view raw text
On the Trot I By MORRIE KURLANSKT Maywood Has Best Spring Meeting Sherrys Honor Nips Plutocrat Fourth in Row for Worthy Towne MAYWOOD PARK, Maywood, 111.,-June 3. The Maywood Park spring meeting, the most successful in the history of the May- wood Park Trotting Association in spite of inclement weather throughout the scheduled 56-night session which caused the cancellation of nine racing nights, closed on Saturday night on a high note with, the splendid victories of the pacing mares, Sherrys Honor and Golden Blade. It was only 24 hours after the world champion pacing filly Belle Acton had scored a vastly impressive triumph over an all-male elite field and again one important point of difference between standardised and thoroughbred racing was stressed. Namely, a good female trotter or pacer is the equal of, if not superior to, a mile standardbred. This, of course, is not a new discovery, peculiar only to the Maywood meeting, but a long established fact corroborated at this spring session by the feats of such "distaff performers as Sherrys Honor, co-holder with the stallion Selkas King of the meetings record, 2:02, Ladys First, a heat winner- in the Maywood Trotting Derby, Golden Blade, Belle Acton, Roxburgh Carmen, Roxburgh Jean, Madona, Anna Reed, Lucky Nana, Golden Ella, to mention but a few of the outstanding female winners here. It is no mere coincidence that the nations pacing ranks are ledby a mare, the great Adios daughter Dotties Pick. To return to Saturdays feature race, a mile event for class AA pacers, the more than 7,000 harness enthusiasts present for the Maywood spring: finale couldnt have wished for a more colorful and exciting: contest. Selkas King", the distinguished pacing stallion owned by Jerry Baier of Elgin and driven by Harry Burright, leading reinsman of the meeting, was called on to defend his laurels against a classy field that included the two-minute speedsters Frisco Creed, the Hayes Fair Acres colorbearer making his seasonal bow, and Plutocrat, the good Indiana stallion Hi Los Peppy, the ultra-consistent Abbe Run, Lou Meg-gitts amazing Jake Rodney, and Sherrys Honor as the lone representative of the distaff division. - j As expected, there was a mad scramble for position from the start. Around the clubhouse turn, Abbe Run was in front to be immediately challenged by Jake Rodney. Entering the backstretch, Jake Rodney managed to take command from Glen Kidwells charge." No sooner than Jake Rodney was over on the rail that Selkas King stormed up to engage the Ohio speedster in what turned out to be a sensational duel for the lead. Head and head the pair raced to the first quarter pole timed in :29iand. It was a desperate battle, Meggitt fully realizing that as soon as Burright would be able to push Selkas King ahead of his stallion, he would have lost all chance to win this race. Burright, on the other hand, also was aware if he could not get past the Ohio team, his was a lost cause. So the duel went on. At the half-mile mark it was Jake Rodney, timed in 1:00 flat, by a head over Selkas King, in the second lane, while the rest of the field followed in tight order on the rail. Rounding the clubhouse turn the second time Plutocrat moved like a flash from the rear to wrest command from Jake Rodney at the quarter pole, the three-quarters teletimed in 1:31. With Selkas King dropping far out of the battle, Dwanye Pletcher finally pulled Sherrys. Honor away from the rail to pass Jake Rodney to start to chase after Plutocrat. The fans, already roused to their feet by the Jake Rodney-Selkas King battle, now witnessed one of the fiercest stretch drives. At the sixteenth pole it was still Plutocrat by a half length but the black Hoosier mare, unleashing a tremendously powerful burst of speed, gained with every stride. Twenty feet from the wire the pair was on even terms and so they crossed the finish line. It was not until after examining the photo-finish picture that the judges gave a nose verdict to Sherrys Honor. Timed in 2:02, a new individual record for the seven-year-old His Honor daughter, Sherrys Honor, a rank outsider in the field of seven pacers, rewarded her scattered backers with a S33 win mutuel. In the following A class pace, the greatly improved Gene Abbe filly, Golden Blade, driven by trainer Edward Morgan for owner Robert Wilcox of Waynesfield, Ohio, crowned her not undistinguished career with a 2:02 triumph over such good ones as Attila, this one closing with a rush but still beaten by two and one-half lengths; VictorySun, who had set a very fast pace to the quarter pole; Buddy Barnes, Hi Los Bomb, Rapid Goose, Roxburgh Carmen and His Chief. It was Golden Blades second straight victory within eight days and her third win at the meeting. This game four-year-old filly will be a worthy competitor in the highest classification groups at Sportsmans Park and is liable to improve her new fast record over the five-eighths Cicero oval. J In the final race on Saturday night, K-D Stables Chicago-owned trotting stallion, Worthy Towhe, with trainer Chuck Rumley at the reins, chalked up his fourth consecutive victory since May 9. Although moved up to B class, Worthy Towne, whose sensational improvement is a mystery even to his capable trainer, Chuck Rumley, Worthy Towne had little difficulty to turn back such as His Victory and Mittis Frolic in 2:06, which was four-fifths slower than his recent win time in C class. . I
