Ear on Chicago; Unidentified (Start - hoofbeats)

This is Hugh Hill speaking from Maywood Park or tonight here on Chicago tells a story of suburban down's racing, harnessed racing at Maywood Park. Listen to the horse hooves. This is the fourth race in just a few moments you will hear the entire story of the fifth race. We're about ready to start the fifth race. You just heard us describe very briefly how the first the fourth race started. We have now moved over on to the far turn of Maywood track and we have a chance now to look over almost the entire area of Maywood Park. We are on the starting car through the courtesy of the starters and Bob Dale who is the official starter out here. We have been allowed to come out here and describe what we can see. We are standing on the top of the rear end of a convertible, a white convertible, which is the starting gate. The

convertible pulls out in front of the horses and these huge arms which reach out to each end of the track, each side of the track, close off the track completely to the horses and whatever they call the Surrey. Is that what you call it Bob? The Surrey which they pull? Salky. Salky. Alright, now I'm probably going to make a lot of mistakes here and I'm going to ask Bob to correct me if I do because I'm not thoroughly acquainted with harness racing. But anyway, these gates reach out to stop those Salkies at a particular point and then when they get ready to start the race, the car pulls out the Salkies and the drivers and the horses just behind it. They get all in line from one through eight or how many horses there are in the race and away they go. At a certain point and you will hear this a few minutes from now, Bob Dale will open up those starting gates and the car will pull away and the horses will be on their own for the race. As I said, we're on the back stretch looking over into the stands at Maywood Park, a fine crowd on hand tonight to witness

the races. We are about in the middle of the series of races that they have. We just started with the fourth to give you the opening portion of our broadcast and now we're about ready to start the fifth race. Now let's get over here to Bob Dale, who is the official starter. The gentleman at the controls up in front is Shorty Pace. Shorty is the driver of the starting gate. Now Bob, let's get back to the very basic ingredient of harness racing. You have this starting gate standing here in the middle of the track. The trotters are warming up just behind us. We've stopped in the middle of the track. Now what's the procedure here? How do you start out talking to the drivers? Well, the horses have just taken their second score. What's the score? Well, the score dates back to the time when they had open starting. They took two scores to more or less get the horses used to the track and then when they came the third time they were ready for the word. They were ready to go. Two scores is more or less to remember the horses up before the

race. All right, go ahead. Now what's next? Here they are right in front of us by the way. Well, here at a paramutual meeting such as this, you leave at post time. So 30 seconds before I want to turn these horses, I'll give the drivers warning and they will have their horses in the right position to turn so that they can come abreast and up to the starting gate. Then we will proceed at about 12 miles per hour until we hit the eighth pole. From there we must be doing about 16 until we hit the 16th pole, which is the 16th of a mile from the starting point. From there on we increase the speed until we've reached the maximum speed of the horses and if the judgment is correct that is exactly at the starting point where I give them the word go. Well, I'm going to have 30 seconds before I want to turn you. I just gave them a 30 second warning.

They'll turn their horses and be in position where when I tell them to turn them that they can turn right into position. In just a minute now Bob's about ready to turn them and then they'll turn around and come heading towards the starting gate. All right, here it is. Turn your horses that are farthest from the gate. Get the rest of your field of breath and bring them to gate, please. All right, you just heard it. Bob has ordered them to turn and the horses are turning now. The drivers are bringing them down. Let's just come easy in front. Let the field get worked up a brass, please. I'm going to keep watching. Listen to Bob. Come easy with your horse in front, please. They'll line up once through eight, Bob. That's great. Here they come. All right, gentlemen, work your horses up to the gate easy. We're moving. They're right behind us.

The horses are sticking their nose right into the starting gate. They're almost right in now. They're gradually picking up speed. They're going faster. And they're going to gates. They're often running in the tasting car. The starting car is picking up speed and the horses will pass us in just a second. Maybe we'll get a listen. The starting car picked up speed and then slowed

down and pulled out to the outside of the track to give the horses plenty of room to go by us on the inside. And I hope that you were able to listen as the horses passed by us. We've proceeded from a speed of about 12 miles per hour to about 16 miles per hour and then slowed down abruptly as the horses went by. We're pulling back in towards the paddock now. Bob, you've got them off. Yes, we're all through until the next race. We did build up to a speed of about the car was running probably 35 and the horses were traveling close to 30 miles an hour by the time we hit the starting point. Once again, I've made a mistake. But we were going 35. I imagine as we pulled away from them, we were doing more than they were. You see 30 miles an hour would be a two minute horse. Oh, I see. Well, that sounds a little more reasonable. You know what I was thinking? As I was saying, at 12 and 16, it sounded a little bit slow. Well, you know, I explained you we went from the quarter to the eighth at 12 miles per hour. Then we picked up to approximately 18 until we hit the 16th pole and then we

