On the Trot: Attendance, Mutuel, Time Marks Set Big Field of Pacers Races Tonight Greyhound to Parade on Thursday, Daily Racing Form, 1954-06-30

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On the trot By MORRIC KURLANSKT Attendance, MutueTime Marks Set Big Tield of Pacers Races Tonight Greyhound to Parade on Thursday SPORTSMANS PARK, Cicero, 111., June 29. The first week of the Chicago Downs meeting here was the most successful since . nierht night rar.incr racing wa.1 was inr.rn- . nierht night rar.incr racing wa.1 was inr.rn- introduced to this area in 1946. New standards were set in both the attendance and mutuel play, while the sports side left nothing to be I desired. In fact, never before had there been as many fast miles during one week of racing than during the first six nights. The highlights highlights of of the the week week highlights highlights of of the the week week were the track record-breaking effort ol Battle Prince, who paced a mile in 2,02, while Dixie Tass made light of Proximitys trotting mark when she won the first heat of Saturdays feature event in 2:04. Altogether, seven miles were clocked in 2:05 or better last week, which best illustrates the kind of sport currently being presented here. The success of this meeting is not in the least due to the fact that the minimum purse was raised to ,000, in addition to the attractive schedule of early closing events with worth-while purses for the better-grade horses, which induced several of the nations outstanding stables to compete here instead of in the East. There is no dearth of fast-class campaigners and the standardbred population reached an all-time high of nearly 1,000 head, which necessitated the bedding down of 400 horses at neighboring Hawthorne. Another factor which has contributed to the fine racing here is the excellent condition of the track. All during last week, presiding judge N. Orrin Baker spent his afternoons on the track to personally supervise with track superintendent Ed Krumrey the preparation of the strip for each nights events. These efforts were highly rewarded, for no less than 44 out of 54 races last week were timed in 2:10 or better, and exactly 50 per cent of all races were clocked in 2:08 or better. Saturdays attractive card attracted the biggest crowd of the week, 8,807, and the mutuel handle accordingly reached 44,-014, highest handle of the current Chicago harness season. Dixie Tass, five-year-old mare -by Gallon Summertime, by Volo-mite, made the night a memorable one. The fleet trotter, with her owner, Floyd Milton, at the reins, set a new trotting record for this oval, scoring a surprise victory in the first heat of the featured 12-class trot stakes. Rated far off the pace until the final turn, Dixie Tass staged a gallant stretch drive which carried her from fifth place at the head of the homestretch to a triumph in 2:04, with a margin of two and a half lengths between her and the runner-up Cliff Win. The fractional times for this record mile were :31, 1:02.1 and 1:34, last quarter in 30 seconds. An outsider, Johnny Brown, won the second heat after Dixie Tass broke stride on the first turn. The 10-year-old trotter benefited from the slow early pace and had enough left to down Cliff Win and Little Steve in 2:07. Newtown Girl, four-year-old pacing filly, annexed a 19-class stakes Saturday in the good time of 2:0435. The Hoosier-bred pacer got a head start on the big field of 11 sidewheelers and widened her .lead steadily to win by seven lengths from Fairbanks and Assured A three-horse Photo-finish in Saturdays open pace resulted in a head victory by Rilmas Widower, while Mr. Dean and Red McKlyo dead-heated for second place. If the time of 2:06 was definitely on the slow side 1 ror this class of horses, the reason for it was a delay of 12 minutes at the start when Kings Ale lost a shoe scoring down the backstretch Louis Schuettes four-year-old pacing gelding, Stuart Hall, lowered his record Saturday to 2:07 and further improvement can be expected from the son of Brookdale, who has won three out of five this season and was second in his other two starts, each time driven by Howard Beissinger. . . . Nutonias Grace winner of Saturdays second race in 2-08 a new record for the filly, is the fourteenth foal of Grace Richard, who in each case "??v 1d t0 Peter Nutonia. Several others ? "1 tribe are racing with fair success on the Chicago circuit, namely Buck Nutonia, Chief Nutonia and Peaceful Guy. A big field of 13 sidewheelers will contest the two dashes of the 16-class ,500 pace stakes on Wednesday. Among the better contenders in this interesting event are such recent winners as Newtown Girl, Judy Cash, Easter Bunny, Trigg County, Victory Scott, Phil Bob and Lindon. The will be opposed by Kings Ale, Lorraines Boy Truman Counsel, Hi-Los Starwa, Trusty Key and I the Californian invader, Bill McKlyo, a winner at the Santa Anita spring meet-Ii. . . Owner jL. L, Blackburrj 1 I severed connections with Jake Mahoney, . who drove Kings Ale and Buckie B. in several winning races at Maywood Park. . . . Atomic Might, one of the best pacing sons of the great Volomite, is slowly rounding into form for trainer Dee Stover. The "Big train," who in several losing performances on the Grand Circuit was timed in better than 2:00, hasnt started since 1952 on account of faulty underpinning. The greatest trotter of all time, Col. E. J. Bakers world champion Greyhound 1:55 1-4, will be presented to the Chicago public Thursday night. Greyhound reached the age of 22 years a few weeks ago, but still looks and acts as if still in his heyday. . . . Edward Hanover, a well-bred trotter owned by the Landas Stable of Chicago, cost only 50 at last years Harris-burg, Pa., sales, where trainer Stover bought him for his patron. The five-year-old already has won four races this season and earned well over ,000 for his new owners. . . . Fastest two-year-old, to date is the Canadian-owned filly, Dotties Pick, who paced the mile in 2:05 at the Veronon Downs three-quarter mile track last week. The youngster is by the sire of world champions, Adios, out of Pick Up, 2:02, by


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800