view raw text
On the Trot TrotBy By MORRIE KURLANSKY KURLANSKYClever Clever Tee Finally Finds Win Circle Edith Mouw Upsets With Fay Axtel Baker Gives Church to St Charles CharlesMAYWOOD MAYWOOD PARK Maywood 111 May 7 Ransom G Yeagers sixyearold trot ¬ ting gelding Clever Tee in his fifth bid of the season for vic ¬ tors laurels finally crashed the winners circle in what was probably the finest ef ¬ fort in the racing ca ¬ reer of this honest and courageous campaigner With sedate and skill ¬ ful trainer Earl Roush at the reins the fault ¬ lessly gaited trotter not only equalled the meetings speed mark set by pacer Billy Wasson last week at 206 flat but also clipped threefifths of a second off his previous halfmile track record Although Clever Tee was forced to race on the outside in the bulky 10 horse field of this 16class stake The Oak Park Stake Trot neither Walt Dispan netts fleet mare Decoration Day nor his recent conqueror Francis Me Clarence Curtis could match strides with the son of Clever Hanover in the homestretch and it was a clearcut victory for the Ohio trotter by one and onehalf lengths lengthsHambletonian Hambletonian aspirant His Victory met with defeat in Clever Tees race the threeyearold apparently being pitched too high against these seasoned trotters this early in the season and also Ex ¬ press Colby finishing fifth in the same event hasnt returned yet to the form that earned him a starting berth in last years renewal of the famous Hamble ¬ tonian stakes Another fine performance on Wednesdays program was produced by nineyearold gelding Hal Tass the locally owned trotter being reined by Red Ross for an easy victory in the sup ¬ porting feature a BBclass trot which was timed in 207 just a few ticks off Hal Tass record Dan Peacock pri ¬ vate trainer for the Norman C Towne Stock Farm of Libertyville steered his first winner of the season in Lew Mac Pherson the fouryearold downing a field of 24class pacers in 209 coming from the eighth post position In that race Gene Riegle behind the then undefeated Ross Abbe nosed out Delia Volo a 38tol shot driven by his father Roy for second place again demonstrat ¬ ing that he doesnt have to take a back seat to his onetime taskmaster taskmasterEdith Edith Mouw only lady driver currently active here was the upset winner in Wednesdays first race with her own trot ¬ ting mare Fay Axtel a 17tol shot who combined with another outsider the Brook dale mare Fitzs Mary Jo driven by Wilbur Long for a Daily Double payoff of 42320 biggest of the current meeting Ed Casagranda scored his third yictory in five starts repeating with Dusty Lotus in the CC trot while Lucky Genoa with Hollis Regur in the sulky annexed another CC class trot rewarding his backers with a 5480 mutuel although the gelding won only last week at odds of 14 to 1 1Speaking Speaking of winning longshots there are not too many of them here After 15 nights favorites had won 51 races out of a total of 135 races 37 per cent j second choices 27 races and third choices 18 races In other words form is very dependable and it can be safely as ¬ sumed that with more favorable weather conditions prevailing for the rest of the meeting the percentage of winning fav ¬ orites will be even higher than it already is As in previous seasons the No 1 post position is the most productive of winners 25 out of the first 135 races whereas No 3 and No 4 are tied in sec ¬ ond place with 22 winning horses start ¬ ing from each of these positions while 19 winners came out of the No 2 spot and 17 winners out of No 5 However the new method employed by starter Ralph Estes of giving the horses a longer rioi to the first turn by releasing the horses to a flying start 100ft from the wire eliminated much of the disadvan ¬ tages formerly connected with the outside post positions and therefore the spread in number of winners starting from tLe various post positions positionsCol Col E J Baker grand old man of har ¬ ness racing renowned the world over as the owner of scores of champion trotters and pacers the most famous of which is the unforgettable Greyhound 155 has given a 1250000 church to the community of St Charles The edifice named the Baker Memorial Methodist Church has been under construction since December 1952 and will honor the memory of Col Bakers late parents Edward and Martha who were pioneers of the old Methodist church in St Charles Although well in his eighties Col Baker still is one of har ¬ ness racings greatest enthusiasts and year for year he is one of the most generous buyers at the Tattersall Yearling Sales acquiring the highpriced offspring of the stallions Kings Counsel Algiers and others that not so many years ago won the classic stake races on the Grand Circuit for this outstanding sportsman sportsmanOverheard Overheard in the paddock during a race the other night One trainer to an ¬ other Well what do you know Bob Parkinson is finally going to Tin a race The other trainer No no thats not Bob thats that boy Casagranda hes got the same colors as Bob red and white Bob doesnt have one horse in his stable that could get the lead in a race Its unbelievable but true Parkinson al ¬ ways among the ten leading drivers on the Chicago circuit in recent seasons hadnt won one race during the first 15 racing nights here although being jclose up on several occasions occasionsDee Dee Stover and Harry Burright currently are not quite as hot as they were during the first five days of the meeting whereas Clarence Curtis is rapidly gaining ground on the leaders Rogers Hornsby famed baseball man is a frequent visitor hr e