moved them out at maximum speed, which was approximately 30 miles an hour. And then as we pulled away from, we probably ran up 35, 40 miles an hour. Bob, we're back at the paddock and we've come to a dead stop and we are through so far as this starting gate is concerned. And I just can't thank you too much for allowing us to get aboard and tell the story of how you start them. Well, you're entirely welcome. Here they come again. Listen. They've just gone by us in the fifth race and they have one more lap to go. No, they're finishing now. They're finishing now and we'll be able to give you the finish here if we want to in the sixth race. I'm not sure that it's important to our broadcast, but we want to get out of the starting car and go back and talk to some of the people who are involved in the Maywood Park racing out here. We'll go back and talk to the drivers and some of the other people. A little while ago, I talked to the man who is the official starter and just for a minute before we get over here to King and Wilbur Emmick, who is the starter out here, the marshal, rather.

And I've got my hand on the nose in one of the most beautiful horses I've ever seen, a beautiful Palomino called King. I want to talk to Shorty Pace, who drives a different kind of animal, that convertible we were just riding in. Shorty, what do you have to do as we rode around there? I didn't have a chance to even look around and say hello. Drive the gate, but mainly miss those light poles out there, you. Well, do you have to maintain a certain speed or does that take up? No, he controls the speed from the back. I noticed he had a lot of controls and I wondered who controlled it. You were him. He controls the speed until after he closes the wings and I take it and go on out. Well, Shorty, thanks for taking us along with you. Nice to have you. All right, swell. I know that you're in a hurry to get back there so I won't hold you up. But I do want to get over here and talk to Wilbur Emmick, who is the marshal out here. Now, Wilbur is dressed in one of the finest regalias that you ever want to see. First of all, his finest prop is his horse, his golden Palomino, which is called King. Following that, he's got a pair of brightly -shined black boots which reach up to his knee and then some white trousers

and the familiar red and black cape and the familiar red hat. Then he's got some colored glasses on. Wilbur, can you lean down here from your saddle and talk to us? Oh, you bet. Well, now, you're what is called the marshal. What does that mean? Well, if there's, in case of an accident or something, I pick up the loose horses or try to keep the horses, or otherwise, lead the horses to post and pick up the loose ones. Wilbur, and there's something that, as I was describing what was happening out there, I didn't really have time to mention it, but as we were driving along in the starting car, looking back over the horses, over the trotters, we could see you on King. Now, you do that in every race, don't you? Yes, I lead him to post that way, right in front of the parade. And once they get started, what? Once they get started, then in case of an accident, why then I pick up the loose one. Why do they call you marshal of the race? To try to keep all the horses in line and see if they get started off. And the uniform you have on, is that

strictly for show, is that official or what? Well, that's an official uniform that they use at all tracks. You know, we were talking to several people out here among them, Mr. Diagard, who were going to talk to a little bit later on in the program, as far as our show is concerned. And maybe I shouldn't say this, I don't want to embarrass you, but everybody we talked to said you were the finest marshal that anybody had ever seen in harness racing. Well, so far I've hadn't missed too many of them, but I'll tell you one thing, the main thing is the pony. If you got a good pony, you're pretty well set. You call this a pony? Yes. Yeah, it's a Palomino pony. I've got a couple of boys that wouldn't call this a pony. They'd call this a horse. I don't know the difference. No. He's what you call a pony. Palomino. And this is king? Uh -huh. And this is a good pony. Yeah, very good. He knows his job. How many ponies do you have? A five oven. Where are they? That I have two here at Maywood

and three over at Sportsman's Park. Can we hear from King? Will he say anything? Well, no, I don't think so right now. He might nicker. I'll tell you, when we get to the ninth race, the last race, he seems to know what he starts knickering. If you were here the ninth race, you'd probably know it. You'd swear he was looking at the tote boat or some clock. He does it every night, the ninth race. Wilbur, thanks so many for talking to us and a lot of luck out here. So nice knowing you. Well, thanks a million, Wilbur. Bye. And so long, king. Well, we're going to talk to a driver now, Jack Hankins. Jack, all night long, I've been referring to the drivers as first of all jockies and then writers. I've been wrong and everybody that I talked to said, remember, you got to call them drivers. Where did that name come about? Well, we set on the silky and where you get the definition of jockies and writers is from runners, which they set on their back. And we more or less drive a horse like you drive a car with the reins. Jack, before we get

