A Rocknroll Dance named Horse of the Month
September 4, 2013,from the USTA Communications Department
Columbus, OH — Top free for all pacer A Rocknroll Dance, who won three straight starts in August, all in sub-1:48 clockings (the first time any horse has won with three consecutive sub-1:48 miles), has been named Horse of the Month by the United States Trotting Association.
New Image Media photo
A Rocknroll Dance (#3) held off Clear Vision (#4) to win the Canadian Pacing Derby.
The 4-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover-Wichita Hanover is owned by the A Rocknroll Dance Stable and is trained by Jim Mulinix. He has won five of 12 starts this year and banked $448,675.
After a disappointing seventh-place finish in his first start of the month, the U.S. Pacing Championship on Hambletonian Day at Meadowlands Racetrack, A Rocknroll Dance rebounded by scoring in 1:47.4 in a $50,000 Invitational Pace on Aug. 17 at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. That clocking equaled the all-age world record for a pacer on a five-eighths-mile track.
Next up was a $38,000 Canadian Pacing Derby elimination on Aug. 24 at Mohawk. Driver Tim Tetrick sent A Rocknroll Dance to the front at the half-mile marker and he went on to score in a time of 1:47.3, edging Clear Vision by a neck.
Those two dueled again a week later in the $618,450 Canadian Pacing Derby final, with A Rocknroll Dance again coming out on top by a nose in a personal-best clocking of 1:47.2, which was a new stakes record and also equaled the Mohawk and Canadian records.
“It was very, very tight,” Tetrick said after the final, in discussing A Rocknroll Dance’s head-to-head battle with his rival. “He had me by a head, a good head, and my horse fought back and his horse never gave up. It was a nice race all the way to the wire.
“The Mulinix crew has got him on his toes and he feels good and he’s brave,” Tetrick continued. “He’s showing how good of a horse he really is in his last couple of starts.”
A Rocknroll Dance will be back in action this Saturday at Scioto Downs in the $125,000 Jim Ewart Memorial Invitational Pace.