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GREYHOUND — Greatest trotter of them all will be honored at Sportsmans Park at later date due to cancellations on Thursday and Friday. Stage Annual 5,000 American Trot Championship at Roosevelt Thursday Hod gins Driving Katie Key In Quest of His Third Win In Mile and Quarter Event WESTBURY, L. I., N. Y. — The tenth annual American Trotting Championship for a select, invited field will be raced on Thursday night at Roosevelt Raceway. Eleven trotters are expected to start in the invitational classic for older, top speed stars which has a purse of 5,000 and is. contested over a distance of a mile-and-a-quarter. Perhaps the outstanding feature of the race will be the role of driver Clint Hodgins and his great trotting mare Katie Key. Hodgins has won the event three times, scoring with Katie Keys predecessor as the "Royal Trotting Lady," Proximity, in 1947xand 1950 and with Silver Riddle in 1952. Katie Key has swept almost all the rich trotting stakes for older horses in recent years, except the coveted American Trotting Championship. The eight-year-old mare was second in 1953 and was forced to skip last years renewal due -to illness. While failing in the trotting championship Pat Tuccios gallant racer won the West-bury tracks other big test for older trotters, the mile-and-a-half Roosevelt Trot in 1953 "and 1954. • While Katie Key has been impressive in recent races, the feeling is she will have a. difficult time against a particularly formidable field, one which rivals the lineup of any previous contesting of the event. The competition is particularly keen this year in the older trotting ranks. For example among the invitees are the three 1955 conquerors of Katie Key — Lord ► Steward, Lady Dunn and Faber Hanover. Also invited and expected to race are two other racers who have finished in front of Katie Key in races — Jamie and Stenographer. The other bids were extended to Newport Star, Famous Hanover, Royal Pastime, Gayleway and Darn Safe. A bid to the European champion Oriolo was declined because of inadequate time for preparation. Royal Pastime was" the winner of the 1954 renewal in 2:36%. The race and world record is 2:33 by Florican in 1953. The time is one many horsemen believe will be bettered, feeling the probable field is one fully capable of smashing a mark not considered outstanding. Six of the field havent raced at West-bury this season, but have created such outstanding records at upstate, Maryland and Western tracks as to command bids to an event which has always striven for widespread geographical representation and participation by the very best. In this group is Gayleway, a five-year-old horse, who has dominated the mid-western scene, registering a 2:01% mile last week at Hazel Park in Detroit. This is the best trot time of the year. Darn Safe, a stablemate of the great trotting star Pronto Don, who is behind in training, has* also shone in the midwest. Lady Dunn has been the star of the Maryland circuit where she has defeated several of those going in the trotting championship, including Katie Key, Lord Steward, Jamie and Stenographer. The latter, incidentally, was the 1954 Hambletonian favorite, but didnt win. However, he finished up her season in a blaze of I triumphs and so dominated the three- year-old trotr ranks that she was named "Harness Horse of the Year" in the TJ. S. T. A. Poll. Newport Star was the Hambletonian favorite in 1953 and also didnt win, but, who, too, went on to a distinguished record later in the season and as an older campaigner. Topping the regular Roosevelt group with Katie Key are Faber Hanover and Lord Steward. The locally-owned Farmstead Acres of Brookville, N. Y. Faber Hanover has taken two of three races at Westbury and as a four-year-old in 1954 stepped a 2:01% mile. Lord SteaMfl known as a trotter who always getH piece of the money" has also scored wins at Roosevelt and gained two priH finishes in three other starts, at WestbuiB
