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; i j j | j ; j j | FRANK H. MERRILL JR.— Leading Fort Erie trainer with 17 victories. . _ — . ,_ Fort Erie Registers Increases In Attendance, Mutuel Handle I j j 1 j I 37,962 Daily Average ♦ Play for 20-Day Session; Pot Hunter Monetary Leader The Fort Erie meeting of 20 days which opened on April 12 and closed last Saturday was a pronounced success, shoving sizable sains in both attendance and mutuel handle. The daily average attendance was 5.931 and the daily average mutuel play, 37,962. These figures represented gains of 1.067 per day in attendance and 6,865 over the corresponding meeting in 1956 which embraced 19 days. Favored by much better weather than prevailed a year ago. the popular Borden course operated for 14 days under the auspices of the Sudbury Riding and Driving Club franchise and six days by the Kenilworth Jockey Club. Ltd. In the matter of purse distribution, a gross of 10,710 • net of 09,585 was distributed by the Sudbury group and a gross of 1,260 net 0,700* by the Kenilworth association. The average daily purse distribution was 5,014.25 for the full 20 days. A crowd of 10.923 attended on closing day. which was not the highest of the meeting, but it did produce the largest handle when 09,605 passed through the machines. A record Daily Double pool of 5.-318 was recorded on the same program. Victorious in Two Stakes The six-year-old gelding. Pot Hunter Winner of three races including the Bold Venture and Vigil Handicaps, was the lead- | ing money winner of the session with i I ,050. Faultless Maid, victress in the Queenston Stakes ranked second with j ! ,975. while Ballym.sh was third with j ,800. j I The Maloney and Smythe stable, owners | of Pot Hunter, won most money. 5,385. followed by Lanson Farm with 1,470. and, Stafford Farm with ,045. | Jockey Len Pong and apprentice Ernie j i Warme wound up in a tie for leading riding j [ | honors with 22 winners each. Pong ac- cepted 117 mounts and Warme. 102. Frank i j j Merrill Jr.. leading Dominion trainer in 1 1956. saddled 17 winners, more than twice] i as many as his closest rivals, J. Starr and ! W. Thurner. The largest crowd of the meeting was the 12.040 which attended on April 27. The j j : largest Daily Double pay-off was 59.40 I posted when Lawless Lad and Mark Ator won the first two races on April 24. Fort Erie statistics follow: April 12 to May 4—20 Days Gross distribution 01,970 Net distribution 00,285 . Daily average net distribution 5,014.25 Attendance 1 18,61 5 | • Daily average attendance 5,931 j Mutuel handle ,759,250: Daily average mutuel handle 37,962 Leading Money-Winning Owners i Owner. 1st. 2nd. 3rd Won. Maloney and Smythe 5 5 4 5,385 .Lanson Farm 7 4 2 11,470 Stafford Farm 4 6 5 9,045 Armstrong. Miss C. B. 5 5 5 8.660 |Gian. R. 4 2 0 6,390 Elman, M. 3 5 2 6.075 Erindale Stable 3 4 2 5.800 Halliwell. A. J. 3 3-5 5,745 Rotenberg. S. 3 1 3 5,580 Merrill, F. H., Jr. 4 2 1 5.085 Leading Money-Winning Horses Horse. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Won. Pot Hunter 3 0 0 $ 9,050 Faultless Maid 1 0 1 3,975 Ballyrush 2 1 1 3,800 TopTourn 2 10 3,515 Swamp Fox 2 0 0 2,990 Flying Away 3 0 0 2,840 Game Sam 2 10 2,820 Hi Sag 2 1 0 2,775 Cadence II. 2 0 0 2.600 Gaffern 2 0 0 2.600 Leading Winning Jockeys Jockey Wts 1st 2nd. 3rd Unp. PC. Pong, L. 117 22 17 19 59 .19 Warme. E. 102 22 17 15 48 .22 Bovine, V. 92 13 6 8 65 .14 Plesa.E. + 67 12 18 5 32 .18 Rogers, C. 77 10 8 5 54 .13 Walker. G. 77 9 10 11 47 .12 Wick, A. 65 9 3 9 44 .14 Uyeyama.H. 65 7 4 6 48 .11 Biamonte, R. 58 5 3 11 39 .09 Gubbins.G. 50 5 6 5 34 .10 Wright, R. 15 5 1 0 9 .33 | i I j ! j j I | | j j [ | i j j j Leading Winning Trainers Trainer. Win;. Trainer. Wins. Merrill. F. H.. Jr. 17 Huntley. G. M. 5 Starr, J. 8 Lawson, C.W. 5 Thurner. W. 8 Bateman. R. S. 4 Warner. A. H. 7 Higgins. J. 4 . Bentley. J.C. 5 Puccini. B. 4 Hall.E. 5 Russell. W. 4 The following stakes were decided: Stak?. Date. Winner. Value. Vigil Handicap. April 27; Pot Hunter $ 3.780 Queenston Stakes, May 4; Faultless Maid 3.775 Bold Venture Handicap. April 20; Pot Hunter 3,775 The percentage of winning favorites was above normal, as shown in the subjoined tabulation: Number of races 160 Winning favorites 57 Winning second choices 25 Winning outsiders 79 Winners at odds-on 11 Defeated at odds-on 10 Percentage of winning favorites .36 Dead heats 1 for win
