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On the Trot TrotBy By MORRIE KURLANSKY KURLANSKYMeggitts Meggitts Faith Finally Rewarded Never Quit Belief in Hal Spencer Ayou Ties for Drivers Leadership LeadershipMAYWOOD MAYWOOD PARK Maywood 111 June 11 In harness racing a similar situation to the overflow of horses in the Miami area during the winter sea ¬ son prevails in New York where Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway can afford to be pretty choosy about the kind of horses they let start since these ovals offer the highest purses in the nation with a minimum of 2000 Accordingly when a trotter or pacer repeat ¬ edly gives a bad account of himself in his races they have a silent but blunt way of telling the owner of the undesirable horse to get out with the next van Lou Meggitt the Ohio teamster one morning opened his box at the Roosevelt Raceway post office and found Hal Spen ¬ cers eligibility papers in there He knew at once why and how come Hal Spencer in only a few starts at the metropolitan track had acquired a reputation as a jumping horse Thus Meggitt who in course of the 1952 New York harness racing seaspn be ¬ came the leading ownertrainer at Roose ¬ velt could do only one thing with Hal Spen ¬ cer ship him back to his farm in Ohio In nine starts as a fouryearold Hal Spencer managed to be third but twice and earned the sum of 857 857Many Many another horseman might have given up on Hal Spencer but Meggitt never faltered in his belief that one day the horse would prove that he was pos ¬ sessed of true trotting qualities There was also one factor that fortified Meggitt immensely the only two horses by Hal Spencers sire belonged to the nations topnotch performers They were the four yearold colt Steward Lad who won 14 races out of 27 starts earned over 20000 in 1952 and paced the mile in two minutes flat at Lexington Ky and the three yearold pacing filly Steward Lassie a winner of 15 races out of 31 starts with 1952 earnings of 17000 and a race rec ¬ ord of 2 01 01The The sire of Hal Spencer as well as Stew ¬ ard Lad and Steward Lassie is the now 16 yearold Steward who was an excellent colt performer for the famous trainer Fred Eagan on the Grand Circuit On the strength of his racing record Steward was taken in stud but soon it transpired that he was not fertile enough and only occasionally managed to get a mare in foal Meggitt who lives only seven miles from where Steward was in stud Peninsular Farms at Freemont Ohio six years ago neverthe ¬ less decided to send his mare Sara Lew to him The mating proved successful and Hal Spencer was the result resultHighly Highly elated to have a colt by Stew ¬ ard Meggitt prepared Hal Spencer as a yearling for a contemplated campaign as a twoyearold and the colt took to his lessons eagerly and willingly One day however when Meggitt returned from the track with Hal Spencer the colt hurt his left hindleg when unloaded from the truck This set Hal Spencer back foY quite awhile and when Meggitt took him up again the following year the colt de ¬ veloped curbs and had to be turned out again The series of misfortunes did not end there As a threeyearold Hal Spen ¬ cer broke a bone in his left front foot and was on the shelf for the third time A long rest helped cure Hal Spencer so 1 Meggitt took him to Roosevelt Raceway last year along with his other horses When Hal Spencer began his racing career as a fouryearold he was con ¬ fronted with the strongest opposition in his class right from the outset The out ¬ come of his initial campaign has already been told but Meggitt was not dis couraged couragedWhen When the Ohio stable arrived here this spring Hal Spencer was a member of the contingent His first start was not auspi ¬ cious at all In a bulky field Hal Spencer had drawn post position No 13 and fin ¬ ished ninth beaten by 19 lengths Only four days later however Hal Spencer again starting from the outside was sec ¬ ond to the good filly Filet Mignon In his following races great improvement could be noticed and after several second and third places Hal Spencer finally broke his maiden on May 25 with an effort in 208 Moved up in class Hal Spencer finished fourth twice in his next outings but had to go on the outside all the way in both trips having started from No 7 post Then followed two victories within three days Last Saturday Hal Spencer won a class B trot in 209 and on Tuesday he beat his rivals in 209 Meggitt of course is very happy about this state of affairs and even more than his lofty position as the lead ¬ ing ownertrainer here with winnings of over 8500 he enjoys the arrival of his trotter in the ranks of winners which makes him forget the bums rush Hal Spencer got at Roosevelt lastyear lastyearGay Gay Order only slighted dropped in class won his third race of the year with authority from five class AA opponents Ralph Ayou had him always within striking distance of the leaders and when let loose in the stretch the game pacer had no peer and equalled his previous best time of 207 For Ralph this victory meant regaining the drivers leadership though tied with Earl Roush with 17 wins each Clarence Cur ¬ tis however has by far the best average of all drivers here When he won with Victory Scott in 207 a new record for the colt on Tuesday night he moved into the third spot behind Ayou and Roush with his 16 victories out of 39 starts startsAudrey Audrey Castle with Stan Stucker in the sulky won her fourth race in a row on June 9 to be credited now with five vic ¬ tories out of six starts during this meeting The mare is now in class 22 but Stucker can also start her in class CC which he will presumably do the next time The Me I Win mare is gifted with a high turn of speed and should be dangerous in the slower classified races
