from harness publicists across North America

Friday’s (Oct. 3) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Harrington Raceway, Batavia Downs, Vernon Downs and Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

Visible Gold rides pocket trip to victory in Meadows feature

Washington, PA — Visible Gold pulled the pocket around the final turn and brushed through the stretch to capture Friday’s $20,000 Winners Over $10,000 Life/Preferred Handicap Pace at The Meadows.

Visible Gold stalked the leader, Shock It To ‘Em, for most of the mile before Dave Palone asked him for pace in the lane. The 6-year-old Bettor’s Delight-Gabrielle gelding responded by opening up and prevailing in 1:51.4 over a sloppy surface. The first-over Bigrisk was second, 1-3/4 lengths back, while Camcruiser Hanover rallied for show.

Ron Burke trains Visible Gold, who has won 23 races over the past two seasons and $333,444 in his career, for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and RTC Stables.

On the 15-race card, Palone drove six winners, each for a different trainer: Burke, Roy Mac Davis, Chris Oakes, Mike Palone, Jimmie Ritter Jr. and Kent Sherman.

Live racing continues Saturday when The Meadows offers a special card featuring eight Pennsylvania Fairs championships, each with a purse of $25,000. First post is 6:55 p.m.

— Evan Pattak

Harrington Raceway
Driver Jon Roberts capped his best week yet at Harrington Raceway with a second five-win performance in four nights Thursday. The 33-year-old Roberts, who won five races on Monday, won five more Thursday giving him 13 in a four day span on Delaware’s only half-mile racetrack. Roberts did not drive at Harrington on Tuesday night, September 30. Roberts win parade Thursday began in the second race with Seaside Gal ($10.80) and continued by capturing the second and fourth legs of the Pick-4 with Aggie’s Dream ($4.40) and Casino Bags ($7). Roberts secured the grand slam with a triumph aboard We Salute You ($9.60) in race nine before piloting veteran Real Tough ($5.20) to a third straight win in race 13. Roberts currently sits fifth in the Harrington driver standings with 73 wins. Allan Davis (135), Ross Wolfenden (124), George Dennis (109) and Victor Kirby (83) complete the top four. In the trainer standings, Wayne Givens (58) maintains a lead over defending champ Joe Hundertpfund Jr. (47). Josh Green (38), Les Givens (28) and Kyle Moore (23) fulfill the top five.

Batavia Downs
The winds of change blew through western New York Friday night and the rain fell along with the temperature. But the inclement conditions did not dampen the performance of Justgottogetthere as he won the $9,250 Open Trot at Batavia Downs. The short field of six got even shorter after Live Jazz (John Cummings Jr.) made a break leaving in the first turn. That left Justgottogetthere (Jim McNeight) a clear path to the front. But co-favorite Armed Dangerously (Jim Morrill Jr.), who left right behind the leader was trotting side-by-side with him, giving Serious George (Kevin Cummings) a perfect garden spot trip. After hitting the half in :58, the parking ticket took its toll and Armed Dangerously started to falter. That left Justgottogetthere a gapped leader waiting for a bid from the pocket-sitting Serious George. That challenge came down the lane but it was too little, too late. Justgottogetthere got there by a diminishing one length to win in 1:58.3. Serious George was second and a late closing Keystone Bernard was third. It was the second win in 10 starts for Justgottogetthere ($4.80) and boosted his 2014 earnings to $20,815 for owners Antonietta Landi and North Creek Racing LLC. The lightly raced 5-year-old son of Valley Victor is trained by Jerry Nugent Jr. Jim Morrill Jr. was on hand Friday to put on another driving clinic. He rendezvoused with owners five times in the Purple Haze winner’s circle as he scored with Medicine Ed ($7.30), Release The Terror ($6.10), Missmaximus ($7.00), The Bronx Bumper ($7.50) and Story Book ($5.30). Morrill is currently second in North America among all drivers for percentage, sporting a gaudy .401 UDR. And on the strength of the night’s performance, he drew even closer to the top spot. Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. The Pick-6 carryover pool has grown to $2,296 and will be up for grabs starting with race seven.

Vernon Downs
While he employed vastly different tactics from his victory last week, the result was the same for Oh No Three O ($4.60) in Friday (October 3) evening’s $10,000 Open Trot at Vernon Downs. The Paul Long-trained Ken Warkentin gelding floated forward from post six, accelerating clear of Aruba Vacation (Aaron Byron) through a strong :27 first quarter before pulling the tempo back immediately. With three-eighths to go, and Helios (Claude Huckabone, III) commencing a mild but steady first-over gain, Oh No Three O accelerated clear to a three-length lead, holding that margin through mid-stretch. In the final sixteenth, Helios chased more stoutly, and Fern Paquet, Jr. kept Oh No Three O to task for a 1-3/4 length win, stopping the timer in 1:54. Pounce K (John MacDonald) stayed on after tracking cover to hold third. Oh No Three O’s victory was his seventh on the season, and the 16th for his career. Chris Lems led all drivers with three wins on the 11-race card, while Paquet scored a double on the evening. Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on Saturday (October 4), with first post slated for 6:45 p.m.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
There were three divisions of the first leg of the Jim Derue Memorial Trotting Series at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Friday night. Young trotters competed for their share of the $7,500 per division purses and Golden Stroke was the evening’s big star. The Eve Bergeron-trained trotter has been on a tear since adding trotting hopples last month and won for the third consecutive time on Friday night, setting a lifetime mark of 1:57.3. Driver Stephane Bouchard situated Golden Stroke (Yankee Glide) into the pocket and they surged up the passing lane to record the win in the final strides. The win time was the fastest of three divisions of the series’ first leg whose other winners were Jackie Goldstein (Kim Crawford), who set a lifetime mark prevailing in 1:58.2, and The Lindy Treaty (Mark Beckwith), who also set a career best stopping the timer in 1:58. The second leg of the Derue Trot will take place next Friday night with the $30,400 final taking place on Saturday October 18.