Evening star., 1948-06-22
Harness Racing Given
Fine Start al Laurel
By $4,000 Throng
By George Huber

BY George Huber
Night, harness horse racing with
parimutuel betting is of to a sue
oessful start at Laurel Raceway. An
estimated $4,000 Washingtonians,
Baltimoreans and in-betweeners
turned out for last nights sendoff
and indications are that the sport
Immediately caught their fancy.
After watching one race to get the
hang of the new TO this area
pastime, they wagered enthusiastic
ally, sending an Unexpectedly high
total Of $167,096 through the win
dows.
Winner Of the mile Inaugural fea-
ture pace was 11-year-old Watson E.
Direct, driven by Tom Wingate of
Rehoboth Beach, Del. William E.
Miller of Washington. driving his
Mr.. Morris Scott, set the early pace
;,ut Watson E. Direct moved to the
front coming out Of the last turn
and scored by length in 2:082s,
1est time of the night. Prince
James, a Us favorite, broke at the
tart and had further trouble in
ne first back stretch, finishing last
Wingate Pilots Four winners.
That win was the fourth of the
night for Wingate, who had II
winners to be the leading driver at
The recent Harrington DeD meet
ing. Oh last nights performances,
Wingate likely will be the popular
choice for tonight's feature, the
seventh-race mile pace in which he
is driving Ednamite Looming as
other strong contenders in the nine
horse field are Elizabeth Seely,
driven by L. Dixon. and Lord Gin
ton, with A. Myer in the sulky.
Another feature of last night was
the second-race triumph by 19-
year-old Hanover Express. oldest
horse at the track, driven by Frank
Hanna. He took the Glass "a con-
ditioned trot in 1:10ls with Miss
Stuckup, driven by Wingate, second.
Students Of past performances, who
found that Hanover Express is
Glass is trotter, collected $3.50 for
their 81. He was dropped back to
Glass "a for this race because Of
other conditions. He had been
campaigning as PAGER the last
three years.
Hanover Express has a long and
honorable racing career behind him.
AS 3-year-old he was a 2:06 trotter
and later paced In 2:08la.
Plant Not Yet Completed.
The track opened last night while
carpenters, electricians and steel
workers were scurrying around put
ting finishing touches on the plant.
Much more work remains to be done,
including completion Of the roof on
the :grandstand and Of the pave
ments, but last nights customers
gave no indication that they OBJ
jected to few minor incon-
veniences. Two OF the stairways
Leading to the grandstand were
finished only half hour before the
first race and painters were working
on the white infleld fence right up
to race time. Post time OF the first
race was only nine minutes behind
the advertised time, however.
Notes-Both the crowd and bet
ting figures last night were records
for opening nights at harness tracks.
Previous highs were the II 900 crowd
and Sl50000 betting at haywood,
H., In 1916. Track oflcials earlier
estimated they needed daily $780,
900 handle to break even. For those
who. couldn't make up their minds,
the usual selectors' cards, such as
and Little Doctor" OF
the nat race tracks were on sale at
the ~Raceway. Also the program
printed q list Of choices. The pro-
gram, incidentally, Is bangup job.
better than those at fiat race tracks
hereabout and selling for Is cents as
compared to the usual 10 cents. 1t
has lots OF information, including |
the type OF past performance records
usually printed in the better racing
papers for fiat tracks.
Paddocks are especially we'll ar
ranged. There are six of them, so
that spectators may look at the
horses several races in advance.
There were several hundred spec
tators watching the races for free
from outside the fence along the
Washington Baltimore road. but
that will end soon. Construction of
a canvas silhouette screen to extend
three -fourths of the way around the
track is under way 1t will silhouette
the horses and drivers along the
back stretch and turns.
Best crack of the evening by one
railbird: well, at these harness
races your two bucks last twice as
long, anyway. 1t takes these horses
twice as long to run a mile as 1t
does the regular thoroughbreds,"
One enterprising businessman did
. wonderful business charging so
cents for parking on the field op-
posite the track. although parking
Is free on the three track lots.