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Mighty Checker Registers By Nose at Rockingham Overtakes Set Cable Seventy Yards Out in Driving Finish By JOE HIRSCH ROCKINGHAM PARK, Salem, N. H., June 3. W. "Bill" Resseguets Checker climaxed a gallant stretch drive with a nose decision over Palatine Stables Set Cable today that "was so close if required two sets of photos for the judges to distinguish the winner in the juvenile event. While not the feature of record, the fifth race was the best on the card with the duel over the final sixteenth matching anything that this meeting has offered to te. Mighty Checker returned .80 to his supporters while Me Perfect closed a rallying third. Resseguet, who bought Mighty Checker for ,000 at the Keeneland sales last summer, lost him immediately to G. Iannelli for the claiming price of 0,000. The young son of Mighty Story Checker-Board had a pair of wins and a second in four previous starts but his last effort was a disappointing fifth in the Bay State Kindergarten Stakes at Suffolk Downs on May 22. His earnings, including todays winning share of ,800 total ,950 and, combined with the claiming price, amount to 5,950 a nice profit for Resseguet, who also trained the roan colt. Set Cable was installed the favorite in the two-year-old race, and jockey Keith Stuart sent the Cable filly off to a brisk pace, battling with Queensware and Bullets through the backstretch. Bobby TJssery, on the rail with Mighty Checker, swung his horse outside on the turn and fell in just behind Set Cable at the three-sixteenth pole. They were never more than a head apart through the final furlong, and it was only with 70 yards remaining that TJssery pushed Mighty Checker to the front by the narrowest of margins. Me Perfect, held off the pace in the early going, finished driving, j but was unable to challenge the leaders. The victory was the first of the meeting for TJssery, and he brought Mighty Checker over the five furlongs in a brisk :59 Morris Sidells Smart Choice, expertly rated by the veteran Earl Gross, won his first victory of the year in the seventh event, the mile and one-sixteenth Sabago Purse. The 5,173 in attendance figured the four-year-old son of Sir Jim James a 6-5 choice and their opinion was upheld, the Sidell colt returning .60 for his three j and one -half-length triumph over J. H. Carrs Neros Mermaid. Villager was third by three parts of a length. Smart Choice, who won 5,175 last year, was. held off the pace, several lengths behind the front-running Neros Mermaid until the quarter pole, when Gross asked the colt for a move, and he responded in winning fashion. Namesake Coming Home OCEANPORT, N. J., June 3. The eight-year-old Eatontown, named for the town which lies within horseshoe pitching distance of Monmouth Park, has been nominated for four stakes at the North Jersey track. A starter in more than 100 races, Eatontown will be pointed for the Ocean-port, Rumson arid Long Branch Handicaps and the Salvator Mile by owner Alfred Roberts.