into anything official as far as you're concerned, that is specific discussion about driving a horse. Let's get a little personal background on you. First of all, I understand that your mother -in -law is the famous driver. That's right, Grandma Burright. She drove out here for quite a few years and she's been retired now for about five years. Tell us about her. Well, she drove until she was seven years old and she had quite a few good horses. And she's very popular here in this cold area. Jack, you know, talking about somebody driving when they're seven years old, I've often heard that this is a business for older men, but I see a lot of younger drivers out here. Well, the more younger drivers come into it every year, it's getting to be quite a big sport, and more younger men are coming into the business. Jack, you're wearing a uniform, and I might describe it just briefly, a red and gray sort of a checkered jacket, then a red and gray helmet. And you've got a pair of leather gloves on, regular pair

of gray trousers and a pair of boots. And what do you call this in your arm here? This is the whip. This is what we use to make them go faster. Well, I was going to call it a whip, but I thought I'd be wrong again. I've been calling so many things wrong tonight that I'm afraid to say anything, but it certainly looks like a whip. Yeah, it is. It's what we use to make them go faster. Well, now, let's talk a little bit more specifically about these horses, and how you do it. As I said, we're going to talk officially about driving, and that's what we're getting into now. I understand that you drivers are actually trainers too. That's right. We train our horses and drive them also, and we do our training in the mornings from 6 to 12, and then we drive at night. Well, now, how do you mean train? You have to train them to trot and pace. That's right. The trotting and pacing is an artificial gate for a horse, and you have to train them to do that, and we do that in the mornings. What do you mean an artificial gate? They're not horses and built to do that. That's right. Running is a natural gate for a horse, and we have trained these horses to trot and to pace. When you're in a race, I don't know whether this is a

proper word, is it difficult to keep them from going into a faster speed? We'll say a gallop. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it depends on your horse. Some horses are hard to keep on gate, and some horses are more natural, and easier to keep on gate. Jack, you bring them out here. A good five to maybe even 10 minutes before you start the race. Why? Well, that's to warm them up and get them loosened up. And they do that, of course, the same in thoroughbred racing. That's right. Other racing. That's right. They thoroughbred racing. They breeze them down for maybe on eighth or maybe on sixteenth. We prefer to give ours a little bit more, because it takes more for our type of horses. Is this a tough business, Jack? Yes, it is. Very competitive. Yes, very much so. How many winners have you had? At this meeting. Well, I'm not particular this meeting. I mean over the years. I think about 30 this year. When you're right up there then. Yeah. You've done very well. Had a good year. Who are you from, Jack? Uh, Vita's bringing Indiana. And how long have you been in the business? Well, ever since I was a small boy. Do you have a horse of your own? I have four. Do you? Yes. Where do you keep them?

Uh, over here in the barns. I got one going tonight. The next race. Who won that race that we were just talking about? I promised everybody I'd tell them. Uh, Mac true on that race. The number one horse. Mac true. The number one horse. Right. Well, Jack, thanks so much for talking to us. It's been a pleasure to find out just exactly how you do this and what you, uh, what you have to go through and some of the work in training and the work you do out here. I wish we had more time to discuss the stables and the activity out here. Uh, we just, uh, are limited in our time and I'm sorry we don't have more. But thanks so many for talking to us. Thank you, sir. Well, we have a minute now before the next race. And, uh, after we talk to this next gentleman, I want you to listen as the starter, uh, starts them and as the collar calls them. We're going to let you listen in on the loudspeaker as the man out here calls the race so that you can more understand exactly what goes on at a harness race. Actually, it's a lot like a thoroughbred race that you've heard many times. Eddie Walsh is the next guy we're going to talk to.

