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* — - ■■ — ~- :■ % W" Jul I/I m, m On the Trot By MORRIE KURLANSKY 1 Silk Byrd Scores Important Win Easily Handles Rain-Soaked Track Stagger Wing Remains Undefeated MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood. 111., May 13. — William Lachenmaiers California-owned and Kentucky-bred brown colt. Silk — rByrd. Byrd. by by the the former former * - ■■ — ~- rByrd. Byrd. by by the the former former free-for-all star. Poplar Byrd, now standing in stud in this ftate. j out of the brilliant race mare. Dotty Direct, by Billy Direct, driven by capable Ken j Cartnal. scored the ■ most important triumph in his already I noteworthy career in Saturdays ,000 Col. E E. j J. Baker Baker Stake. Stake. Dis- m, m E E. j J. Baker Baker Stake. Stake. Dis- Displaying great aptitude to handle the rain-soaked and heavily sanded Maywood oval. Silk Byrd was in close attendance of the extremely fast pace set by the Detroit invader, Royal Melody, to wrest command from the Royal Blackstone colt at the top of the homestretch to win going away in 2:055, a splendid clocking considering track conditions. In fact, Silk Byrd. supported in the wagering by only a minority among the crowd of 5,958 harness fans who hadnt fogotten the colts exploits as a two-year-old and remembered his atility to negotiate an off-track, was credited with the fastest trip of the night, as only Roxburgh Carmen in the secondary feature for A-class pacers was able to beat the 2 : 06 mark. I The Col. E. J. Baker Stake was the first major test for three-year-old pacers over half-mile tracks this spring and had attracted nine entries, four of which, as we pointed out in this space a few days ago, will be heard from in the race for divisional championship honors. While in Saturdays race the purse of ,000 was distributed among these four sophomores, the order of finish. Slik Byrd. Rapid Goose, Royal Melody and Cheyenne Goose, undoubtedly will be revised more than once. Although several of the horses beaten by this quartet suffered interference on two occasions in the course of the race, when first. Lucky Pence, Royal Melodys stablemate. and then, Risky Song, made breaks, none of them would have been able to threaten seriously any of the first four finishers. With Jack Ackerman in the sulky. Royal Melcdy displayed dazzling speed away from the gate, but it took him all the way around the first turn to get rid of Risky Song. In the second quarter, Cheyenne Goose made a dangerous bid for the lead, but, while the gray colt didnt succeed in heading Royal Melody, he, nevertheless, forced the Detroit invader to keep up an extremely fast pace. Nearing the quarter pole. Silk Byrd made his first attempt to overtake Rcyal Melody, but the chestnut colt once again pulled away from his challenger, or rather Ken Cartnal took his charge back for the time being to wait until the final turn. This time, the California team easily broke Royal Melodys resistance and, heading for home, Silk Byrd immediately opened up a safe lead. In the final sixteenth. Rapid Goose, though apparently disliking Saturdays holding track, closed with a fine burst of speed and also rushed by Royal Melody to garner second-place money. Roxburgh Carmen, driven by Glen Kid-well, annexed her fourth victory out of seven starts this season in Saturdays A-class pace to give her driver his thirteenth sulky success at this meeting. The Goose Bay daughter, recognized as one of the best "off" track specialists here, engaged in an exciting stretch duel with Frisco Denison to down the four-year-old in the final strides to be timed in 2:0545 for a new individual mark. . . . While Harry Burright scored a surprise victory in a B-class trot with the 10-to-l outsider, Hennessey Hanover, to widen his lead in the driver standings for a .total of 21 wins as against 15 wins for Edward Morgan in second place. . . . Cartnal was the only driver to register a double on the 10-race program. Prior to his victory with Silk Byrd, Cartnal steered the aged trotter, Lord Marion CM to an easy triumph in a C- class event. The first race on Saturday night was won by Stagger Wing, a four-year-old trotting gelding owned and bred in Minnesota. The son of Tecumseh Hanover, trained and driven by veteran Glenn Hawkins, is still undefeated in three starts this season and looks like a worthy successor to his kinsman. Shorty De Ponti, a top trotter hereabout several seasons ago. The first race in the Transamerica Pace, sponsored by the members of the Harness Tracks of America, Inc.. conducted at Rosecroft Raceway, the Washington, D. C, suburban half-miler, was a huge success. The local horseman colony was especially pleased as Ozark Chief, a development of Chicago area racing and owned by Victor and Morris Zeinfeld of Maywood, annexed this heat after a tremendous stretch drive to nose out the pace-setting Steamin Demon, while Hundred Proof, another Illinois speedster, was but a head back in third place. Ozark Chief, who just three days prior to the Rosecroft event, had won a feature pace at Yonkers Raceway, was timed in a brilliant 2:02J/5. The next race in the Transamerica series will be conducted at Buffalo Raceway Wednesday night and then Northville Downs will play host to the nations pacing elite May 24 before May-wood Park will be the scene of this pacing spectacle May 31. Altogether, 13 tracks will feature the Transamerica speedster, and points ranging from 10 for the winner to one for the horse finishing eighth will be awarded in each heat. The 10 horses with the highest point total will be eligible to meet in the 0,000 final event at Yonkers in July. For the Buffalo race, the following have been entered: Ozark Chief, Steamin Demon, Hundred Proof, Widower Creed, Knight Patrol, Belle Acton, Abbe Spangler, Bachelor Hanover, Munger Hanover and Noble Adios, the latter owned by PaulWixom of Chicago.
