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3 . | I Jill 5 1 On the Trot | U By MORRIE KURLANSKY 1 Busse and Rouse in Spectacular Spill Imperial Hanover Never Made Grade £ Many Rags-to-Riches Horses Though vo" MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, HI., June 15. — Don Busse and Billy Rouse were the rr victims of a spectacular spill last Friday night. Going into the first turn, Abbe May, the charge of Don Busse, made a break and fell on the track as being hit with a sledgehammer. Billy Rouse, with Doris Zom-belle at that moment was right behind Busse and crashed into the latters sulky. Doris Zombelle also fell, while Billy made a somer- U sault that would have been a credit to any circus acrobat. For Billy, it was the second spill within two weeks, but he was lucky again, suffering only bruises. Busse had to t= be carried off the track and taken to the q hospital for a check-up. The two horses sustained only slight abrasions. Buying a young, unraced horse often is as much of a gamble as picking the Daily Doable for 10 days in a row, or selecting the Kentucky Derby winner a year in advance. A few years ago, as shrewd a horseman as the late Sep Falin, acting as an agent, bought a yearling at the Harrisburg sales by "the name of Imperial Hanover for the sum of 2,000. The colt was a full brother to such outstanding harness horses as Rodney and Egan Hanover, both winners of over 00,000 during their racing" careers. The ultimate owner later gave the horse to Johnny Simpson to train and staked Imperial Hanover in all the classic events for two-and three-year-old trotters. To make a long story short, Imperial Hanover never made the grade, maybe not so much because he lacked speed, but by an infliction of a whole series of ailments. The last that has been heard of Imperial Hanover was that he had to be turned out on account of total blindness. His earnings up to his retirement last year amounted to not more than 20. On the other hand, there are quite a few rags-to-riches horses in the sulky sport. One of these was the Canadian-owned pacer, Doctor Stanton, who dropped dead a short while ago at Hazel Park after having won over 70,000 for his owner, who paid 00 for the horse. Fans here last Friday night saw another of these bargain horses iir action. It was the 11-year-old gelding, Noble F., owned by Hollis Regur, of Keosaugua, Iowa. Hollis Regur bought Noble F. in 1942 at the Princeton, 111., auction for 5. Noble F. was then a two-year-old. In his very first start as a three-year-old, Noble F. won himself out for Hollis and closed the year out with earnings of more than 00. As the horse reached maturity, he got better and better and Noble F/s racing career reached its climax on August 17, 1949. That day, Noble F. was staked in the Ann Rutledge Trophy, a class-14 pace stake during the Grand Circuit meeting at Springfield, 111. Noble F. won both heats of this event and in the first trip joined the select two-minute-list with an effort in two minutes flat. In the second heat, Noble F., with Regur in the sulky, paced the mile in 2:01%. In the beaten field were such speedsters as Mr. Dale, Wilmington Direct, Alemitc, Tempered Volo, Gay One, Brother Harmony, Purdue Hal, Hodgen, Rudagar, Bob Mitchell, Helens Chief, Bud Mite, Yankee Chief and Lorraine. For several seasons Noble F. was one of the outstanding sidewheelers at the Chi-cagoland harness meetings although the big gelding often had trouble with the then-used Smith gate at Maywood Park. - There were several occasions when Noble F. refused to leave with* his field and one time a refund had to be made to the public, Who had made him the favorite. Noble F. had another good season in 1950, but then turned sour. In 1951, he started only four times and could, not get into the money in any of his starts. Hollis then brought him back to his farm in Iowa, but Noble F. didnt feel too well on the pasture, either. Last winter, Hollis took him back in training and Noble F. came back to the. races last Friday in a class-B pace with lifetime earnings of 1,121.39. Starting from an outside post, Noble F. was in seventh position for the first, half, then made a mild move on the backstretch, but could not get to the leaders, indicating, however, that he still has some lick left. With one or two races more under his belt, Noble F. might well arrive in faster class races again. Word was received from Hazel Park that the Castleton Farms H. B. Chief, mile record holder with a 2:01 mile at that five-eighths track, won the 0,000 Hazel Park Pacing Derby at a distance of one and a quarter miles in the excellent time of 2:35, last quarter in a blistering 29% seconds. Second behind the Wayne Smart-guided pacer was Royal Blackstonc, followed by Direct Rhythm, who last year covered the mile in 1:566 at Lexington to become, the fastest harness horse in training-. H. D. Hanover, with Edgar Leonard in the sulky, finished fifth. When Bill Bloss won a class-B pace Friday night in 2:05 to improve his record by nearly two seconds, he joined the ranks j of first-class, four-year-old pacers currently campaigning here. Besides Bill Bloss, who was unraced at the beginning of the ; meeting, there are Fairbanks, Peter Belle, ICing Gaines, Kings Ale, Prince Will Go, Gay Order, Phil Bob, and maybe Real Dusty, all in the same age group and this bunch would make for an outstanding race, if these four-year-old pacers could be "brought together in a special race. For tomorrow night, a 10-race program has been carded, featuring a class-AA pace with Billy Wasson, Sheldon Pointer, Tempered Volo, Guy Ganonian, Josedale Double Hal and Grattan Truax. Co-featured is the Northern Illinois Colt Stake, a ,500 event for three-year-old trotters. This race, which is open to Illinois-bred colts only, found six entries. t Earl Roush extended his margin of leadership in the drivers standings to two, now having a total of 19 wins, when he romped home with the 2-5 favorite, Prince Newport, last Friday night. The colt, who is owned by K. M. Coole, of McConnels-ville, Ohio, also improved his record by one-fifth to 2:091/s in his third victory out of five starts. . .The average mutuel handle for the first 38 nights of the current meeting is 07,112, as compared to 78,910 for the same period last year. Best average handle for a Maywood Park meeting was recorded in 1948 with 22,901, a figure that might be closely approached before this session is over.