Eddie is the public relations director for Maywood. And, uh, it's been said many, many times that Eddie Walsh is one of the finest public relations directors in the business. And, uh, certainly he is. A great publicity guy who is a great friend of everybody in the radio and television industry. Eddie, thanks so many for letting us come out. Well, you, it's a pleasure to have you out here. And I, I think that the job you're doing tonight is a wonderful job for harness racing. Eddie, uh, very briefly now, uh, we're going to talk to the president of the organization a little bit later. But, uh, how late are you going to be running out here? We will be racing through October the 19th, you another three weeks. I'm not sure any that we can hear it from this distance. Maybe we'll have to move in closer and pick up the next race. But I want to make sure that we listen in as a man on the loudspeaker calls that who is that? Now, that's Stan Bergstein. He's been calling the races out here for several years. Just a grand

job, too. Yes, he's considered one of the best in the country. Well, Eddie, before I leave you, I want to thank you again because it's really been a thrill for me to come out here and see and listen. Uh, and talk to the people involved in harness racing. It's the first time I've ever seen it and I've enjoyed it thoroughly and thanks so many for letting us do it. Thank you, Hugh. For the final portion of our program, we've come up to the president's box in the Strato Deck. We're going to talk to Mr. Erwin Diagert, who is the president of suburban towns. First of all, Mr. Diagert's suburban towns is only a portion of Maywood's racing. Is that correct? That's right. Maywood Park, having a meeting in the spring, and then we follow him to fall. This year, you started very early, as I understand. Well, we started Maywood Park, started, I believe, the 29th of March. And they closed the first part of June, I believe. What were the dates for suburban towns?

September 2nd through October 19th. So you have a week or two to go yet? Well, we have two and a half weeks to go, yeah, approximately. Mr. Diagert, first of all, may I say thank you very much for allowing us to take a tour of Maywood Park and suburban towns to come out here and see the racing. For myself, I want to say that this is the first time I've ever seen it, and it's a very colorful event indeed. And I have enjoyed every minute of the tour of Maywood Park. I want to thank Eddie Walsh too for taking us around. We've been out on the track, and we've been back in the clubhouse, and we've been down here in the paddock and talked to some of the writers, some of the people who are responsible for putting this on. I think that the people of Chicago should know that harness racing is a wonderful and very colorful show indeed, and it certainly is. Me, as I say, it's the first time I've ever seen it, and I've enjoyed it very thoroughly. And I think that people who have never seen it should come out at least and see it once. I think if they see it once, they're hooked. No question about it. This is a very colorful show. It's different than a flat racing, because the family is a family affair. You see people out here

owning and racing horses. That's just owned by the family. They're taken care of by the family. Maybe the father, the son drives their horses. And they can come out here in an evening and enjoy a good show without having to gamble on them, unless they wish to. You know that fellow in the red jacket? What do you call him? The outrider. On the Palomino? That's right. That's the outrider. That's the boy that leads the horses to the post. In the case of an accident, the horse gets loose on the track, he picks him up. It's a wonderful sight to see him. Yes, he is. He's one of the most colorful boys probably doing this sort of a job anywhere in the country. Do you mind if I talk to your wife for a moment? I'm glad to have you. Mrs. Diagard is here, and she has red hair, and I'm a kind of a guy that likes red hair. Do you bet? Oh, yes, but I lose my money. This is like everybody else. But I'll let you enjoy coming out. Oh, I think it's the only thing that there is. We just hibernate during the winter, and then when the race is starting the spring, then we go ahead. Attend the races almost nightly from the beginning until the end. Well, do you have some horses, don't you? Oh, I should say I do. Give me some of the names of your horses. Well, my first love is Spud Heart, and I think that anyone

who has been to the harness racing in Chicago has seen Spud Heart, and he gives you a thrill like very few horses that I've ever seen gives you because he thinks he can beat any horse that lives. And of course, I agree with him. I think he can too. And he does that. He'll be, oh, dead last. And you'll think he'll never catch up with them. And then about at the three -quarters or five -eighths pole, he starts going around the outside of the horses. He wants a lot of air in front of him. He doesn't want any horses in front of him because when he turns on, he comes home. And he looks just like a Cadillac or, well, the fastest thing you can imagine. And he blows up about three times his size. When you see him coming down the stretch, it just doesn't seem possible that a horse can go as fast as he does, but he makes it. Well, I want to, again, I want to thank you and your husband for allowing us to come out and telling us and telling the story of suburban towns. It's been a pleasure. I hope you'll come back. Thank you very much

indeed. We want to thank both of you people for allowing us to come out to suburban towns and telling the story of suburban towns racing. And that is a story at Maywood Park, and this is Hugh Hill speaking.