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On the Trot I II I By MORRIE KURLANSKY 1 1Lord Lord Steward Fullfills All Faith Taylor Ridge Proves Dangerous Foe Billy Wasson Displays Rare Form FormMAYWOOD MAYWOOD PARK Maywood 111 May 4 Lord Steward second richest trotter in training opened his 1954 campaign with double victory in May wood Parks Open Trot on Saturday night demonstrating before a crowd of 8868 harness enthusiasts who wag ¬ ered 334035 on the ninerace program speed stamina purity of gait and gameness qualities that have en ¬ deared this trotter to uncounted fans from coast to coast Al ¬ though installed an even money choice by the public on account of his excellent rec ¬ ord last year Lord Steward by no means could be regarded as a sure thing in Sat ¬ urdays doubleheader the sevenyearold gelding making his seasonal bow while with the exception of Shorty De Ponti all other starters in the race already had two outings this year The son of Darnley how ¬ ever showed his high class winning both heats with authority if by slim margins marginsAs As expected Taylor Ridge Hugh K Funderburgs promising trotter was Lord Stewards most dangerous foe and the Spud Hanover gelding trotted an excel ¬ lent race in the first heat battling it out with Lord Steward from the head of the stretch right to the wire losing by just a head in 207 equalling his own seasons mark Taylor Ridge as usual was fast from the gate but starting from the eighth position he had to go in the fourth lane around the clubhouse turn in order to get the lead Once on top he contin ¬ ued at a fast clip and many of his follow ¬ ers might have feared that Taylor Ridge would have little left for the final stretch drive The chestnut trotter however proved that his winning streak of 14 straight up to Saturday was genuine and to be second to a performer like Lord Steward is no disgrace to any trotter In any case Taylor Ridge answered one question namely that he not only has enormous speed but plenty of heart too tooIn In the second heat the horses lined up behind the starting gate in the order of the finish of the first dash which gave Lord Steward the rail and Taylor Ridge the No 2 spot Jim Kealey in the sulky behind Taylor Ridge tried a different tactic in this heat realizing that his charge just an hour ago had the hardest trip of his racing career Accordingly he did not try to get the lead but let Lord Steward take com ¬ mand Clarence Curtis behind Shorty De Ponti and Jack Hankins immediately took advantage of this situation and when they reached the quarter pole Taylor Ridge was in fourth position the whole field tightly bunched with Lord Steward setting a mod ¬ erate pace paceIt It was on the paddock turn that Taylor Ridge travelling for the first tune in the middle of the pack made a break having grazed the inner rail when the horses in back of him moved up on him Jim Kealey tried his est to get him back on stride but when he finally succeeded the field was over 30 lengths ahead of him and Taylor Ridge for all practical pur ¬ poses was out of the race Dick Williams behind Lord Steward being rid of the danger in this unexpected manner from there on just drove a waiting race on top relying on his trotters tremendous late speed As hard as Shorty De Ponti and Daisy Astra tried to catch Lord Steward in the stretch they never succeeded no matter that they actually finished within one length of the Darnley offspring Dick Williams never urged his charge but let him go on his own courage courageThat That time often can be deceptive in judging a harness race was again exempli ¬ fied in this second heat Lord Stewards performance being clocked in a substand ¬ ard 211 the slowest race of the night However if one would break down the fractional times of the race he would dis ¬ cover that Lord Steward travelled at bet ¬ ter than 200 speed the last eighth and there are but few harness horses that can come up with a burst of speed like that at the end of a mile mileAfter After Saturday nights race Dick Wil ¬ liams immediately made arrangements to send the outstanding trotter owned by Ralph H Kroening of Milwaukee on a long journey which will see Lord Stew ¬ ard competing at all major harness ovals in the Midwest and the East While the other horses of the Kroening stable will continue to race on the Chicago circuit in care of Williams this efficient reins man will fly each week to the different tracks where Lord Steward is engaged to guide the trotter in his races against the nations trotting elite eliteIf If Hugh K Punderburg the owner and Jim Kealey the trainer entertained any hopes of beating Lord Steward with Taylor Ridge Saturday they certainly did not think that veteran pacer Billy Wasson in his seasonal debut would be up to such an outstanding effort as he actually was win ¬ ning Saturdays BB pace from Battle Prince in 206 a new record for the meet ¬ ing The Indianaowned Battle Prince driven by Clay Hasch also showed that he still possesses that high speed which ena ¬ bled him to win m 200 at Lexington two years ago and indicated that together with stablemate Atomic Might he will be a major factor in forthcoming races for the fastclass pacers pacersSeen Seen in the winners circle the past few nights presenting trophies were erst ¬ while child movie star Jackie Coogan all done up in western style and reveal ¬ ing that he lost his locks since the days of The Kid when waving his tengal ¬ lon hat to the crowd Mrs Guy Crippen widow of the late trainer who developed Lord Steward won the Hambletonian with Mainliner and made Highland Ellen the richest female pacer in the history of the sport Golden Key sevenyear old pacing mare owned by Nick Mouw of Cedar Rapids Iowa finally reached the end of the road After a losing streak of 69 straight the judges declared the horse ineligible for competition here hereJack Jack Friedley young Iowa trainer and recent upset winner with the 14yearold trotting mare Nancy Benboe became a father last week end Dee Stover still has the lead in the driver standings with eight victories but now is closely pursued by Howard Beissinger and Williams each with seven wins
