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Northville Down$ Meeting Off to Excellent Start NORTHVILLE DOWNS; Northville, Mich., June 13. — Northville Downs opened its eighth season Monday night with 9,113 fans betting 20,754 for one of the best nights during the past seven years. From all indications the 1951 meeting of. 54 nights promises to be the best in the tracks history. • Northyilles first meeting in the fail of 1944 was anything but a huge success, but from that small start developed one of the Midwests leading harness programs. Things were far from bright at the conclusion of the 1944 program, but the promoters redoubled their efforts in the spring of 1945— and the sport took over with a terrific bang. The handle jumped from a scant 0,000 in 1944 to more than a 5,000 average* in the spring meeting of 1945. From that time on Northville Downs, the real pioneer of pari-mutuel harness racing, has enjoyed a steady success. Monday nights opening brought to fans attention a pacer, My Chief, which, from its performance in the Inaugural Pace, should be one of this seasons top f ayprites. Driven by Harold Snodgrass and owned by Andrew Hobbs of Wabash, Ind., the four-year-old easily won both heats. Although My Chief was not pressed, and won by four and a half lengths in the first heat, he turned in a blistering 2:05 flat. 1
