Break The Bank K looks to cash in Matron Stakes
November 9, 2009,by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications
Ken Weingartner Freehold, NJ —
On November 7, Break The Bank K won the $55,600 Matron Stakes preview for 2-year-old male trotters by three-quarters of a length over favorite Lucky Chucky in 1:55.3 at Dover Downs. The colt was driven by Ron Pierce and the time equaled Explosive Matter’s stakes record in last year’s Matron final. This season’s $166,800 Matron final is Saturday.
Break The Bank K has won six of 13 races and $216,894 this year, but frequently put forth his worst performances at the worst possible times. He went off stride in elimination races for the Peter Haughton Memorial, Valley Victory, and William Wellwood Memorial, failing to reach the finals in each.
The colt, a homebred from the farm of owner Bob Key, has gone off stride four times this year — all from either posts two or three. Oddly, he had success from outside posts, winning a division of the Champlain Stakes from post 10 at Mohawk Racetrack in addition to winning a division of the Historic-Harriman Cup from post eight at the Meadowlands. He finished second from post 10 in both the New Jersey Sire Stakes final (losing by a half length) and the Wellwood consolation (by a nose).
“How do you figure it? You just shake your head from time to time and wonder what’s right and what’s wrong,” Gillock said. “He just got a little aggressive when he had the inside; he just gets a little jammed up in there and makes breaks.”
Fotowon photo
Break The Bank K edged Lucky Chucky by three-quarters of a length in the Matron prep.
Break The Bank K, a son of Revenue S out of the mare American Misty, won his first three races before his second-place finish to highly regarded Il Villaggio in the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship. Over his next five starts, he won twice and made the breaks in his three stakes eliminations.
“He started out as the talk of the track for a good while when we first started racing him,” Gillock said. “He’s just a natural athlete. When he’s all together there, he looks pretty good. We’ve got 13 starts under his belt and that’s a lot of starts for a 2-year-old at the upper levels. Unfortunately he didn’t perform as well as you would like in the bigger ones, so we had to try to salvage some of the year with him. He’s a pretty durable colt.”
Break The Bank K’s win in the Matron prep was his first victory since his Champlain triumph on September 6.
“Up in Canada he got a little bit sick and when we went to Lexington he just wasn’t himself,” Gillock said, referring to an eighth-place finish in a division of the Bluegrass Stakes at the Red Mile. “We brought him home and regrouped with him. He’s seems to be good and feeling well. Knock on wood, he’s pretty sound. Hopefully he can end the year on the right note.”
Following the Matron, Break The Bank K will get time off at Gillock’s farm in preparation for his 3-year-old season — a campaign the trainer hopes includes the Hambletonian.
“One thing about Mr. Key, he always keeps them eligible and gives you the racing opportunity,” Gillock said. “Hopefully we can put a game plan together to be ready to go.”
Following is the field in post position order for Saturday’s Matron, with listed drivers and trainers: 1. Break The Bank K, Ron Pierce, Rich Gillock; 2. Baximum, Corey Callahan, Jonas Czernyson; 3. Lucky Chucky, John Campbell, Chuck Sylvester; 4. Scent Of Oil, TBA, Chuck Sylvester; 5. Caviar De Vie, Mike Lachance, Bernie Noren; 6. Can’t Lose, David Miller, Jonas Czernyson; 7. Take My Picture, Andy Miller, Taylor Gower.
Owners: 1. Bob Key; 2. Robert Rosenheim Stables; 3. Chuck Sylvester, Neal Goldman, Amy Lynn Stoltzfus; 4. Joe Thomson, Joann Thomson; 5. Lasses Hastsport AB; 6. Robert Rosenheim Stables; 7. Joseph Davino, Laurie Davino.