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I On the Trot I I 1 By MORRIE KURLANSKT Mighty Cox Acquired for 0,000 Best Bred Performer at Maywood To Race at Ottawa, Toronto Later MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111.. May 8. — While in harness racing same as in thoroughbred racing you have the million aires stables, owned by men who can easily afford to buy year for year the cream of the crop and subsequently win a goodly share of the nations richest stakes, it is not quite a rarity that some "small" owner hits the jackpot at the yearling sales or some dispersal auction and winds up with a top race horse I and an excellent sire prospect. That is ex-I actly what happened to a modest fellow from Canada last winter. Alex Stewarts and j Sons, the most formidable harness racing : outfit in Canada, for reasons best known j to themselves decided to put their whole stock of stallions, broodmares, and yearlings on the block and held a dispersal sale at their Hillcrest Stock Farm, Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. Trainer Vern Waddell, who for many years had raced a small stable of "so-so" horses on the Canadian circuit, attended the auction together with his patron, W. W. Thompson, Weybum, Saskatchewan, Canada, who owns a number of theaters in that country. What attracted them to the sale was one particular horse by the name of Mighty Cox, although they had considerable doubt in their minds, whether or not they could keep up with the bidding. As it turned out, the highest bid for Mighty Cox amounted to ,600 and the owners deeming this too little for the stallion, forthwith withdrew him from the ring. Messrs. Waddell and Thompson, however, not content with this unexpected outcome let it not rest at that, and managed to acquire Mighty Cox privately for the sum of 0,000, and regarded themselves as extremely lucky. Now, what kind of a horse is Mighty Cox? Without the least exaggeration it can be said that he is the best bred horse at present stabled at Maywood Park and his racing record is eloquent enough to stamp him as a first-rate campaigner. Mighty Cox is by Volomite, one of the greatest sires of all time in the standardbred field, and his dam, The Worthy Miss Morris, not only was a pretty good racehorse herself, as a three-year-old she acquired a record of 2:0412, but is one of the most prolific producers the sulky sport has ever known. While Volomite sired no less than 25 trotters or pacers that belong to the charmed circle of 2:00 performers. The Worthy Miss Morris is the dam of 17 harness horses, some of which made harness racing history in their time. With the exception of 1934 The Worthy Miss Morris had a foal in 1933 and then without interruption from 1935 through 1950. Thirteen of these foals in time acquired records of better than 2:10, while two of them. Speed King and Robert Morris, entered the select list with mile efforts in 2:00 flat. Foals of The Worthy Miss Morris always attracted greatest interest at the yearlings sales of Walnut Hall Farm, which owns both Volomite and the spectacular , mare. It speaks volumes both for Volomite and The Worthy Miss Morris that the two latest foals stemming from their mating, j Voting Trust, 1949, and Old Blue Hen. 1950. joined the nations top performers without further ado. Voting Trust, who brought 6,500, to J be the highest priced yearling at the 1950 auctions, won himself out in his first two seasons, earning 8,483 for his owners, the Hayes Fair Acres Stables, Du Quoin. 111., and sped to a mile record of 2:01 as a three-year-old. The Old Blue Hen. leased for racing purposes to Robert B. Murray, Jr., Harrisburg, Pa., in her first campaign as a two-year-old trotter in 1952, set a worlds record with a mile in 2:0625 over a half-mile track and won several of the more important stakes for age, gait and sex. Speed King 2:00, the 1937 foal of The Worthy Miss Morris, after his racing days were over was for a while in stud in Kentucky, where he sired, among others, the good trotter, Billy Corbitt, a double winner at Maywood Park during the present meeting, and was later exported to Sweden, where he quickly gained momentum with the successes of his progeny in European races. Getting back to Mighty Cox, this su- I perb looking horse secured his record of 2:05 at the half-mile track at Saratoga last summer in defeating a topnotch field of free-for-all pacers. He won three miles in 2:05% over abbreviated ovals and showed his ruggedness and stamina by winning two out of his last four starts at Batavia late last fall. Mighty Cox made his first start of the year earlier this week at Maywood Park. Although starting from the No. 7 post, he already headed his field before they turned into the backstretch for the first time. From there on it was Mighty Cox setting the pace and waiting for them to come. They did try to catch him in the homestretch, but Waddell never had to move and just shook the reins at his mount a J few feet from the wire to win comfortably by a head, paradoxically as that seems to be. Mighty Cox will participate in May-wood Parks better pacing races and then will be shipped to Ottawa and Toronto, where he is extensively staked. In the fall he will return to the States for a time trial over the worlds fastest trotting track, the famed Lexington "Red Mile." According to his pedigree and his racing accomplishments, Mighty Cox from here looks like one of the best sire prospects to ever stand in Canada, and his owners right now are in the market for good broodmares to enter the breeding field with Mighty Cox on the right foot. In addition to Mighty Cox, there is a two-year-old in Waddells barn that promises to be one of the nations better juveniles. The youngster, already standing close to 16 hands, is by Algiers out of a Nibble Hanover mare and was bought for ,000 last year. He is staked at Du Quoin this summer and in all the riqh classics for three-year-olds next year. Another interesting horse in the Canadian menage is Huron Express, the leading race winner in North America in 1950, with 36 dashes or heats to his credit. Since Huron Express up to last winter was exclusively raced in Canada, where a 00 purse is regarded as something extra special, the earnings of Huron Express are negligible, but his stout finish the other night to be photoed out in a mighty close race gave an indication that he can hold his own in Chicago as well as in Saskatchewan. Vern Waddell races for the first time in Chicago, or in the States for that matter. He likes it very much here. His only complaint is that he cannot get competent stable help and he and his assistant have to do all the work around the stable themselves.
