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* On the Trot I Br MOMUK KUBLANSKY Freeman Hanover a Star Pacer Erases Recent Narrow Setback "~ 5 Leads Field From Gate-to-Wire * MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111., May - 2. — Huge Freeman Hanover, the long-strid-C ing pacing stallion owned by William Lachenmaier of Shatter, Calif., home also of the SoL Camp and Robert -Neuman harness racing stables, driven in masterly fashion by his trainer Ken Cartnal convincingly erased his recent narrow defeat by Gay Order and BHaven in Friday nights open pace when he scored a clear-cut C victory in the new meetings record time ■ of 2:04.1. Only little can be said about the • actual running of the -race as Freeman [ | Hanover starting from the rail posjtion im- • mediately took the lead and stayed in front the rest of the trip. Gay Order, BHaven, Billy Wasson and Battle Prince followed the giant stallion in that order until the quarter pole when BHaven overtook Gay Order in the stretch drive but was unable to endanger the leader, while in the rear Battle Prince beat the disappointing Billy Wasson for fourth place money. Again the fractional times better than anything else tell the story of Freeman - Hanovers" victory. Reaching: the quarter in a moderately fast ZIVs seconds, Cartnal gave his charge a slight breather in the run to the half mile mark, when the time of 1:04% was flashed on the board. For many observers it was clear at that • point that One horse at least hardly could be counted on to win this race, this being the plodder Gay Order, who needs a blistering early pace for his stretch charge as he lacks that attribute of the real class horse, the power of instantaneous acceleration, or torque, as auto engineers like to call it. Entering the second half, Cartnal let Freeman Hanover do some fast pacing and with a third in 30 Ms seconds and a final panel in 30 seconds flat. His opponents could do nothing but gasp. BHaven, who .was third at the quarter pole two lengths off the ultimate winner, in order to beat Freeman Hanover had to pace the last half in something like 59% seconds, which is a large order for any horse, at any track and at any time of the year. Freeman Hanovers victory, in our opinion,~"was not only the result of a heady drive by Cartnal, who apparently was well prepared to take on any challengers even in that comparatively slow first half, but a verification of the fact that the Dean Hanover stallion is a better horse than any of his rivals on Friday night. While far better suited on a mile track on account of his size, Freeman Hanover since last fall raced consistently around the two-minute mark at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, and his race record of 1:58 is an achieve- ■ ment we seriously doubt BHaven, Billy Wasson or Battle Prince, with all respect 1 for their respective capabilities, will ever be able to duplicate even at the worlds fastest harness track, Lexingtons Red Mile. A 14 class pace stake and a combined AA-A class trot were Fridays supporting features and both events furnished exciting sport. Peter Vangundy, one of the best Illinois-bred sidewheelers to. come along in a number of years, continued 1 his winning ways in the pace stake and gave his able reinsman, Mel Harmening, his seventh victory at this meeting. Never far off the pace, the four-year-old gelding made his bid in the final turn and easily bested Trigg County and Connie H. for the lions share of the ,600 purse while hanging out a swiff 2:05% for the mile. Incidentally, the Howard Hanover son owned by the Altamont Racing Stable hasnt been worse than 1 second in his last 10 starts, of which he won five, including his lucrative triumph in the 6,000 Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes at Springfield. Trainer Harmening is confident by the time Grand Circuit time comes around, his charge will join _the select two-minute circle and opines that the kind of competition Peter Vangundy meets in the series of 14 class pace stake at the Chicago tracks will , sharpen him sufficiently to be prepared for the nations elite pacers at the state fairs. v Jake Rodmans game trotting gelding, Olmsted, already a triple winner this season at Santa Anita and here, stormed to his fourth victory Friday night and lowered his best time over a half mile to a very creditable 2:05%, which is also the . trotting record for this meeting. However, : the amazing fact about Olmsteds score was : not the fast time, but that he won at all. Racing on the outside for three-quarters of the trip, the Scotland son with unflag- , ging courage downed the pacesetter, Doctor Athlone, in the last sixteenth so completely, the Illinois-owned speedster made ; an exhausted break a few yards from the 1 wire. Two-minute trotter Taylor Ridge again was a great disappointment as, in ; 1 fact, were the other three starters driven by Jim Kealey on the same program, Trusty Key, Truman Counsel and Billy Wasson. i
