Bluegrass Tradition

Horseplayers who studied their form charts simply had to make him the favorite. Even the homebred hardboots from Jefferson County, Ky., agreed that Florida-bred Needles was the horse to beat in the 82nd running of the Kentucky Derby. But they all had their doubts. The big bay colt had won his big races this spring in his home state, where he got a 5-lb. native-son weight advantage. There was also an old bluegrass-and-julep tradition : "No horse whose name begins with 'N' can win a Derby." None ever had; Native Dancer, the favorite, was nosed out in '53; last year Nashua, the favorite, was whipped.

The Big Question. So the crowd put its cash on Needles--and at the start it was sorry. In the first fast dash past the grandstand, Needles was 16th in a field of 17. Jockey Dave Erb was as worried as his backers. Needles had let loose his bit, seemed uninterested in running. Up front, Calumet Farm's Fabius and Rex Ells worth's Terrang dueled for the lead.

Down the back stretch, Needles was still lost in the pack while Fabius, a speed horse, was opening a great gap on the fast track. The chalk players could barely see through their tears. But Jockey Erb did not get flustered. His mount was moving nicely and he saved ground, waited until they reached the stretch turn before he asked the big question. Then, for a terrible second, Needles seemed to spit the bit out once more. Erb cracked the whip in his ear to get his mind on his work. Needles got the idea.

Head & Head. Terrang had folded, but Fabius was still far in front. Now Needles got his big break. As horses came back to him in the stretch, the field spread out before him and he had all the running room he needed. His late speed was astonishing. He rushed up to Fabius who held on gamely, head and head, for a few strides and then faded. Needles whisked under the wire, winner by three-quarters of a length in the richest ($123,450) Kentucky Derby ever.

The chalk players, naturally, had known it all along. As they queued up to cash their mutuel tickets (the favorite paid $5.20 for $2), they talked of another Kentucky tradition: "Never bet against the son of a Derby winner in a Derby." Needles' sire, Ponder, ran off with the Derby in 1949. And just to make the old saw stick, Ponder's sire, Pensive, turned the trick in 1944.

Almost as if he remembered what a disappointment he had been at Churchill Downs just a year ago, Leslie Combs's four-year-old champion, Nashua, seemed determined to let nothing stop him from winning the $55,200 Grey Lag Handicap at Jamaica. He stumbled coming out of the starting gate and fell to his knees. Another horse might have quit. Not Nashua. Under Jockey Ted Atkinson's urging, he came on to outlast a fast field and finished a head in front of Alfred G.

Vanderbilt's Find, carrying 10 Ibs. less. The $37,100 purse brought his total earnings to $1,077,615, just $8,145 behind Citation's alltime record of $1,085,760.

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