Curtain falls on 2018 season at Rosecroft

Ft. Washington, MD — Roger Plante, Russell Foster, Jason Thompson and Jared Moyer had driving doubles as Rosecroft pulled the curtain down on the 2018 racing season on Sunday (Dec. 16).

Plante and Moyer pulled off big upsets pari-mutuely speaking, as Plante sat the pocket and edged pace-setting Major Blue Coat (Jason Green) with 25-1 shot Thetruthaboutdavid who had not hit the board in 23 starts this year. It was his fourth start for new owners Paul and Carolyn Gsell who also condition the son of Total Truth. Plante also put Sum For All in a similar trip position and found the winner’s circle, paying $6.60 for owner-trainer Kerry Welty.

Moyer won with Atomic Art ($5.40) for wife Kayla and Rosecroft’s leading trainer for the Fall meet, Arlene Cameron, who finished with 27 wins. His second win was a puzzler as BP Burner, 9-2 on the morning line, was dismissed at 17-1 and got a gorgeous drive from Moyer who sent the closer three-wide before three-quarters and got the jump on Smart Rokker (Declan Donoway) and Sword Of The Spirit (Allan Davis).

Foster needed to erase a three-win deficit to catch Frank Milby for the Fall dash driving championship. Anderson Valley carried Foster to his first win for trainer Greg Trotto and co-owners Jeff Livingston and Freed Sporrer. Foster and Mr Big Bucks took the claiming finale for owner Chris Devine and trainer Jason Walters.

Thompson returned from rodeo action in Las Vegas in time to score with longshot Moveoutofmyway for owner Bob Weyforth and trainer Jeff Stafford, returning $24.20. Thompson’s backers were rewarded as Real Flight pulled an upset paying $38.60 for Bryson Dunning and trainer Jody Dunning.

Robert Hoffman took the featured trot with Overnight Shipper, blowing by three-wide on the final turn and returning $15.80.

Milby held off Foster, 45-44, to win the dash driving title, while Rock N Roll Jet was named Pacer of the Year and Fashion Smile was Trotter of the Meet.

It also marked the final start for 14-year-old Talbot Redneck, the homebred of David Donahue and co-owned by trainer Ken Schlotzhauer. Talbot Redneck had 382 starts, 56 wins and $327,687 in lifetime earnings.

Arts Blaze, another 14-year-old, broke in Maryland as a youngster, finished third in the finale. He could start at Freehold for owner-trainer John Urbanski before Dec. 31 and made start No. 366 Sunday night.

Rosecroft will re-open for live racing Feb. 6, 2019.

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