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Show Vets' Race Meet Huge Success Last Week The second annual Iron Bowl Race Meet, conducted last week end by the Veterans Organization of Cedar City, brought together a hundred and fifty of the finest horses In Utah, to vie for the best purses offered in the state. The combination made the Cedar City meet the climax of the racing season in Utah, and established a precedent that will undoubtedly undoubted-ly result in horsemen pointing their racers for the Iron Bowl meet each summer in the future. The success of the meet will also result in many out-of-state horses being attracted to the Cedar Ce-dar City meet each year. With feature races of the three-day three-day meet creating tremendous interest, and supporting races less interesting only because the purses were smaller, the crowd, gathered from all parts of Utah and augmented by many visitors from Nevada and other states, was highly pleased with the event. Seldom has greater Interest been shown in a single race than the opening day's feature that found the speedy Tidy Step pitted pit-ted against the great Don D in a four and a half furlong event. As was expected Tidy Step took the lead as the horses broke from the gate and held on gamely, only on-ly to be nosed out by Don D. This victory for McKlnley Morrill's Mor-rill's big brown racer stimulated even greater Interest in the big event of the entire meet, the $1,000 Businessmen's Handicap, with every man, woman and VIII1U VTUUUCI lug VVIIdllCl 1SUI1 Lf could carry 135 pounds in the big race to beat off the challenges chal-lenges of great horses carrying less weight. Most of the fans thought he could, and he didn't let them down. The "Golden Nuggett" Handicap Handi-cap for Utah and Nevada two-year-olds also created great interest in-terest It was a great race and proved the possibility of this becoming be-coming an outstanding annual event in the Cedar City meet. Buck Blaine, owner of the "Golden "Gold-en Nuggett' in Las Vegas and sponsor of the race, together with Lt. Governor Cliff Jones of Nevada, Ne-vada, was on hand for the big event and assured the local racing rac-ing officials that Nevada residents resi-dents would continue to support the Cedar City meet in the years to come. Nuggett, owned by Mr. Blaine and Mr. Jones, finished third in the race. Ellle Wright and Kent Roberts proved to be the outstanding Jockey's Joc-key's of the meet, with Verda Star, belonging to the Fullmer Brothers being Judged the outstanding out-standing mare in the meet The crowds In the first two days were not as large as had been hoped for, but probably the greatest crowd ever to witness a southern Utah racing program gathered at the track for the third and last day. All attendance attend-ance records would certainly have been overshadowed had the proposed grandstand at the track been ready for this meet. Veter- ans Organization officials assure us that the stand will definitely be constructed this year and be ready for the 1949 meeting. The meet was well handled, the races being run in "big track" fashion. All races were well matched, with the result that nearly every race was a blanket finish. The Veterans Association As-sociation and the Utah Racing Association may well be proud of their accomplishment In conducting con-ducting the second annual Iron Bowl Race Meet In the new Cedar City track. |