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On the Trot By MORRIE KURLANSKY 1 Moses Starts at Morrison, 111., Fair Dougherty Horses Race in Good Form Polchok at Wheel of Starting Gate MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111., Aug. 29. Early in the Sportsmans Park meeting Glen Barker, Rockford, 111., owner of Moses, the venerable trotting gelding who won over 0,000 in a career extending over eight long years, announced on TV that the 11 -year-old would be retired to a life of ease at his farm, and Dee Stover paraded Moses decked out with a floral blanket in front of the Sportsmans Park grandstand. Much to our surprise, we learned that Moses started again last Saturday at the Morrison, 111., fair races, finishing second to Cliff Win. Incidentally, first money for each of the two heats amounted to all of 7.50 and Moses, therefore, must have earned half of that sum for his exertions. Maybe it was just that Mr. Barker wished to give the old-timer some additional exercise to keep him limbered up or to give the people of Morrison a special treat in presenting them his former trotting star, but we are pretty sure it was not the prize money that induced him to get Moses out of retirement again. Talking of former good horses that have reached the end of the road, Guest Star, a winner of oyer 5,000 in his time, barred during the Sportsmans Park meeting for being dangerous and unmanageable, started recently at Wolverine Raceway and finished last in a field that a few years ago he could have beaten with the greatest of ease. We have never talked to a horse, or better, no. horse ever talked to us, but sometimes we cannot help bul feeling pretty sorry for the old geldings nobody has any use for when their speed is gone. Wilbur Beattie, former trainer-, for S. A. Camp, Shafter, Calif., and Paul S. Dougherty, LaGrange, HI., among his better-known patrons, was the star of Thursday nights program, scoring a double with Starbuck, a four-year-old gelding by JJarnley and owned by Earl Pierce, Fort Wayne, Ind., in the first race and the His Honor colt, Kings Dale, owned by O. C. King, Marion, Ind., in the fourth race. With Earl Pierces Speed Gail$ he got an additional second place, but finished out of the money with his only other driving assignment of the night, Scots Guard, the latter making a break in the stretch when laying in third position. Horses owned by Dougherty continue to race in good form, with the six-year-old Cardinal Prince mare, C -k, pacing to a new fast mark, 2:05, in the featured BB pace, and the three-year-old-Biarritz gelding, Coot Case, getting second place behind the surprise winner, Mel Harris, in a C class pace. . .Everett Osborn got some consolation for the failure of General Tompse and Scotch Lass in the Great Midwest Trot the night before when he annexed Thursdays sixth race with Mel Harris, a Kings Counsel colt, in 2:08, a new half-mile mark for the pacer. Since opening night here last Monday a new man is at the wheel of John Dales mobile starting gate. He is Herbert Polchok, 37, a resident of the thrivingsubur-ban community, Chicago Ridge, whose 1,500 inhabitants elected the able young man as their mayor for a four-year term. What with .his mayoral duties, his real-estate business and his driving chores at night, Herbert is quite a busy man. While it is essential to effect a perfect start to have a good sense of pace, the driver of the huge starting gate must also have a sense of depth and be aware to a fraction of a second when the wings of the gate are closing so as to know whether to stay in the middle of the track or go to the outer rail. Herbert is no stranger to harness racing for his father-in-law is Henry Bloome, the Taylorville, HI., trainer, who races a public stable hereabouts. The Chicago-owned Paul Wixom stable, trained by Harry Fitzpatrick, made a sweep of the Milwaukee State Fair feature races. While Eastern Shore and Gene Jester won the trotting and pacing divisions of the Wisconsin Breeders .three-year-old stakes, Miss" Mamie won the free-for-all pace in two straight heats, outclassing her field. While Miss Mamie covered the mile heat in 1 2:07, her time for the one and one-eighth miles distance of 2:17 must be regarded as excellent, being just two and one-fifth seconds slower than Prince Jays world record established at Santa Anita. The Milwaukee State Fair Park track, owing to the automobile races held there Sunday, does not provide the best footing for trotters and pacers. Maximilian, the recent winner of the Great Midwest Trot here, was sold at the 1951 Tattersall yearling sales for ,200, and his present owner acquired him after the sales for ,550. Although the colt showed great promise as a two-year-old he developed curbs and being rather growthy he was finally turned out and was not raced as a juvenile. Acclaimed as the best three-year-old trotter seen at the Northville Downs meeting:, Maximilian suffered from a sharp tooth in his Review Futurity engagement at Springfield earlier this month, which caused his breaks in the three-year-old classic. Equipped with a special bit. before coming to .Maywood the well-bred trotter, he is by Greyhounds sire, Guy Abbey, was at his best behavior, going his two miles with machine-like precision for a new record of 2:06 in the second heat. Immediately after Wednesdays race Maximilian was shipped to Columbus, Ohio, where he will compete at the Ohio State Fair with the ,000 Governors Cup as his major objective, a race that was won by Bomb Sight in 1952 and by Risen Sun in 1951.
