New-York tribune., 1918-09-01
Attendance and Enthusiasm
Great Thus Far, and Fast
Tracks Ahead
BY Frank s. Cooke

BY Frank s. Cooke
With such fast ovAls a. those at
Syracuse, Columbus and Lexington to
be encountered after this weeks meet
ing at Hartford II looks very much an
though tho year 1919 would 20 down
into history a. tho pcriod Of greatest
racing along the Grand Circuit. Add
to this tho attendance and enthusiasm
at tho various citics and the sport Of
tho sulky looms up AZ the mort popular
Of all and able to take caro- Of itsclf
in spite Of tho nations part in tho
grcat war.
When tho stage In all not for a FAR
ticular thing somcbody Ia likcly to toss
the monkey wrench into tho cogs. which
was the case at Rcndvillo on Wednes-
day. This was Gccrs day, and IL was
hoped the grand old man Of tho turf
would fash brilliantly In tho after
moons contests, for he was to be hon.
ored by great banquet in the even
ing. But it came out wrong, for Geers
failed to win in any Of his four starts.
However, the racing was so brilliant
that the tragedy Of it was softened.
Notable among the performances that
afternoon we're those of two champions
of 1917 that had been travelling the
rough road in their endeavors to get
back to the thrones from which they
had been ruthlessly ousted earlier in
the season. Joe Serrill put over both
Miss Bertha Dillon and Nella Dillon.
and in such manner as again to estab-
lish their position in the top flight Of
equine society.
st. Frisco's Defeat Surprise
At Poughkeepsie there was a big
surprise, when Lu Princeton beat his
relative, st. Frisco, for very few
thought it was in the lazy stallion to
beat the pick Of the Geers stable. Cox
figured differently at Readville, start
ing Lu Princeton in the 2:O5 trot,
whore he raced in 2:03A and beat
Ina Jay, meanwhile reserving Mabel
Trask for the free-for-all trot. But
three came out in the open event, and
not only did Miss Bertha Dillon win
all of the heats from St. Frisco, with
Mabel Trask third, but in the second
she lowered the record for four-year-
old mares to 2:02A, making good all
that was said in her favor last season.
In her other starts Miss Bertha Dill
lon has shown two-minute speed in
flashes, but was unable to carry it un-
til she reached the Boston oval. The
case of Nella Dillon was similar and
her victory in the American Horse
Breeder Futurity opened the eyes of
followers of the game. She did not
do the trick in straight heats, but had
to go four miles. In the first she beat
Miriam Guy in 2:07A, in the next
Chestnut Peter beat her in 2:05A, and
| in the third Peter Vonia headed both
of them at the wire in much slower
time. The trio of heat winners came
out in the fourth and Nella Dillon
stuck to her knitting, winning in
2:o6h, a mighty fast fourth heat for q
three-year-o
Contention in the 2:os trots appears
to be settling down to June Red and
Chilcoot. The mare had the better of
the Argument at Poughkeepsie. win
ming in four heats, one of which went
to Chilcoot, and each of them did miles
in 2:05N. Chilcoot has been training
on and this race did him lot of good
for he landed the $4,000 Massachusetts
Stake in straight heats, June Red TAX
ing third money. The second heat. in
2:obls. was the best, and in the field of
beaten horses were some of the best
in the campaign.
One Of the regular Affairs along the
big line these days is the weekly vic