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___ — Harness Sport Scene Shifts to Sportsmans Pair of Stakes Features Opening Program of Chicago Downs Meet CICERO, 111., June 19.— Harness racing moves to Sportsmans Park Monday when the gates will be opened for the 45-night Chicago Downs meeting. It will be the sixth season for the Cicero harness track which has made many records for attendance and mutuel handle in the Chicago area. Among the improvements harness fans will see for the first time is the new extension to the Sportsmans grandstand, seating an extra 4,500. Also ah elevator is being installed in the clubhouse to negotiate the four floors there. Two ,500 stakes events will be presented Monday on the nine race card in Harness Sport Scene Shifts to Sportsmans Pair of Stakes Features Opening Program of Chicago Downs Meet Continued from Page One double dash events. The ,500 Inaugural goes in the fifth and eighth races with Trigg County, Hi-Los Starwa, and Phil Bob leading the eight horse field. In the sixth and ninth races, also for ,500 nine go postward in each. Newtown Girl, who recently negotiated the Louisville strip in 2:04, looms as the favorite. Other top choices include Easter Bunny and Victory Scott. Newtown Girl will be piloted by Maurice Thompson. The stakes program at the Cicero meeting is worth nearly 00,000 and the top event will be the 0,000 pace on July 31. This is the biggest stakes event in the Chicago area this year. Racing director Jerry Baier and president Don Burnett are both optimistic, about what the added space will be worth as far as breaking its own attendance records. Located at the center of population and within easy access to all public transportation, Baier points out that the upward trend at Maywood should be even more pronounced at the Cicero oval. Last season a nightly average of 48,-666 was chalked up which is some 0,000 ahead of its best previous year in 1949. The biggest night was 52,757, which is also the largest night in Chicago since 1948. With the added room and upward trend of the sport, it is expected that the average should increase still more. Last year nine 00,000 nights were chalked up with an all-time record of 98,000 on a Wednesday night, which is the top week-night in the sport here. One of the reasons, Baier pointed out, for the record shattering season was the fact that the track had a rain or shine policy. Not one single night of racing was canceled by rain last year despite the fact rain fell on 13 of the racing days. "We learned that it is possible, with cooperation from the horsemen and commission, to get the race t rack in shape within a half hour after a downpour. For this reason, fans now know if they plan on going to the races they dont have to worry about the weather," Baier said. Another innovation at Sportsmans Park will be the presentation of a new 1954 sedan to the leading driver at the meeting. The standings will be figured on a point basis with the winner getting five, second place three, and third place one. At the end of the meeting the top pilot will get a choice of a new sedan and the second place driver a large, screen TV* set.
