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DeSpirito Handles Four Winners at Rockingham Completes Good Day in Saddle Aboard Girder in Feature Race By AVERY BROWN Staff Correspondent " ROCKINGHAM PARK, Salem, N. H., Aug-. 19. With his honor, Governor Hugh Gregg, of New Hampshire, among the 11,-499 patrons witnessing the running of the mile and three-quarter handicap named in his honor, Tony DeSpirito climaxed another great riding feat as he skilfully guided Jamie-Lynn Stables Girder to a thrilling decision over Pebblebrook Farms Ed the Great. - By virtue of the victory, DeSpirito was gaining his fourth score of the afternoon and by doing so halted a skein of four triumphs for Ed the Great. Two lengths separated the pair at .the end of the marathon route, with the winner being timed in 2:57 to register a new track mark. There were seven starters in the Governor Gregg .Marathon Handicap and the once classy Lets Dance, ridden by Chris Rogers, established most of the pace as Keith Stuart on Ed the Great and DeSpirito with the ultimate winner took back and raced as a team for a mile and a quarter. Stuart "was the first to move and sent Ed the Great up on the outside nearing the turn out of the backstretch for the final time around. The forward progress of the Gilded Knight gelding brought him on even terms with Lets Dance, Country Editor and Bit-O-Moon as the quartet spread across the track and set out for the final run to the wire. v Meanwhile, Girder was moving closer along the inside and, with a sixteenth of a mile left in the race, DeSpirito sent his charge between horses with a rush to come out in front and continued on to cinch the victory, with Ed the Great pressing gamely. Girder wiund up a slight choice over the runner-up and paid .40. The victory gave - DeSpirito his twenty-seventh win of the meeting, and it marked the first time of the current session that he had earned the" lead over Darrell Madden in the race for jockey honors. Madden has 26 victories to his credit. Henry A. Kimballs Algasir carried his impost of 122 pounds to a popular score in the Nashua Purse which preceded the feature. The Sir Gallahad m. gelding, given ! a well judged ride from jockey Vernon Bush, came from slightly off a rapid pace set by iNavy Lord to take the lead as he straight- ened for the final three-sixteenths of a mile in the six-furlong test and drew clear.
