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On the Trot I By MORRIE KURLANSKY Roy Griebel Enters Express Colby 4 Trotter in Saturdays 0000 Race i Sally Austins B Haven Victorious f SPORTSMANS PARK, Cicero, 111., Aug. 19. One day before declarations for Satur-J day nights big trotting event, the 0,000 Invitational Trot, companion feature .of the Chicago Downs meeting, were due, Jerry Baier, director of racing at the Cicero oval, surprised everybody with the announcement that-Roy Griebel, the well-known Marengo, 111., sportsman, had entered his first-class, three - year - old standard-bred. Express j Colby, for a crack at the highest purse hung ; out for diagonally-gaited harness horses in ; the Chicago area this season. Express Colby ; returned over the week end from Goshen, : N. Y., where he participated in the 17,117 , Hambletonian Stakes with Dee Stover at the reins. The Mt. Vernon reinsman, who guided Express Colby to a series of tories during the Maywood and early Sportsmans parks meetings, will be back in the sulky behind the son of Colby Hanover, and will be the lone sophomore trotter in a tough field of aged free-for-all campaigners like Risen Sun, Malcolm, Little Steve. Royal Vickie and other distinguished performers. Monday afternoon at the Springfield State Fair was dedicated to the four divisions of the Illinois State Fair Colt Stake, exclusively for trotters and pacers sired by stallions standing in this state, although ownership of the eligible colts is in no way confined to Illinois patrons. What the huge throng at the famous mile ,track witnessed was the richest single race program ever presented anywhere in the world. Each of the four divisions of the Illinois State Fair Colt Stake carried a purse of 56,075 for a total distribution of 224,300 for the four races contested on Monday afternoon. This enormous sum is accumulated by the allocation of one-half per cent of the mutuel handle at the Chicago area harness tracks. The value of these Springfield stakes, therefore, is in direct relation to the success of harness racing in Chicago and, with a marked uptrend both at Maywood and here, the ultimate prize in each of the four divisions might well reach 100,000 in a few seasons from now. It goes without saying that the rich Springfield races are a boon to Illinois breeders, and harness horses bred in the Prairie State will fetch prices commensurate with the earnings potential of these youngsters in their two- and three-year-old form. B Haven, brown gelding by Eddie Havens Gay Sue, and owned by Sally Austin of Round Grove, 111., finished second in his elimination heat, annexed the final elimination heat in 2:03. and turned back Down Town, a Brookdale colt owned by George JP. Benham of Baldwin, N. Y., winner of the first elimination heat in 2:05, and Broom, a filly by Brookdale, victor in the second elimination heat, for a decisive triumph in the fourth dash. He was driven by Duge Worsham since his regular driver, John Peat, broke a leg three weeks before the big race. The three-year-old trotting division went to Calvin Bredbergs New Windsor, Illinois-owned filly, Still Better, by LeelikeCarol M. Earl, with Glen Hawkins at the reins. There were only three elimination heats required for the three-year-old trot as Still Better garnered the final elimination heat, the conditions of the race stating that the horse winning two heats would be declared the victor. In the two-year-old pace, John Sitzman, owned by O.-H. Boner of Taylorville, 111., and driven by Russell Britenfield, who stands the colts sire, Cold Cash, at Taylorville, won the first elimination in 2:08 was third in the final elimination and defeated the other two dash winners, Shooting Abbe and Atomic Rocket, in the deciding heat in 2:10. The two-year-old trotting division received only seven entries and the race was decided according to the two in three plan. Aggie O., owned by Philip Milburn, Sr., of West DePere, Wis., won the first heat in 2:11, while Bagdad, a Brookdale colt owned by William H. Laue from Hinsdale, who bought Bagdad only a short while ago from the partnership of C. W. Waite and Dee Stover, romped home in the second heat and also won the final match race against Aggie O. for the second success of his owner in the same stake, Which was won last year by the Hinsdale patrons Steve Tell, second to Still Better on Monday in the three-year-old trot. In Mondays first race here, Merry March finished first and the second horse was April Girl . . . One of the most consistent horses at this meeting is Mrs. J. C. Rileys Ohio-owned. trotter, Clyde. In his last seven starts, the four-year-old Calumet Crusader colt ha:; never been worse than second and won at the mile distance as well as at 6Vs furlongs, and Monday night at 1 1-16 miles . . .Real Dusty, a starter in last years Little Brown Jug, major stake for three-year-old pacers, finally found the way to the winners circle Monday; scoring in 2:08Vs, which is a new half-mile mark for the Dusty Hanover colt. His owner, Peter J. Pauly pf Slinger, Wis., owned Dusty Hanover, an outstanding race horse in his time and now a proven sire, but sold the stallion to Illinois interests to make the future offspring eligible for the rich Springfield stakes. . .The Pennsylvania-owned stable of, Frank Popfinger, trained by Al Retzerhas been shipped to Greenville, Ohio.
