Dr. Fager Enjoyed Run for Ages at Arlington

He went off as a 1-5 betting favorite, so it was no surprise that Dr. Fager won the $112,700 Washington Handicap at Arlington Park in Chicago 31 years ago today.

What was a surprise was his time--1:32 1/5, a world record for the mile that still stands.

The Tartan Farms 4-year-old, who had been assigned 134 pounds, the most carried by a winner of the 41-year-old race, had the lead coming off the last turn. But then, under the urging of his rider, Braulio Baeza, Dr. Fager took off in the home stretch and, before 27,861, won by 10 1/2 lengths over runner-up Racing Room.

The time broke Buckpasser’s world mark of 1:32 3/5 set in the 1966 Arlington Classic.

In registering his fifth stakes victory in five starts--he’d spotted his rivals 16-24 pounds--Dr. Fager earned $67,700 for his owners.

Only Round Table in 1959 and Gun Bow in 1964 had carried as much as 132 pounds in winning the race.

Also on this date: In 1920, the New York Giants, unhappy about being outdrawn by their tenants at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees, announced they would not extend the Yankees’ lease. Yankee co-owner Jacob Ruppert indicated he would build a 50,000-seat stadium “a few minutes’ ride” from Times Square. . . . In 1971, the Chicago Cubs’ Ernie Banks hit his 512th and final home run, at Wrigley Field. . . . In 1976, it was announced in Seattle that Roger Szmodis of Bellevue had won the city’s “name the new baseball team” contest. His entry: Mariners. . . . In 1980, Charles O. Finley sold his Oakland Athletics to Walter Haas, son Wally Haas and son-in-law Roy Eisenhardt for $12.7 million.