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5 . . i % On the Trot I By MORRIE KURLANSKY J Four Win First Time OutThis Season Smart Sets Unofficial World Record I Has 32 Winners Out of 42 Starts j 4* MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111., June 20. — On Thursday no less than four horses u r who made their first starts of the season won their respective races. In addition to that two horses who started for the first time here this year also came home as winners. The victor in the second race Thursday night, the three-year --old gelding B Haven owned by Sally Jane Austin, Round Grove, HI., and driven by John Peat was more than J lucky to made his seasons bow a successful one. The pacer broke stride on the clubhouse turn the first time around. After the |] race, driver John Peat was set down for j j three days for causing interference in the I 5 race. . .Even Better, a. five-year-old trotting mare owned by Calvin Bredberg, New i Windsor,. 111., came back to the races in winning form, scoring an easy two-length victory in 2:13. Charles Flynn was the winning driver. Roy Riegle, new arrival at Maywood Park, grave serious notice that his stable of trotters and pacers is to be reckoned with for the last two weeks of this meeting and the forthcoming session at Sportsmans Park. On Thursday night, | Roy started three horses and two of I them landed in the winners circle, while -the third one finished second. This makes it three wins out of four starts for Roy. Incidentally, the two winners Roy steered on Thursday night accomplished their. tasks in very commendable style. Both Trigg County, a three-year-old pacing gelding by Calumet Adam, owned by R. W. Shaffer, Vanlue, Ohio, and Bannock Bay, a five-year-old pacing stallion by Darnley, owned by W. E. 1 Beck, Juneau, Wis., came within one-fifth of a second of their respective records, 2:08 and 2:07%.. like all the rest of the trainers, who have raced this spring at Hazel Park, Roy is full of praise for that five-eighths of a mile race track, and especially that the surface of the track was well cushioned so, as to make the hoofbeats hardly audible ; but at the same time extremely fast. Roy also reports that Wayne "Curly" Smart, who races the stable of Castleton Farms, set some kind of an unofficial world "record. Curly started 42 times and won 32 races, was second four times and once third. Among the victories for the Castleton menage were the two marathon feature events of the Hazel Park meeting, Scotch Harbor winning the 0,000 Detroit Trotting Derby and H. B. Chief the pacing counterpart with an equal value. Besides Roy Riegle, Clarence Curtis was a double winner on Thursday night. In the fifth race, Clarence started the five-year-old trotting mare, Melody Miss, owned by Ed Duffey, Fairmont, Minn., for the first time on the trot in 1953. Melody Miss scored in 2:09 to reduce her record by two and one-fifth seconds. In the nights feature Clarence was up behind ShortyDe Ponti. Although leaving on a break which extended into a long run around the first turn, Shorty De Ponti was never in danger of losing the race, and after getting the lead was pulled away to win by three lengths from Hal Spencer in 2:086. For Clarence this was his twentieth winner of the meeting, which puts him in a tie for second place in the drivers standings with Ralph Ayou, just one win removed from the leader, Earl Roush. Percentagewise, however, Clarence is sure to wind up on top of all drivers for he started only 48 times. In addition to his 20 wins, he has eight seconds and five thirds. Talking about a good "in-the-money" percentage, young Richard Blakeman, who 3arlier in the week broke his maiden, came right back on Thursday night with his second winner. It was old-timer Captain Pointer making his first start of the season that complimented Richards ability as a trainer and driver. The nine-year-old won in 2:08%, beating some good B class pacers. Richards Maywood Park record now reads as follows: nine starts, two wins, two seconds, and three thirds. Not at all bad for a newcomer. Hi-Los Forbes, who set an all-time half-mile track record of 1:58% at Roosevelt Raceway on June 6, broke the Rosecroft Raceway record a few nights ago, winning by three-quarters of a length over Meadow Rice, last years winner of the Little Brown Jug, in 2:01%, which kayoed Good Times 2:04 standard. . . . Horsemen at Roosevelt Raceway, New York, are confronted with a serious problem this year. There are too many horses stabled at the two New York trotting tracks and for a good many trotters and pacers there are hardly more than one o rtwo racing opportunities every two weeks. It was suggested that Roosevelt Raceway card an addi- tional race each night, which would make for a nine-race program, same as here at Maywood Park. The New York rules, however, at present prohibit a ninth race nightly and an amendment would be necessary. The New York track, in order to deal with the present overflow of horses, beginning this week will hold a series of qualifying races. Horses must beat 2 : 10 to gain admission to the regular races at ; night. All throtters and pacers not able to i negotiate the mile in the required minimum time will forfeit stable space at Roosevelt ; Raceway. This is a rather drastic measure, , and may not be fortunate in some instances as some horses will not hit their • best stride until later in the season, but ; trainers are forced to ship them elsewhere s if they are eliminated in the qualifying races. . . . Buttercup Hanover, a 10-year-old trotting mare owned by Amos G. LeCaire, West DePere, Wis., and trained by Jake i Mahoney, was a winner the other night ; here. She is one of the few trotters and I pacers sired by the first winner of the i Hambletonian Stakes, Calumet Chuck, to be still active on the race track. . . . Seems 5 that Howard Beissinger has a very nice ; trotting colt in Grand Star Volo in his J barn. The William H. Hecht, Celina, Ohio-owned two-year-old won his second schooling race in a row on Thursday evening, shaving almost five seconds from his record. - Both Grand Star Volos sire and dam l are owned by Mr. Mecht and the sire, High l Volo, was a double-gaited performer, getting - a record of 2:03 on the trot and a i pacing mark of 2 : 05 over a half-mile track. . The dam, Amarylla Direct, is an unraced i daughter of the late Billy Direct, 1:55.
