COCKROACH DERBY

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 17 June 1933, Page 14

COCKROACH DERBY

Race Run in Test Tubes

fJVHE first North American cockroach Derby, on Thursday, May 4, was won by 'Sir Barton, nominated by Canadian sportsmen, and named after the famous Canadian-owned winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1919. The'race, appropriately enough, was conducted at the village Grove 'Nut Club, writes the New York correspondent of the “Post.” Prior to nomination day, advertisements appeared in the New York newspapers: “Wanted, field cockroaches for racing.” Field coekToaches, reared in the outdoors, are built for speed. ’Poaches, bred in ships or basements ashore are slow by comparison, although trainers aver that those that travel across the Atlantic in/ the big passenger liners have a fine turn of speed, as, owing to the large crew and passenger list, chances of being “rubbed out” are far greater than on cargo boats. Ten faced the starter in the Derby. The course was of transparent glass, from four to five feet long. Each competitor had a lane to himself, with raised glass walls. The field was assembled in test tubes at one end of the course. As the barrier was raised, powerful electric lights were turned on under the performers. At the end of the lanes they saw darkness in the form of holes in the board. Not a fraction of a second lapsed- before the field moved off at a gallop towards the end of the lane. It was a great race, with a finish closely resembling the last Kentucky Derby, in which Broker’s Tip, ridden by a Canadian, came from nowhere to win the Blue Grass classic of the American Turf. There was little to separate the field at the .three-quarters, where Sir Barton, who was Fred on an Englishman’s ranch in the Berkshires, took the lead, and won by a length and a half. Time, 3 3-ssee. The winner shared the bulk of the betting with a ’roach from the docks named Dachshund. The race proved so profitable to the promoters, at ten dollars a seat, that arrangements are being made for a Grand National, open only to country-bred timber-tappers.