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Rodney, Egan Hanover Vie in Fairmount Derby 1948s Harness Horse of Year/ Full Brother Go in 0,000 Trot FAIRMOUNT PARK, Collinsville, 111., June 9. — Ten of the nations crack Grand Circuit trotters, with an aggregate of more than a quarter of a million dollars in winnings up to this year, will face the starter tomorrow night in the 0,000 Trotting Derby, richest event of the spring Grand Circuit meeting at the Collinsville track. The race will bring together for the first time in their racing careers the giant full brothers Rodney, a five-year-old bay stallion, and Egan Hanover, a four-year-old standardbred of the same description. As the luck of the draw would have it, the brothers will go away from the gate side by side in the first half of the two-dash race, since Rodney drew the third position and Egan Hanover, number four. The contest is a divided event, to be raced at the distances of one mile and one and one-eighths miles. Rodney, Harness Horse of the Year in 1948, is owned fey R. H. Johnson of Winston Salem, N. C. and last year raced a mile in better than 2:00 on three different occasions, and was timed in 1:58 in a test against the clock. He is driven by Bion Shively and his lifetime earnings amount to 1,033. The Derby will be his first start in 1949. Egan Hanover, the pride of Saunders Mills Stable of Toledo, O., and reined by Ralph Baldwin, will also make his debut tomorrow night. He was third to Demon Hanover in the Hambletonian last year, the only race in 1948 out of eight, which he did not win. His earnings of 9,292 until now make him the leading money-winning horse of all time as a two-and three year old. In 1948 he banked 7,567 for his owner C. M. Saunders. In the sec-L ond and longer dash of the Derby, Rodney drew No. 5, in the middle of the track, but Egan Hanover had to be content to trail the field in the 10 spot. Chief opposition for the fast-stepping brothers is expected to come from Sol Camps Frontiersman, K. D. Owens Laureate, who was second to Egan in the 0,-000 Kentucky Futurity at Lexington in 1948, Hayes Fair Acre Stables Pronto Don and W. H. Strangs Madison Hanover. Others include A. D. Knapps Clever Sunny, A. L. Derbys Guy Tramp, Reed-Yates Farms Wayward and C. V. Harris Come Springtime. Total earnings for the field to date amount to 66,890.
