What Cheer, IA — Two colts from the Lorenza Gooch Stable topped their respective divisions on a day of 2-year-old pacing and 3-year-old trotting Iowa-registered races at the Keokuk County Fair on Saturday (June 13).

Undefeated his freshman season, 2-year-old pacing colt Waco Sassy Kid was the horse to beat in race one. The Lorenza Gooch trainee has won four-of-four starts in Iowa and twice captured the 2-year-old Open at Running Aces. At each fair race the gelding has improved. He began the year with a win in 2:11.4 then dropped to 2:09.1, then 2:08. After a few weeks at Running Aces, Waco Sassy Kid gave another stellar performance lowering his personal best on a half to 2:04 at Humboldt last week.

Waco Sassy Kid drew post position three in a five-horse field in the first division of 2-year-old pacing colts. Driver Brett Erickson, who hadn’t been behind the horse since his racing debut at Humboldt on June 1, got the call and let the powerfully swift gelding make another win look easy.

Waco Sassy Kid led the entire race, first at the quarter in :29.4, then to the half in 1:03.4 and passed the three-quarter pole in 1:32.2. In a blistering last quarter for a 2-year-old on a county fair track, Erickson let the colt turn it up in the stretch to cross the wire in 2:00.2. The race was sponsored by Friend of the Fair – Jeff Little.

Owned by harness racing newcomer Ronald Burks of Houston, Texas, Waco Sassy Kid is by Costa Rica Kid, a Texas stud by Western Hanover. Burks owns the dam, Sun Belle Sassy, a Voracious Hanover mare from Iowa.

The Lorenza Gooch Stable continued to light up the track in race two with 3-year-old trotter Ricky Be Sharp. Coming off of three wins and a 2:02 new lifetime mark at Humboldt last week, the gelding was the easy crowd favorite having trotted more than four seconds faster than the closest competition on any half-mile fair track.

This time Lorenza Gooch himself took the reins to pilot the quick-gaited gelding in the Key Cooperative 3-Year-Old Colt Trot. Shooting off the starting gait Ricky Be Sharp gained the early lead passing the quarter in :30.0, then the half in 1:00. As the race progressed, the gelding opened the gap from the field. He crossed the wire in 2:00, only a fifth of a  second off the Keokuk County Fair track record set by Zippy Star in 1:59.4 in 2007.

Ricky Be Sharp is leased and trained by Lorenza Gooch. He was bred and raised by Lesa and Rick Peters of Fast Pace Farms in Grinnell, Iowa. A son of American Native out of the Valley Victor mare Cozmetize, Ricky Be Sharp was the 2018 2-year-old champion trotter in both Iowa-registered racing and the Iowa Sires Stakes.

In other racing on Saturday, It’s Pacific Time won another round in the fastest division of the Purina Feeds 2-year-old Filly Pace in 2:03 for driver Adam Hauser and Trainer Joel McDanel. Owned by John Hendricks of Humboldt, Iowa, the It’s That TIme filly is now two-for-two in Iowa-Registered company.

CR Blaze bested the competition in the Steve “Fuzz” Snyder Memorial Trot for 3-year-old fillies. Taking advantage of an early break by top Iowa Sires Stakes trotter D P Rocket, driver Rob Anderson took the win for the Huffman Stable in 2:01.1, a new lifetime mark.

Iowa racing action resumes Sunday, June 14 with post-time at 12:30 p.m.