by Carol Hodes, for the SBOANJ
Manalapan, NJ — He’s A Demon scored in a time of 1:53.1, the fastest clocking among a trio of Stanley Dancer Memorial divisions for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Saturday night (July 17) at Meadowlands Racetrack.
![](http://ustrottingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/38025-HesaDemon071710r1.jpg)
Lisa photo
Jody Jamieson and He’s A Demon won the fastest Dancer division in 1:53.1.
All three divisions of the Dancer Memorial went to sons of New Jersey stallions who have stamped themselves as the leading contenders for the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 7. The divisions, contested as the first, fifth and 11th races on the Saturday card, were won by He’s A Demon (by Muscles Yankee), Muscle Massive by (Muscles Yankee) and Holiday Road (by Yankee Glide).
In the $127,500 first division, He’s A Demon, driven by Jody Jamieson and trained by Jeff Gillis, rallied for a neck victory over 1-5 favorite Cassis in a career best 1:53.1 mile. It was three-quarters of a length to Coco Lindy in third.
He’s A Demon, winless in three starts at two, picked up his fourth win of the year and has finished on-the-board in all six efforts in 2010.
“I was real happy with the draw, you know we missed Muscle Massive and a couple other real killers there,” Jamieson said. “We didn’t know about Cassis, we didn’t know about Senor Glide, we didn’t know about a bunch of those horses in there. When Yannick (Gingras with Oh No It’s Steveo) ran leaving, I thought it was going to set up really good. As it turned out, the flow wasn’t really good at all. I couldn’t tell how fast we were going and the wind was blowing.
“At the head of the stretch I was just hoping to stay flat, maybe get up to be third,” Jamieson added. “He really overcame a bad trip. My horse was trotting hard through the stretch. He put a couple of steps in; it was his first time on this track. We’ve just been real careful with him his whole life so far, and we took a bit of a leap of faith to put him in the Stanley Dancer. And it paid off.”
“He showed a lot of raw ability from the outset,” said Gillis, the colt’s trainer and co-owner. “He was a May 21st foal and a late bloomer and we’re just hoping. It didn’t end nicely for Federal Flex (last year in his 3-year-old campaign) so we’re hoping to kind of do the reverse, start him slow and finish strong with him. He’s not trotting just quite the way we’d like him yet but we have a couple of weeks to tinker. We’ll try to have him 100 percent. We’re going to take a shot (at the Hambletonian).”
He’s A Demon lifted his career bankroll to $95,277 for the ownership of 1140545 Ontario Ltd., Gerald Stay and Gillis.
Muscle Massive, sent off as the 2-5 favorite in the $130,000 second division, was an easy one length winner over Temple Of Doom (by Yankee Glide) in 1:53.4. It was a length and three-quarters to Pilgrims Chuckie in third.
Although Muscle Massive picked up his third win in six starts this year, trainer Jimmy Takter was not thrilled with the effort.
“No actually I was not (happy),” Takter said in the winner’s circle. “I thought the horse looked a bit unsafe for a mile. He looked better last time he raced. Maybe the track was a little deeper. I need to figure it out. We have two weeks to straighten that out. He won the race, and he had a great performance but he was better last time.”
Ron Pierce guided Muscle Massive who has compiled a career tally of five wins, two seconds and two thirds from 12 starts and earnings of $227,692, with nearly half of that coming from a victory in the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Championship last month. He races in the name of Brixton Medical AB, Order By Stable, Louie Camara and Mkatz Alibfeld Sgoldband.
The $130,000 third division was the much anticipated second start of the year for Holiday Road, and he did not disappoint. The 2009 Peter Haughton winner, who won a division of the Dickerson in his season’s debut on July 2, scored a half-length victory in 1:54 in his Dancer division, holding off the charge of Lucky Chucky (by Windsong’s Legacy) and Mystery Photo.
“He felt even better this week than last week,” said winning driver Brian Sears. “Last week was a really big first effort and tonight we didn’t have to go as much. I was really pleased with that. He just trotted down the lane. Greg (trainer Greg Peck) has done a great job pointing him to the Hambletonian.
“This horse definitely had some issues, but he seems to be on the right track now,” Sears added. “Hopefully things go well the next few weeks. This horse will go on when I call on him so I was really pleased with how he felt coming down the lane. This horse has proven that he’s one of the best out there last year, and when he’s right he can definitely be one of the best out there this year.”
“In fairness to Holiday Road a lot of people ask me if there’s any comparison (to Peck’s 2009 Hambletonian winner Muscle Hill), and I say it’s too early to tell,” said Peck. “But he is bigger and stronger so again it goes back to me giving him that accolade. He has that asset. So let’s hope that it works out that way. It’s going to be a horse race, and I said that last year. We went in to every race with Muscle Hill never overly confident because we know it’s horse racing.”
Holiday Road is owned by Jerry Silva, T L P Stable, Four Friends Racing Stable and Deo Volente-Peck Stable. The Yankee Glide-Jambo colt has now banked $105,450 in 2010 and $417,800 lifetime.