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REFLECTIONS *y NBLS0N wnstan NEW YORK, N. Y., June 18.— In recent weeks the young driver, Stanley Dancer, has occupied the spotlight in the trot world just as Native Dancer has in the thoroughbred world. That poses the question of whether youth or age will triumph in the twenty-eighth running of the Hambletonian at Bill Canes Good Time track at Goshen, N. Y., on August 12. The same day the Test Stakes for three-year-old fillies will be renewed w- at Saratoga Springs. That, however, will not stop a group of thoroughbred lovers from invading the little town of Goshen to witness the event which is the Kentucky Derby of harness racing. Seldom do we see a trotting race, but we love to witness this event which means as much to the people of the trotting world as our big stakes Nmean to us. As a follower of all sports for over a quarter of a Century we have always marveled at the age of the men who drive the sulkies. In boxing we have seen Jersey Joe Walcott perform long after the years when boxers are supposed to be in permanent retirement. In baseball we always perk up when it is announced that Dutch Leonard is to pitch for Chicago, for we can remember Dutch back into the so-called good old days. There is something of an appeal to everyone, we believe, when an old-timer continues to hold his own with the up and coming youngsters who invade every sport year after year. AAA Recently the cables reported that Sir Gordon Richards had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth and in the next few days he won his first Epsom Derby after trying 27 times. Fans talked of his being 49 years old and that it would be surprising if he did not retire before the end of his fiftieth year. It is not that way in the trotting world and that, as we said, amazes us. Last year, we read that Stanley Dancer t Native Dancer Champions Hambletonian at Goshen on August 12th Youth and Age Served in Trotting Derby Bill Cane Busy With Supervising Details Bi Shively of Del Mar, Calif., had won the Hambletonian at 74 years of age. What manner of man is this was the thought that passed through our mind and we made, it a point later to shake hands with this grand old gentleman who is as spry today as he was 30 years ago. He will be in there again this year and we hope to be there to see him drive Bethel Boy, a full brother to Sharp Note, last years winner of the great race. The fact that Bethel Boy did not start as a two-year-old is not bothering Bi, for he points out that he did not start Sharp Note last year after an early spring victory in California until Hambletonian Day, four month later, and still won the race handily. A quite, soft-spoken man with thinning white hair, he is confident that Sharp Notes brother will turn the trickor him again. In our opinion, Bi Shively is one of the top men of the sports world. AAA" Shively is the older driver ever to win a Hambletonian renewal. Ben White, who is now 80, was the last winner of two consecutive renewals. Back in 1942-43 he scored with The Ambassador and Volo Song, who were owned by the late William "Bill" Strang, a Brooklyn warehouseman. White was 70 years old when he scored in 1943. Del Cameron, who has never won the famous Goshen race, but who has tried on several occasions, is now only 33 years old and if he should win with Newport Star, owned by Octave Blake, he will be the youngest driver ever to capture the classic. The late veterinarian, H. M. "Doc." Par-shall was 34 years old in 1934 when -he won at Goshen with Lord Jim and his age record still stands. Newport Star, according to harness experts, may be first or second choice on August 12. Other youthful drivers who will contest Shiveiys effort are Gib White, 38, son of Ben, who is now 80. Gib White has not driven a Hambletonian winner to date, and this year he is slated to drive Famed Abbey, son of Guy Abbey, sire of the immortal Greyhound. In 1950, Del Miller, who is now 40, won the Hambletonian with Lusty Song and he will be back this year with Lively Lady, who shares about equal billing with Newport Star. Lively Lady is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Jenney, of Walnut Hall stud, and if she wins she will be the first filly to do so since Miss Tilly in 1949. AAA It is expected that Bud Cotter of Hanover, Pa., will drive Abbasong, whose jaw was broken twice in the last six months but it has knit well and he seems no worse for wear. Other drivers now at Goshen are Tommy Berry, who won the first Hambletonian at Goshen in 1930 with Hanovers Ber_tha. Berry was formerly a jockey in flat races and is now 70. Fred Egan, who claims he was born in a boxstall in Iowa, has been a two-time winner of the Goshen event. Egan, now 74, has four entries in the Sulky Derby with Norland and Bussy Tilly well liked. Harry Pownall, one-time winner of the Hambletonian at Good Time Park, is also at Goshen with several hopefuls. Pownall is trainer-driver for E. Donald Harriman, who is considered a patron saint of harness racing. Frank Ervin, who trains for Bill Cane and who is now 79* is also at the upstate course awaiting the big event. There will be a new father-and-son set of drivers this year in Harry Bedell, 57, and his son, John, 31, both of Ridgewood, N. J. Harry Bedell drove Tital Hanover to victory in 1945. In former years, Ben White, now 80, was paired with his son, Gibson, Continued on Page Thirty-Nine REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight 38, but he turned the reins over to the "boy" when he retired. AAA This years renewal of the Hamble-tonian will be. the richest in the history of the race for it has reached a new all-time high of 00,000. If 12 to 14 go to the post out of the 8$ still eligible, the prize will hit 10,000. The biggest previous purse was 5,000, which was paid the winner in-1951. The distribution at Bill Canes Grand Circuit meeting roughly equivalent to baseballs major leagues, from August 10 to August 15, will exceed 00,000 for five days of racing. Since the Yonkers meeting ended, Cane has focused his entire attention on Goshen. He is there supervising the infinite details for the biggest day of the trotting year. Although Bill himself is getting on in years, his greatest interest in the harness sport has always been the Hambletonian. Harness racing, along with that of the thoroughbreds, took long steps forward in recent years and Cane is one of those responsible for its advancements- He is now 79 years old, but not a day goes by that he is not concentrating on the race With which he will always be associated. George Morton Levy, one of the founders of Roosevelt Raceway, is the father of night trotting. If there is a father of modern harness racing the honors must go to Bill Cane.
