Hambletonian

Greyhound got away fast at the rail. Suddenly the field, which had passed the starter well bunched and trotting smoothly, scattered in complete confusion. Pedro Tipton and Tilly Tonka broke first, and then, on the first turn, Lawrence Hanover. As the horses trotted into the first leg of the V-shaped backstretch, the crowd groaned because Warwell Worthy had opened up a gap of 15 lengths. Although Greyhound was almost the same distance ahead of the rest, it looked as if the shortest priced Hambletonian favorite in years was now doomed to lose the heat.

Then followed a performance which, for sophisticated spectators in the crowd of 40,000 that jammed the wooden grandstand and bleachers of Good Time Park at Goshen, N. Y., stamped Greyhound as the greatest trotter seen on a U. S. track since Peter Manning, more than a decade ago. Stride by stride through the backstretch he cut down Warwell Worthy's lead. On the turn into the homestretch he passed her, swinging out, and the two came into the straightaway neck & neck. A faint cloud of dust, raised by hoofs and wheels, lengthened and faded as the sulkies drew apart. At the finish, Sep Palin, driving the grey, was sitting straight and drawing in his reins. Warwell Worthy was a full five lengths behind.

That, last week, was the second heat of the world's richest race for harness horses. In the first heat, Greyhound, already a 1-to-2 favorite, had come up from last in the backstretch to win by a neck over Pedro Tipton, in 2 min. 2 1/4 sec., the best winner's time ever clocked in the trot. In the interval between heats, bookmakers had cut down the odds and finally, when this failed to discourage Greyhound's backers, scratched him off their boards. By winning the second heat in 1934 Greyhound became the first trotter to take the Hambletonian Stake in straight heats since Walter Dear in 1929. A lean, grey, three-year-old gelding, singularly unimpressive when not in fast motion, he ambled back to the finish line, received a wreath of roses and an embrace from the weather-beaten driver with whom he had earned $18.000 (winner's share of the $33,000 purse) for his owner, Edward I J. Baker of St. Charles. Ill.

Horses are now obsolete as a means of speedy locomotion. This, far from spoiling the sport of harness racing, has acted as a stimulus, by removing all its stigma of utility. Always popular in rural communities, harness racing lost favor in Eastern cities in the years following the War. In 1926, William H. Cane, a rich contractor and trotting fancier of Goshen, helped promote the first Hambletonian, named for the famed sire of 95% of U. S. harness racers, for the undreamed of purse of $73,000. The Hambletonian, which promptly became the Kentucky Derby of trotting, has lately caused an astonishing revival of the sport. Last year there were some 700 trotting meets in the U. S. for purses which totaled $4,000,000. This year there will be about 800 and $1,000,000 more in prizes. This year the Hambletonian purse, which dropped to $25,000 last year, got an $8,000 raise.

As an indigenous U. S. pastime, harness racing to sulkies began about 100 years ago. By breeding thoroughbreds, which lacked stamina for long distances in harness, with a strain of small but tough Canadian mares, the U. S. trotting horse was gradually evolved until it neared perfection with Hambletonian X, foaled at Chester, near Goshen, in 1849. In 1873. a group of Eastern sportsmen organized the Grand Circuit, which became to trotting what the major leagues are to baseball. The Grand Circuit, a series of meetings on mile tracks, last year included eight cities, this year nine (Toledo, Cleveland, Toronto, Salem, N. H., Goshen, Springfield, Ill., Syracuse, Indianapolis, Lexington, Ky.). There are 200 minor circuits in the U. S., thousands of trotting races on half-mile courses at county fairs. There are about 700 owners and breeders of trotters and four times as many trainers, second trainers, grooms and stable boys. Compared to thoroughbred racing, the economics of harness racing are small-scale. Greyhound, outstanding harness racer of the year, has earned $27,000, while Discovery has been earning $64,000. Guy McKinney, trotting's biggest money win ner for a single season, won $60,000 in 1926, compared to Gallant Fox's $308.000 in 1930. At the Fasig-Tipton Old Glory sales of yearling trotters held each autumn in New York City, prices average about one half those at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sales at Saratoga. On the other hand, until Sun Beau passed her record in 1931, the biggest money-winning horse in history was Goldsmith Maid, a trotter who, in 123 races from 1865 to 1877, won $364,200. Foaled by a dam who pulled a cart for a New Jersey hat peddler, a farm horse until she was 6, Goldsmith Maid had raced only once at 8, made her best time (2:14) at 19, was still a champion at 20, died of pneumonia at 28.

If the age at which Goldsmith Maid reached her prime seems strange, the age of trotting-horse drivers seems stranger still. Most sports have one "grand old man," but trotting contains almost no other kind and a driver with less than 20 years experience is rarely seen on first-rate tracks. Famed Pop Geers was only one of many who drove for more than 50 years. Trotting drivers ordinarily start as stable boys, work slowly upward through the stages of being grooms, second-trainers, and finally trainer-drivers with public stables of their own. Most good drivers train the horses which they drive. They wear not the owner's colors but their own. A trainer usually gets $100 per month for each horse in his stable, clear of all operating expenses; gets no additional salary for driving. Sunburned, grizzled, dressed in narrow whipcord trousers, low boots, high caps and light silk jackets, drivers like Fred Egan, Doc Parshall, Will Caton, Ben White, Leo Fleisch in last week's Hambletonian, are the best in the world. Caton, who won three years ago with The Marchioness, wore as usual, the silks of the Tsar of Russia whose horses he drove for years before the War.

Driver Septus Palin, spry, brown, bandy-legged, 57, began training horses at 25 near Crawfordsville, Ind. where he grew up, now has an interest in an Indianapolis stable. He has been trainer and driver for Owner Baker, whose Greyhound was preceded by Pacers Winnipeg (1:57 1/4), Star Etawah (1 :59 1/4) and His Majesty (1 :59 1/4), for the past ten years. His silks are green & white. He wears glasses, smokes cigars, talks in monosyllables. After last week's race, Greyhound was led back to his stall, unharnessed, and fed by his stable boy a cigaret which he ate with relish. Undefeated in five trots this year, the only thing left for Greyhound to do to prove himself the equal of Peter Manning is to break the latter's world record of a mile in 1:56 1/4. Said Driver Palin: "Mr. Baker and I fully intend to send him after it."

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