The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 7

i 'IK 3jf ffioitntr-loatnml Times SUNDAY, MAY 4, 1975 ft ke Eemtacky Derby Copyright 1975, Th Courier-Journal Times. For everyone, a Foolish Pleasure It 1 i Ss mm Staff Photo by Bud Kamenlsh Foolish Pleasure drives hard with just a few yards 'to go, heating Avatar to the finish of the 101st Kentucky $50 million in sales last year. "He's a great horse, with a lot of character." Laying comfortably off the pace most of the trip, Foolish Pleasure the 9-5 favorite of the crowd of 113,324 moved strongly down the stretch under the gentle scolding of jockey Jacinto Vasquez, wearing Greer's black-and-white silks. As he moved to the lead inside the eighth-pole, he was misidentified as Prince Thou Art by track announcer Chic Anderson, creating some confusion not only among the fans at the track but also, presumably, among the millions who watched the first telecast conducted by the ABC network. Immediately before Foolish Pleasure moved to the front and had the race locked up the California horse Diabolo, on the outside, swerved into Avatar, his compatriot from the Golden State.

Then Avatar came back and bumped Diabolo, leading to the first stewards' inquiry in Derby history. However, after reviewing films of the race, the stewards the three men who ensure that each race is run in keeping By BILLY REED and JIM BOLUS Couritr-Journal Staff Wrlttrt At the precise moment when the elderly gentleman with the big smile was pushing his way into the winner's champagne party in the overloaded clubhouse at Churchill Downs, the gray-blue sky opened up and began to drop a gentle, steady rain on the teeming masses who had come to see the 101st running of this two-minute phenomenon known as the Kentucky Derby. But that was all right, of course. By then the Derby was history, over for another year. And the smiling old gent, John L.

Greer, had experienced the pleasurethe wonderful, giddy, foolish pleasure of seeing his colt, Foolish Pleasure, come charging down the middle of the stretch to put away two bumping, jitter-bugging California horses and win the "million-dollared ride," to borrow a phrase from the poet Whittier. "No, no, I never lost faith In him," said Greer, 76, business magnate whose Tennessee-based bakery did more than with the rules decided that Diabolo had been the first offender and thus was not entitled to be moved past Avatar from third place into second. Finishing 134 lengths behind Foolish Pleasure who paid $5.80, $4.40 and $3.60 in the mutuels Avatar paid $9.20 to place and $5.60 to show, while Diabolo paid $4.40 to show. Time of the race was a leisurely 2:02. Complete fractions for the race were :22, :45 25, 1:10 35 and 1:36.

By last year's rollicking, record-breaking standards, this was a mellow Derby. The crowd of 113,324 was some 50,000 less than last year's mob, and the mood, for the most part, was more restrained in part, perhaps, because of the weather. If the 1974 Derby was like being in a boiler factory, yesterday's was more of a pleasant stroll in the country, with the breeze and the gathering clouds seeming to serve as a tranquilizer for the typical mob of Frisbee-throwing, beer-swilling college students in the infield, of celebrities and politicos and high-rollers in the clubhouse, of julep-guzzling folks in sunglasses and gaudy spring outfits all over the old brickyard. Oh, there was a little trouble, mostly in the infield. Some of the kids got a little drunk and peppered the military men atop the infield tote boards with bottles and cans.

Others crashed over one of the newly elevated wire fences just before the Derby so they could get close to the track on the backside. For the most part, however, the mood was mellow. Even the folks who peddle everything from parking space five to inflated rubber horses to free Florida vacations somehow didn't seem quite as abrasive as last year. Although he was favored by the bettors, Foolish Pleasure had lost support among the self-styled "experts" who inhabit the plush press box right next to the twin spires on the Downs' roof. A son of the stallion What a Pleasure, out of the mare Fool-Me-Not, Foolish Pleasure was trained by blond, boyish looking LeRoy Jolley and was being touted as the next Secretariat after winning seven races in seven starts as a 2-year-old.

However, the denizens of the press box are nothing if not fickle, and after Foolish Fieasure finished third in this year's See FOR Back page, coL 1, this section Derby Day Index XJ 1 2 1 tj i Vv mmtmm turns This Section: Beginning the second century of the Kentucky Derby It was the 101st running, you know, and yesterday's race drew celebrities and just plain folk, bettors large and small, the fashionably-clad and the merely comfortably-clad into the crunch and excitement of Churchill Downs on Derby Day. Sports Section: How did it all happen the nuts and bolts of a Derby victory Section C. Today's Living: Profiling Lexington's Madden family Section G. General News: The regular news and features of The Courier-Journal Times follow this special section. ytt'riiiirii'MaiMiMWiit mi then Jockey Jacinto Vasquez relaxes.