Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1917 — MANY NOTEWORTHY HARNESS RACING FEATS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MANY NOTEWORTHY HARNESS RACING FEATS

The past year will go down as a great one for performances in harness racing. Twenty world’s records were made in 1916 and some of the figures bettered have stood the test for many years. r California tracks were not the Beene of a single world’s record, although several western bred and owned horses are listed in the honor class. Prominent among those is the' Wilbur Lou filly Hemet Queen, owned by the Hemet stock farm, presided over by Wr‘ F. Whittier -of San Francisco. Thismiss paced a mile in 2:10% «t Phoenix, which is the world’s best mark for a yearling filly. Previously she had negotiated a half-mile track in 2:22%. Louise Carter, a trotting yearling filly, went the best mile of the season, 2:18%, just falling short of a world’s mark. The feature of the light harness year was the sensational speed of the trotter Lee Axworthy. The stallion established a world’s record of 1:58%. It was shootlng close to the mark of 1 :58

of the gelding Uhlan, and surpassed Lou Dillon’s figures of 1:58% for a mare. Young trotters were especially in their glory. The Real Lady electrified grand circuit followers by racing off a mile in 2:04%. Then Volga, a thre’e-year-old, went in 2:04% and Mary Putney, a four-year-old, had a record of 2:04%. St Frisco and Mabel Trash set a number of records for fast raees and together went a dead hept in 2:07%. "Directum I was the star pacer. He beat Dan Patch’s half mile with 55% seconds and broke the old records for a mile and a sixteenth and a mile and ail eighth. Peter Look, Young Todd and Miss Harris M. were the young horses to show improvement in speed. The review of the light harness season in the East is interesting and encouraging. It is heralded as the most prosperous in several years, and the fast performances speak for themselves in showing that close competition was the general rule.

BRISAC BEING DRIVEN TO VICTORY BY MURPHY.