by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Maywood Park

Melrose Park, IL — Despite coming off a six month layoff Michael Anderson and Shim Racing’s Smellthecolornine looked as fit as he could be on Friday night (May 22) at Maywood Park as he captured the $12,000 Gosox Stake by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:56.

Given a perfect steer by the up and coming Marcus Miller, this son of Cole Muffler-Ten Speed sat in the pocket the entire way as favored Rich N Flashy (Tyler Buter) carved out splits of :28.3, :58 and 1:26.3.

After securing racing room in the passing lane as the field moved through the stretch the Erv Miller trained gelding then blew right by the pacesetter to make his 2009 debut a winning one. Rich N Flashy held on gamely for second while Fox Valley Ruler (Dean Magee) came on late to finish third.

After a nice freshman season in which he posted a record of 5-6-1 in 19 starts Friday’s victory moved Smellthecolornine’s career earnings over the $73,000 mark.