Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-04-11
GREAT DRIVERS OF RACE TRACK
MccIary First to Send Harness Horse
Better than Two Minutes.

MccIary First to Send Harness Horse
Better than Two Minutes.
David McClary was the first man
to drive harness horse a mile bet
ter than two minutes, and Star Point
er was the PAGER that did the trick.
McClary still is in the game, and, like
Bither, he is prosperous, but he Is not
ranked among the great reinsmen OF
the land, says Henry Ten Eyck
White The man and the PAGER that
made the Star Pointer mile take
back seat We're Myron McHenry and
Dan Patch, when they circled the
Memphis track in 1.56A in 1903. Nc
Henry was blazing star in the trot-
ting ornament long before that. and
is just as brilliant today, but in the
meantime Dan Patch mas lowered the
worlds pacing record to 1.55 in the
hands of practically unknown reins-
man, Harry Hersey. John Splain, In
his day, drove the worlds fastest
trotter, Rarus, and the champion pac-
er, Johnston, to their records, but
now there is only here and there an
old-timer that can recall the fact or
name the nags and their best marks
Budd Doble drove no less than three
trotters to the worlds championship
Goldsmith Maid, Dexter and Nancy
Hanks-but nobody except the arch
i've searchers knows of it these days.
When it comes down to the star per-
formances of the immediate past ii
is interesting to note how the cham
pionships are distributed among the
drivers. Jersey, unknown save fol
the miles Dan Patch has pulled him
in the last three years may be called
the child of fate in that regard, as
he was absolutely unheard of by the
general public uptil the big PAGER,
whose deeds already were associated
with the name of McHenry, introduc-
ed him to the racetrack crowds. He
is the only driver of a real champion
of late years, by the way. that jump
ed from obscurity into the limeligh.
at one bound All the others had
been there more or less before.
Willard Sanders, who drove Lou
Dillon in l.58H, had been famous
years before as a developer of colt
speed in California, and today he has
to his credit more yearlings, count
ing PAGERS as well as trotters, In the
2.30 list than any other man, al
though his name is associated by the
publication only with the perform
ance of Lou Dillon. The best stallion
record is that of Cresceus, 2.02A.
People think of Cresceus, when
George Ketcham's name is mentioned,
but the Toledo man trained and drove
trotters many year before Cresceus
became champion Cresceus also
holds the two-mile trotting record,
All, but how many people know that
that the first mile was trotted in
2.O11a? That is one of the records. by
the way, that will stay unchallenged
for many a year.
When 1t comes to three miles the
champion driver is Geers and the
horse is the old chestnut mare Night
ingale, that went SO dinky in from
when she was on a jog, looking as
little like the 2.0S trotter she proved
to De as might b. imagined. Her mile
IN 2.22, the second in 2.19 and the
tnlrd in 2.141l, which shows how
good rater Geers is. Splain held
the two-mile record when FANNY
Witherspoon, 2.16A, was on earth 10
get It for him, and before that Doble
had The honors with Monroe Chief.
2as1a. The best record by a trottins
geiding is the 1.594 of Mai. Delmar,
and Alto Mcdonald was the driver. a
man who was trainer, nd a good
one, for quarter of century be-
lore he grt into the front row o.
locks, let lone the fact he had 4
champion trotter. When the two
year-old trotting record was placed
at 2.21 by Wildfower years ago. the
performance was far away the best
Tor that age. The driver was Henry
McGregor, never heard of before or
since in connection with champions.
he was one of the assistants at Palo
Alto and got the mount because Mar
vim was busy somewhere else that
day.