Civic Leaders Take Part in Conduct of Racing at Omaha This Afternoon: Ak-Sar-Ben Governors and Counsellors to Attend; Also Honor TRA and Its President, Daily Racing Form, 1953-05-23

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Civic Leaders Take Part in Conduct Of Racing at Omaha This Afternoon Ak-Sar-Ben Governors and | Counsellors io Attend; Also Honor TRA and Its President By ART KENNEDY Staff Correspondent AK-SAR-BEN, Omaha, Nebr., May 22.— Osaahas civic leaders will take an active part in the conduct of thoroughbred racing, tomorrow, when the supreme council of the knights of Ak-Sar-Ben will be represented in the stewards stand during the running of Saturdays feature event, the Ak-Sar-Ben Council Purse. The representatives will share stewardship in an honorary capacity. That racing has become an integral part of Omaha life is attested each year when the 12 governors of the council and their 12 counsellors visit the track as a body and take part in official ceremonies. The first weekend of the new meeting was chosen this year for the annual event. Also in the spotlight of tomorrows gala proceedings at Ak-Sar-Ben will be another organization of national scope which has had the secondary feature named in its honor, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations. Representing the organization of racing associations will be its president, John A. Morris, who will be in attendance with Mrs. Morris. They will similarly officiate as honorary stewards during the running of the TRA purse. Morris is also president of the Metropolitan Jockey Club which operates Jamaica race track just outside New York City. His family has long been connected with racing and its silks carried by makers of turf history well before the turn of the present century. Preceding the races, Mrs. Morris will be Continued on Page Forty-Nine Civic Leaders Participate i In Omaha Racing Today Ak-Sar Ben Governors, Counsellors To Attend; Also Honor TRA Head I Continued from Page Four feted by the wives of Ak-Sar-Ben governors and counsellors at a luncheon in the j Blackstone Hotel. The TRA will be given t lunch by Ak-Sar-Ben track officials at the I Fontenelle Hotel. The main event tomorrow has filled to capacity with two on the "also eligible" list, standing by in case of scratches. Of the I ! dozen upper-bracket selling platers who have been entered several are notable for . previous exploits on the turf. Making her first start of the season will J be So True, a six-year-old Nebraska-bred • mare by Buster who won three last year and was disqualified from first place on 1 another occasion. In 14 starts she was 10 | times in the money. She showed her best • efforts at Centennial Park. Her owner, ; Wilbur Brown, also had the satisfaction of breeding her. Another who compiled a favorable record last year on the West Coast and at i Ak-Sar-Ben is Reno Upabout who races for Mr. and Mrs. Carl Craig. Pintal Sprig, a I starter this year at Oaklawn, has scored in i major events at Centennial in the past and 1 runs in the interests of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Beezley. Busy Fox, an Equifox gelding, will be ! making his first start in the colors of Miss Alice Likens of Oklahoma City. After campaigning . in Florida the four-year-old was ; haltered by his present owner from his last [ outing at Sportsmans Park. He has been in t the money three times in 10 starts since the j first of the year but has yet to find the winners • circle. The first day of twilight racing brought ; out a crowd which proved almost 30 per • cent greater than was tallied last season I for the initial early evening program. Ak-Sar-Bens parking lots were filled [ and midway of the late afternoon, cars ; were sent into the center field through a tunnel under the racing strip, where they formed more than a half dozen lines which bisected the lower end of the field. The finish of the featured Twilight Purse i was highly popular with the 8,674 racing I fans in attendance. It was a stretch duel I which went to First Bar only after a stirring • exhibition of jockeyship on the part ; of his rider, Gerald Gardiner and J. Bel-lino, on Desert Raid, beaten a head on the ! wire.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953052301/drf1953052301_4_2
Local Identifier: drf1953052301_4_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800