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— : ; — — ThistleDown Cards 5,000 Features Ohio Derby and Handicap Carrying Tracks Name to Be Run at 44-Day Meeting By RONALD KRANCER Staff Correspondent CRANWOOD PARK, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, June 18. — Managing director Louis Pondfield, of Cleveland Raceways, Inc., operators of Cranwood Park and ThistleDown announced the stakes scheduled for the latter track this morning. ThistleDown, which burned to the ground in 1944 is now being re-built and is scheduled to open its fall meeting on September 11. It will be a 44-day session winding up activities on October 31. The stakes program is one of the most ambitious in the history of racing in the Buckeye State and along with the stake-studded program to be presented at Randall Park this summer the Cleveland area should witness the finest racing- ever presented in this section. Heading the ThistleDown program will be the 5,000 added Ohio Derby for three-year-olds at one mile and one-eighth. This fixture will be up for decision on October 10 and three-year-olds from various sectors are expected to be seen in action. Last season the Ohio Derby was revived at Cranwood Park and carried a ,000 purse. At one time, the Ohio Derby was one of the leading three-year-old races in the nation ; and was run at the old Maple Heights and Bainbridge tracks. Handicap at Mile and Three-Sixteenths The ThistleDown Handicap also for a purse of 5,000 will be run on October 24 and will be over a mile and three-sixteenths for three-year-olds and older. This will be the first running of the event and should stir up a great deal of interest in this area. There will be two stakes valued at ,500 each. The Imp, for fillies and mares, at one mile and one-sixteenth will be run on October 17. The Imp has been named for the best mare everbred in Ohio. The race was inaugurated last season as an overnight handicap at Cranwood, but this will be its initial running as a stake event. The other ,500 race will be the Ohio Endurance for two-year-olds matching strides at a mile and one-sixteenth. Two-year-olds racing in the fall of the year always create a great deal of interest and this event is scheduled for closing day. Rounding out the program will be the Susan at three-quarters of a mile for two-year-old fillies. The purse for the Susan will be ,000 and it will be run on September 26. The name has been derived from the famous Black-Eyed Susan run each spring at Pimlico for three-year-old fillies. In addition to the stakes program a series of distance races will be held with a total purse distribution of over 8,000.
