view raw text
On the Trot L Br MORRIE KURLANSKY 1 Danny Creed May Have Hit Elite Victory Melody Registers 2:06 Beissinger Adds to Leading Total SPORTSMANS PARK, Cicero, 111., June 29. In a spectacular wire-to-wire triumph on Monday, Danny Creed may have earned himself a starting berth in a special race for four - year-old pacers to be contested later at this meeting in an effort to determine the leaders of the various age groups as t h r e e - year-olds will have their say this week end, while five-yea r - o 1 d s and, of course the free-for-allers will be featured in other rich events next month. With youthful Ed Casagranda at the reins, Danny Creed, son of former world cham-pionr Jimmy Creed, outsprinted his field of 22-class pacers for the lead around the . clubhouse turn and, setting a swift pace thereafter, was never headed, safely holding the fast-closing Pay Boy by one and a quarter lengths to be timed in 2:06, second best clocking of the night. Remaining a maiden in "12 starts last year, the small chestnut sidewheeler indicated in his seasonal debut at May-wood Park that he was a greatly improved .horse since his early retirement in September, scoring in a 25 -class pace by four lengths to get a record of 2:08. Then followed a race in the mud here, the colt bowing only to Worthy Conn. In his next outing here, Danny Creed finished with a rush, coming from sixth position at the head of the stretch, but couldnt reach Eddie Ey and Pay Boy to be a close third. Having progressed to 22-class meanwhile, Danny Creed showed his best effort June 20 when he defeated the highly regarded Chivalray and Atomic Pick, the latter second to Plutocrat only last Saturday, in 2:05. While not as yet exactly in the same league as Peter Vangundy, Minnie Jean, and Victory Melody, among some other top four-year-olds currently campaigning here, Danny Creed in coming engagements in classified company will have ample opportunity to prove his merit. C. E. Dickeys Victory Melody, winless in a dozen starts this season, most of her engagements being in the tough 16-class pace stakes, accounted in fine style for a B-class pace Monday, turning back the royally-bred Floodtide, by Volomite Miss Princess Laurel, and Jay Wellers Mighty Direct to get a record commensurate with her ability, stopping the watches at 2:06. A very consistent three-year-old in an extremely busy campaign last year, Victory Melody won eight races, placed seven times and finished third 10 times for earnings of ,050. Her finest performance probably was at Martinsville last summer when she tackled some of the best colts in the Great Midwest Pace and placed to Ensign Lad, a sophomore that went on to a 2 -minute record later in the season. Howard Beissinger -solidified his position as the leading driver here when he scored another double Monday. In a claiming race, he guided the diminutive Saxon Abbe to a 2:10 victory oyer Volo Counsel and Billie Wayne, while Earl Widower, a 9-to-5 choice, apparently short in his seasonal bow, stopped badly in the final quarter to finish sixth. In a B-class pace, Beissinger was behind Stabilizer, owned by Carl Stith, for a front-racing score in 2:06 to bring his win total at this meeting to 10 to keep a safe margin over runner-up Mel Harmening, who has been in the winners circle six times here. . Del Miller, for the past few cars campaigning the n a t i o ns most successful stable of harness horses, recently made a foray to Detroit to start several of his three-year-olds in stakes events at Hazel Park and during his short stay in the Motor City created three minus pools. When Dotties Pick and Poplar Juliann finished one-two June 10, they produced a ,347 deficit. The following Wednesday, , Del won the featured three-year-old trot with Satinwood and, as .stablemate Way-ahead was second, management was required to dig ,270 out of its own pockets to pay show bettors the legal minimum pay-off of .20. In Fridays Blackstone Pace for three-year-olds, Libbys Boy and Meadow Leo were first and second and the minus pool amounted to ,944.87. Roadmastcr, who could rightfully be called a Chicago circuit development, last Saturday lowered the Buffalo Raceway track record with a brilliant 2:00 mile for trainer-driver Chet Fleure. On the same night, a new wagering record for the New York State oval was established when a crowd numbering 8,036 fans bet a total of 20,217 on the eight-race .program.
