Sweet Lou and Warrawee Needy win US Pacing Championship elims
July 27, 2013,by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications
East Rutherford, NJ — Sweet Lou and Warrawee Needy won their respective $50,000 US Pacing Championship eliminations on Saturday (July 27) at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Sweet Lou was the winner of the first elimination for the Saturday (Aug. 3) $213,650 US Pacing Championship final.
With Yannick Gingras driving, Sweet Lou was back in fourth at the first split, as Bolt The Duer (Mark MacDonald) was first to that marker in :26.3 before Sweet Lou made his move for the top, hitting that spot at the :55 half.
He was all alone at the 1:22.4 three-quarters and held off Bolt The Duer for the win by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:49.1.
Also advancing to the Pacing Championship final were second place finisher Bolt The Duer, third place finisher A Rocknroll Dance (Tim Tetrick), fourth place finisher Modern Legend (David Miller) and fifth place finisher Thinking Out Loud (John Campbell).
Sweet Lou is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Larry Karr and Phil Collura.
In the second division, Warrawee Needy (Jody Jamieson) flat out flew in the final strides to just nip Golden Receiver (Corey Callahan) for the win by a nose in 1:48.2. Carl Jamieson trains and co-owns with Dr. Michael Wilson, Thomas Kyron and Floyd Marshall.
Golden Receiver got the first call at the :26.3 first quarter, with Warrawee Needy behind him. Golden Receiver led the field to the :54.2 half, and next had to deal with a challenge from Pet Rock, who was up and moving past the half. Those two paced together around the turn to the 1:21.3 three-quarters.
When the field entered the stretch, Warrawee Needy was looking for racing room from fourth while it was clear that Pet Rock could no longer sustain the drive and fell off the lead. Warrawee Needy shook loose and tracked down the leader for the win by a nose. Foiled Again (Yannick Gingras) was third. Also advancing to the final were fourth place finisher Hurrikane Kingcole (Tim Tetrick) and fifth place finisher Pet Rock (David Miller).
“I was hoping for something conservative; it was a long ship down here (from Canada) and he’s headed back there this week, that’s what I am told,” said Jody Jamieson. “The Canadian air is more conducive to this big guy. I wanted to be a little more conservative tonight and if he got out, he got out. He’s a great horse, he’s a world champion and I wasn’t surprised. He’s been an awesome animal.”
Asked when he thought Warrawee Needy might be an exceptional colt, Carl Jamieson answered, “After he upset me in a ditch in the spring as a 2-year-old, but after he got over that he was OK. He was a little bit late getting started, drew some bad posts, but he’s been off two weeks and he’s only trained a mile in 2:10. I trained a mile in 2:10 this week, he doesn’t need much training.”