breeding. Do you Bobby W7KEKI Yre sIIaIIIIIAIS) OS HiAlW lit DlifHEOT if right reasons. JF H'jy- Forestering is jlSw A si fx Wstr ty I i I 1 Only four jockeys have won the Kentucky Derby in successive years. Isaac Murphy and Jimmy Winkfield did it around the turn of the century. Ron Tur-cotte did it with Riva Ridge and Secretariat.

Ussery warmed up for Dancer's Image by winning in '67 on Proud Clarion. For Ussery, the joy is without bounds. "I'd ridden for 20 years and never won the Derby," he said. "It's a special race for everybody especially if you win. People who don't know anything about racing know about the Derby.

For 20 years, winning the Derby was something I wanted behind my name." Ussery grew up in Vian, a farm town near the Arkansas border. At age 5 he was first lifted onto a horse. After several misspent years, at age 10 he rode quarter horses for $5 a race. At 14 he was galloping horses at Texas and Nebraska race tracks. At 16 he rode his first thoroughbred race, aboard Reticule at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

He won. That was 22 years ago. In 1967, Proud Clarion's year, Ussery's 755 mounts earned $1,427,166. A jockey gets 10 per cent of those earnings, $142,716 in Ussery's case. But what of Ussery lately? His name has not been in the public prints much.

"I haven't won a major race for a while," he said yesterday at Keeneland Race Course, where he is available for the full meeting for the first time ever. If this development bothers Ussery, it's not I -1 i itfi i flriinrtfir rr tin- ifiiftft imm rjj BOBBY USSERY At Keeneland full time now A is is at -r- -riyirrt ittflfcnnn- rir imnW-WMift I.