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On the Trot By MORRIE KURLANSKY Britenfield Current Maywood Leader Father Raced the Famous Cold Cash Jane Comet Best Earner This Year MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood. 111.. May 16. — A huge, bulking man from Taylorville, 111., is the current leader of the Maywood T o Park r*r fvoinorc trainers ar»H and Hviv_ T o Park r*r fvoinorc trainers ar»H and Hviv_ drivers. His name is Russell Britenfield. and anyone familiar with harness racing for more than just the last few years will instantly think of Cold Cash. Not that Russell is a millionaire or a banker or anything like that, but Cold Cash is the horse that made the name Britenfield Britenfield a a household household Britenfield Britenfield a a household household word on the Grand circuit two decades ago. Russell, now 48 years old, is the son of the man who bought a yearling named Cold Cash by Peter Volo from Walnut Hall Farm in 1928 and developed him into one of the fastest pacers that ever raced on an L American harness race track. Cold Cashs record of 1:58V5 is the result of a race, not of a time trial. After Cold Cash was retired ! from the race track he served in his owners stud in Taylorville. Now 25 years old, he leads a life of ease, while many of his offspring are going on to honor their progenitor by winning races at the nations major ovals. Russell Britenfield has a public stable at Maywood Park and in 41 starts since opening day at Maywood Park returned eight times a winner, and was seven times second and seven times third with 10 different horses. Although the string in his care does not include any outstanding horses, all are useful campaigners and earn their way so as not to make them a liability for their four different owners. Russells foremost patron is L. S. Sprague, the president of the Minneapolis-St. Louis Railroad Co., a primary freight -line that serves the Northwestern states from Peoria, 111. This gentleman according to Russell is a paragon of an owner, who never meddles in the trainers business, but enjoys immensely to jog his own horses, whenever he has a chance to come to Chicago. Mr. Sprague is also a very close friend of the well known movie-actor Charles Coburn and has several horses leased from him, among them the double-gaited Tide Water by Volo-mite. Monocle Man, who got his name after Coburns habit to sport a single glass. and Orphan C. For the past three years Russell has confined his campaign to the Chicago-circuit, because he does think it worth -hile to race at the fairs for the small purses, which can never offset the additional cost for shipping, extra help, etc. Russells best earner at present is the four-year-old filly Jane Comet, owned by L. C. Sprague, which really hit her best stride this spring. The filly, whose dam. Mary M.. trotted a mile in 2:03 on a half-mile track, which was a worlds record at that time, won three out of five races, was once second and once third. To give you one example that even train -;rs some times dont know if their horse s going to win, wed like to tell this little ;rue story. The other night Russell had 3reeze Courier entered in a race at May-vood Park. All day it was threatening to •ain at a moments notice and Russell ;herefore said to his wife: "Here is some noney. Bet it on Breeze Courier tonight, ut if it rains and well have a muddy ;rack. dont bet; he cannot race in the nud." Yes, you guessed it already, Breeze Courier won by over a length and paid flO.OO for .00. Gay Order, rapidly developing into one of Illinois top pacers, finished 2-2 in the ,750 Gahagan Pace at Hazel Park Detroit Thursday night. The other area invaders, King Gaines and Court Lawful, had rougher outings, King Gaines wound up 3-5 in the same division with Gay Order while Court Lawful was unplaced in both trips of his division. Gay Order and King Gaines gave very creditable accounts of themselves. In the first mile, the winner was Warpath, Gay Order and King Gaines wound up in that order in 2:03%. Incidentally, Warpath, the four - year - old Scotland colt owned by C. M. Saunders, Perrys-burg, Ohio, last year was in the charge of BUly Rouse, currently at Maywood Park with a public stable. Warpath set a furious pace in both heats, and Gay Order, who is a notoriously slow starter had extremely rough going in the 13-horse field. His performance was more impressive since in the second heat he had the disadvantageous No. 12 post position. With Warpath sailing in the clear, Ralph Ayou had to weave in and out of horses and, in spite of everything, came on to fall short by three-quarter of a length in 2:04%. In evaluating these fast times, one must consider that Hazel Park has a five-furlong track with a much longer stretch than Maywood Park. Moreover, only three turns have to be negotiated at Detroit instead of four here. While nothing can be taken from Warpath, a full brother to one of the best pacers of the last decade, Indian Land 1:59% a winner of 36,894. the sparkling performance of Gay Order was more than praiseworthy. The only complaint his trainer, Ralph Ayou, has about Gay Order is that the colt, who won over 1,000 in Chicago last year, takes such an awful long time to get started on his best stride. He is hopeful, however, that Gay Order eventually will overcome this handicap since he appears to have improved considerably over last season. An interesting comment regarding Hazel Park comes from horsemen who traveled to Detroit to witness local entries compete. They predict that this new oval will develop into the fastest harness plant in the nation. In fact, theyve gone out on the limb to state that some horse this season will turn in a 2:00 mile over that five-furlong track.
