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On the Trot TrotBy By MORRIE KURLANSKY KURLANSKYIndiana Indiana Chief Wins Under Wraps Plutocrat Scores First of Seasci Lighthill Posts Successive Double DoubleMAYWOOD MAYWOOD PARK Maywood 111 May 6 Even though his race on the original Saturday night program had been post ¬ poned to Monday on account of the torren ¬ tial rains on the week end Lester Fletchers homebred threeyear old pacing gelding In ¬ diana Chief easily cap ¬ tured the fancy of the public as well as the backstretch colony Backed down to odds on favoritism over a field of 22class pacers Indiana Chief a well made bay with four white feet and a strik ing blaze reminiscent of his sire His Chief j proved himself much the best to win under wraps in 206 equalling the best time for j a threeyearold at this meeting Actually Indiana Chief who is now the leading dash winner at the current session that entered into its second half last night with four wins and one second out of five starts raced in much faster time than his present record when he finished second in 205 to the Zeinfelds highly regarded fouryear old W D Direct the only horse that has led him to the wire this season seasonA A fairly decent twoyearold Indiana Chief showed flashes of intrinsic class last year and although he won but one race in 11 starts he placed three times and finished third once However the Fletchers were not too high on him and therefore did not stake him in any of the rich threeyearold fixtures at Midwest ¬ ern tracks but for some of the early closers at this meeting So far Indiana Chief a son of the Fletchers useful pacer His Chief from Hoosier Maid by John Dillard has improved with ever race and displayed impartiality to any type of surface In last nights race the gelding was re ¬ quired to start from the unfavorable seventh post in the eighthorse field but his youthful reinsman Dwayne Fletcher used the sophomores early speed to get the lead soon after they passed the first quar ¬ ter pole Jackie p driven by Harold Snod ¬ grass carried Indiana Chief on the outside as long as he could to get the first panel in a swift 30 seconds Most horses when being used that hard early in a race espe ¬ cially over a track like last night that was still dead from the big rainfall Saturday night and with the temperature around 40 degrees tend to back off quite a bit by the time they reach the final quarter pole But not Indiana Chief He went right on to get the half in 103 and after given a slight breather in the third quarter simply romped to his field with a final quarter in 30 without feeling the whip or other ¬ wise being roused by his driver driverThis This is a genuinely good pacer al ¬ though from now on he will be required to try his mettle in classified company Although he should have little difficulty to race himself out of C class within his next few starts his task will be quite formidable when he has to meet older rivals in B or even A class His owners of course will try to race him as much as possible in races written for threeyear olds only but they wont get too many I racing opportunities this way as races for age classes other than earlyclosers or stakes are still lamentably few at our parimutuel tracks tracksPlutocrat Plutocrat the older brother to the splen ¬ did Golden Miss in a very impressive per ¬ formance scored his first victory of the season in Monday nights featured fast class pace handicap Driven by leading reinsman Del Insko Plutocrat a member of the two minute brigade since his late threeyearold form outsprinted the field of eight around the first turn but allowed Jake Rodney to take command by the time they passed the stands for the first time timeThe The Ensign Hanover stallion then bade his time in the twohole until the final eighth and with a great burst of speed outfinished Buckeye and Jake Rodney to be timed in 204 a very appreciable clocking considering track and weather conditions Unfortunately Plutocrat suf ¬ fers from suspensory trouble and his races have to be carefully spaced It is admirable how good the sixyearold races under these conditions and there is no telling how good he really might be if he were entirely sound soundKenny Kenny Lighthill scored a double victory in successive races Monday night guiding Ni A Call to a popular triumph hi the third race and then with an upset victory with the gray filly Easter Dickey who outfin ¬ ished Peter Havens and Lucky Cross to get a mark of 210 Dee Stover one of the more successful Illinois trainerdrivers has been hospitalized with a lung ailment The horses trained by Stover have been turtied over to Kenny Cartnal Roy McGregor whose wife is the former Marie Louise iBock a wellknown harness writer left Tuesday morning for Montreal Canada to race at Blue Bonnets and Richelieu Park two harness tracks that have made tre ¬ mendous progress during the last few years
