Clarence Hansen, Mormon Bishop, Driving Champion: Says Patrick Primrose, Winner of Five in Row, Hasnt Been Let Out, Daily Racing Form, 1952-05-21

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ClarenceHansen,Mormon Bishop, Driying Champion Says Patrick Primrose, Winner of Five in Row, Hasnt Been Let Out By HAL WOOD United Press Sports Writer SAN MATEO, Calif., May 20.— Grizzled old Clarence Hansen, a bishop in the Mormon Church, is the happiest harness racing driver in the business these days. Hes handling a champion that is so good that rivals still cant figure it out. The pacers name is Patrick Primrose, and he is five years old — so hell never become famous for winning the Little Brown Jug back in Ohio. Thats for three-year-olds. This horse wasnt even raced as a three- or four-year-old. But in five .starts here and at Santa Anita he is undefeated. Hansen, who started as a harness horse driver more than 30 years ago in Utah and now lives at Stockton, Calif., says he hasnt even let the horse "out" yet. "I dont know how good this horse is because Ive never really asked him to go to work," says the 57-year-old Bishop of the Stockton Church of the Latter Day Saints. Hansen was the second leading driver at the recent rich Santa Anita winter harness program with 23 victories. He has been a leading dr iver of the jugheads on the Western Fair circuits for the last 25 years and should know what hes talking about. Patrick Primroses fastest time was a 2:04% mile at Santa Anita. "But I dont know how fast he can run because even in that race I didnt let him out," says Hansen. "He won by four and one-half lengths." The other day in a class 22 pace, Patrick Primrose, on the slow Bay Meadows track, won by 10 lengths and practically walked across the finish line in 2:07% — fastest time of the meeting. Patrick Primroses sire is Peter Primrose, owned by Hansen. Patrick Primrose is owned by Walter Found of Merced. Found, who has been in the business a long time without finding a champion, is happy, too. "Ive always wanted a real stakes star," he says, "and Im not about to sell this one for any amount of money." If Patrick Primrose continues to outclass the opposition here, it is probable that hell see action later this summer on some of the major circuits in the Midwest, and East. In his five outings to date he has never "broken" once and he has won both ways — by being in front all the way and by coming from behind in the stretch. Hansen, who owns a stock farm near Stockton, is exuberant. . "In -all my years of driving," he says, "this is the best pacer I ever saw."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1952052101/drf1952052101_28_6
Local Identifier: drf1952052101_28_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800