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* "" • C v ° On the Trot By MORRIE KURLANSKY — 1 Leonard Wins Both Ends of Double Delay at Start Results in Breaking .«£ Gene Hayes Great Finishing Power MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111., June uj 16. — Saturday night marked the first oc-Z casion that one driver won both halves of the Daily Double this year. Edgar Leonard was the lucky man and accomplished the feat with Black Haven and Miss Abbe Cash. For Black Haven it was the second victory in the career of the H. R. Warren and Son-owned three-year-old pacing gelding out of 23 starts. The gelding, however, placed in Z some important two-year-old events last year to earn over ,000 in 1952. In the - second half of the Daily Double, that in-cidentally produced, with 6,340, the high- _ est Daily Double pool since Maywood Park opened in 1946, Leonard guided the three- year-old filly, Miss Abbe Cash, owned by Q W. J. Olinger, of Aurora, HI., to an easy victory in 2:11. For the fleet-gaited miss it was the seventh triumph out of a total of eight starts. Last year, Miss Abbe Cash was a sensation on the Illinois fair circuit, winning six races in a row and finishing third in her only other start, which was the second heat of the 0,537.50 Illinois State Fair Colt Stake for two-year-old pacers, won by Gene Jester in 2:07%. With Jack Leonard in the sulky, Miss Abbe Cash had won the first elimination heat for this rich stake. The filly earned ,565 in her first campaign and will be pointed for the three-year-old division of the same rich_ Springfield stake. What an unforeseen delay can do to some horses was demonstrated in Saturday nights fourth race, a CC trot. The eight trotters had paraded before the grandstand and were given their last tune-up by scoring several times on the backstretch, when a horse scheduled to go in the final race of the night broke down during his warm-up mile. When the accident occurred it was two minutes before the scheduled post time, but since Chief Brooke, the afflicted horse, was not able to leave the track on his own power he had to be carted off the track and the loading operation, of course, took more than two minutes. By the time Chief Brooke was removed, the eight starters for the fourth race had all cooled out considerably and the result was that six horses in the field made a break during the race. As it usually takes several warm-up miles to get a harness horse up to concert pitch, the breaking in this particular race had to be regarded more as an actof frustration than lack of trotting ability on part of the horses involved. Under normal conditions the races go strictly off at the scheduled time, the judges being ex-. tremcly aware of the necessity to get a harness horse "hot" to the post. Jim Kealey, the Canadian driver, also scored a double victory Saturday night. After a series, of bad races, not as far as sheer speed is concerned, mind you, the Volomite colt, Mighty Bob/ finally stayed flat for the whole mile and came .from far back to garner his third victory of the year, and improved his record by almost three seconds. Gene Hayes clearly dominated the free-for-all pacers on Saturday night to win in 2:04%. The Dominion Grattan stallion is a horse with tremendous late speed and Dale Wingay could not muster enough strength in the homestretch to prevent the victory of the Herman Graham-owned pacer. Gene Hayes mile was the third fastest of the meeting and the fourth trip in better than 2:05 here this year. Gay Order, who had the rail position in that race, could not take advantage of this usually favored spot and finished last lacking the speed to keep up with the fast clip set by Dale Wingay. Royal Vickie clipped a second and three-fifths from her previous best time over a half-mile track when she won the feature race on Saturday night, the ,580 Grey-- hound Trot Stake in 2:06, flat. The Darn-ley mare proved superior to Spud Hart and five other trotters in the faster brackets. The ten-year-old Little Steve, the horse with the highest earnings in that race, while an infrequent winner nowadays nevertheless is very consistent finishing again third on Saturday night to be in the money eight times out of nine starts this year. With three weeks to go the mutuel play at Maywood Park is well ahead of last years corresponding figures and there is a possibility with good weather conditions prevailing for the balance of the * meeting that the record handle of 1948 might be equalled. . .After 40 nights of racing in the books Earl Roush is the leading driver with 19 wins followed by Ralph Ayou with 18 victories and Clarence Curtis with 17 wins. Billy Rouse and Tom Wilburn are tied for fourth place, each having1 driven 15. winners . . . A few nights ago Doctor Cooper, a favorite with the Chicagoland harness racing fans for several seasons now, made his debut at Roosevelt Raceway in a junior-free-for-all pace. Driven by Gene Riegle, Doctor Cooper went down to the quarter in :29%, led at the half in 1:00% and the three-quarters in 1:31%. Coming into the homestretch Doctor Cooper had spent his speed and finished fifth in the six-horse field. The race was won by Steward Lad in the excellent time of 2:02. Roadmaster, a four-year-old Volomite pacer, -who broke his maiden last year at Maywood Park and won several races thereafter at the local track, is campaigning in the East this year. The Chester Fleure -trained colt recently set a new track reqord at Rosecroft Raceway, Oxon Hill, Md., when he won the first division of the Eastern Shore Pace in 2:04, lowering Good Times former mark by two-fifths of a second. . .Recent winners at Hazel Park, Detroit, include former Maywood Park regulars such as Earls Pied Piper, Miss Goldie G., Lyde, Chief Strong, Cobb Hanover, Snappy Spencer. . .The noted trainer-driver, Ralph Baldwin, scored last week at Hazel Park with the two-year-old pacer Excellent Chief in 2:08% for owner Col. E. J. Baker, St. Charles, HI.. . .The TJ.S.T.A. has registered a total of 2,474 trotters and pacers through May 31, this year. The corresponding figure for 1952 was 1,864. The registration increase amounts to 33 per cent and is in keeping with gains being registered this year in almost all phases of the harness sport.
