| George Smith, 117, J. Loftus | 1 | |
| Star Hawk, 117, W. Lilley | 2 | |
| Franklin, 117, T. Rice | 3 |
Dodge, 117, F. Murphy; Thunderer, 117, T. McTaggart; The Cock, 110, M. Garner; Dominant, 117, J. Notter; Kinney, 117, L. Gentry; Lena Misha, 117, E. Dugan.
Winner black colt, by Out-of Reach—Consuelo II. Owned by John Sanford. Trained by H. Hughes.
FORTY-THIRD DERBY 1917
Mindful still of the war time, but mindful more of the play time—of Kentucky’s great play day of the May time—35,000 citizens of everywhere came from the high and low places of earth to-day to make Derby Day in Louisville what Derby Day always had been.
When a Maytime sun flushes the bluegrass of Churchill Downs, dapples the satin coats of thoroughbreds and touches to brilliancy the brave green and gold of paddock, lawn and infield, when a hawthornscented breeze, straight from the wooded hills of Jacob Park, ripples the gleaming folds of “Old Glory,” when Senators and Governors, multi-millionaires and internationally famous beauties foregather for the running of the Derby, when the motion picture cameras are licking, when the bands are playing, and the bugles sounding “Boots and Saddles,” it is time to heed Omar’s advice:
“Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring
Your winter garment of repentance fling!”
There were, indeed, no “winter garments of repentance” in evidence at the Down to-day but instead such Far Eastern colors, such vivid touches of Chinese red and jade green, such oriental embroideries, such swirling military capes and coats that had their inspiration in the army as to convert the Downs into a picture that suggested some vast canvas by Velasquez.
The wise man who once declared that “four things greater than all things are: Women and horses and power and war” would have found his dictum translated into living proof to-day, for added to the beauty of the women who graced the Downs, added to the fleetness of the satin-coated horses, and the power that is Kentucky, there was the suggestion of patriotism that can only translate itself in war. The olive-drab of the First Kentucky Infantry formed a fitting background for the striking picture presented by clubhouse lawn, verandas and boxes. “Old Glory” rippled and fluttered and the notes of the bugle stirred the immense throng to one single impulse of patriotism. The feeling that if fate should decree that on the next Derby days some of “our boys” should be in France, and nearer Longchamps than Churchill Downs, that Kentucky will be sure to “place a wager for them” instead of “turning down an empty glass,” was everywhere expressed.