Racing Roundup: Heath Campbell scores four at Scarborough
May 1, 2009,from Harness Publicists across North America
Thursday’s (April 30) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Scarborough Downs, Saratoga Raceway, Cal-Expo and Monticello Raceway.
Heath Campbell scores four at Scarborough Scarborough, ME — The planets and stars seemed perfectly aligned for driver Heath Campbell on Thursday as he overcame torrid pace scenarios, tight photo finishes and a driver’s objection to rein four to victory on the Scarborough Downs card.
Michael Newman photo Heath Campbell steered Last Chance Artist down victory lane on Friday to put the crowning touch on his grand-slam performance at Scarborough Downs. The first win of the grand slam performance saw Campbell perfectly perched behind Sandtana Score N (2:00.4) as the duo overtook the faltering speed of Jo Jo L’Amour rallying wide around the final turn.
That effort was quickly followed with a front-running gambit of his own as Rama’s Fantasy (2:01) held off a determined drive up the pylons by Mannart Sound Wave which saw Campbell persevering through an excruciatingly long examination of the photo finish print.
The stable pet, Mondo Hanover, provided Campbell with his third win on the program while generating the fastest mile of the day, overtaking the blazing speed of the dappled grey horse Silvano as the timer stopped at 1:57.3.
But Heath’s most dramatic victory came in the afternoon’s feature event as his win aboard Last Chance Artist (1:59.3) withstood a judges’ review of a driver’s objection to officially secure the grand-slam performance for Campbell.
Live harness racing resumes at Scarborough Downs on Friday afternoon as Hambletonian combatant Velocity Hall returns to battle two-time state of Maine Trotter of the Year Kerogen in the $6,000 Open-level event. First post for Friday’s card is slated for 4:15 p.m. (EDT) followed on Saturday with a special 2:00 p.m. performance on Kentucky Derby Day.
— Michael Sweeney
Sophomore trotters in Saratoga spotlight
Saratoga Springs, NY — Two talented 3-year-old trotters rattled off successive wins at Saratoga as Brandnewgirlfriend and East Creek Otto scored victories on the Thursday night card.
Dave Oxford photo
East Creek Otto was a 1:59.4 winner on Thursday at Saratoga.
Brandnewgirlfriend was making her lifetime debut for trainer Paul Kelley and driver Brian Mattison. Coming off a qualifier in which the good looking filly scored in 1:59.4, Brandnewgirlfriend made easy work of the third race field. The Conway Hall filly went wire-to-wire, highlighted by a :59.3 back half to record the 5-1/4 length win in 2:01.4.
East Creek Otto was coming off a sensational 2-year-old season when he made his 2009 debut last week at Saratoga. Trainer/driver John Cannone piloted the sophomore trotter to a second place finish in his first start back but there would be no second place finish on Thursday night. East Creek Otto went down the road in 1:59.4 and registered a five length win of his own. The Credit Winner 3-year-old finished third in last year’s New York Sire Stakes final and is looking forward to another big year in 2009.
Live harness racing resumes on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
— Mike Sardella
Silver Bloom gets the gold at Cal-Expo
Sacramento, CA — Conditioned distaffers, racing for a $4,200 purse, were featured at Cal-Expo on Thursday night, in which Silver Bloom proved to be the best.
In advance of starting from post position four in the field of nine, trainer Rick Plano knew what was best for his charge.
“I didn’t want to race her on the front versus older horses,” stated Plano. “But since she’s a very fast, big, and strong filly, I thought she was definitely a player amongst that group.”
Leaving, but not clearing to the front until late in the first turn into a :28.3 first quarter, Plano wasn’t worried.
“I was just easing her out of there and could have made the lead a lot quicker — so the lead wasn’t tough. The reason I was going slow was because I didn’t want Little Bit Country (Steve Hyman) to get a seat — I wanted to force her to go to the front which would hopefully put me in the two-hole.”
Pushing some before yielding to Little Bit Country past the 5-16ths pole, the pace would slow up immediately.
“The mindset was to not be on the lead, so when Hyman hit the brakes pretty hard and forced (Jim) Lackey out with Reno Rose at the 7-16ths, I knew I had to stay in as long as I could and take it from there because I knew Reno Rose was the horse to beat, plus I knew the front wasn’t really any good tonight.”
Sitting third in the pocket at the half-mile station, timed in :57.4, Plano would move his pupil first-over to the five-eighths marker versus the now leading Reno Rose, then quickly brushed her up midway through the final turn before drawing even at the three-quarter pole, timed in 1:26.2.
“I felt she was going to go by at the three-quarters, plus I hadn’t really asked her to go yet, so I felt pretty good at that point. Then when I pulled her earplugs late in the final turn, she responded pretty well.”
Accelerating into the lead at the top of the stretch, Silver Bloom would lead with an eighth of a mile to go, but the classy Reno Rose was far from done as she’d fight back to get within a neck of Silver Bloom with a sixteenth of a mile to go.
“She got herself about a half of a length in front of Reno Rose and it was close down the stretch late because Reno Rose isn’t a quitter, but my filly hung in there pretty tough.”
Eyeballing her foe in deep stretch, Silver Bloom wouldn’t let Reno Rose get any closer as she’d go on to record a half-length victory ($6.20). Bred in part and owned by Wayne Knittel, Silver Bloom stopped the timer at 1:54.1, a lifetime best and her second in a row. Reno Rose was a gallant second, and Little Bit Country finished another 2-3/4 lengths farther back in third.
“It was a real strong race for her because it’s tough for a 3-year-old to do what she did especially since I was going to try and give her an easy run. As it turned out, I ended up using her three times, but it was probably the best race she has ever gone,” finished Plano.
— Scott Ehrlich
Another hat trick for Parker at Monticello
Monticello, NY — In what has become commonplace of late, Billy “Zeke” Parker, Jr. again won three races on a Monticello Raceway afternoon card. His latest “hat trick” came on Thursday.
For the last two weeks “Zeke” has won anywhere from two to five races on a daily card and is driving like he did decades or so ago. In fact, winners have been coming so often that he is pressuring the youngsters who are at the top of the track’s leaderboard.
Parker’s first victory on Thursday afternoon came in race five when he reined John Curran’s Bills Iscape to a 2:00.1 victory. Then the bearded wonder strung together two consecutive triumphs, winning the seventh race with Joe Perry’s Racing Stable’s 4-year-old trotting mare Stormont Reception in a time of 2:01.1, and coming back in the eighth with another trotting victory behind Michael D’Abbraccio’s Mac’s Ms Victory in a 2:04 clocking.
Parker, who owns 13 driving titles here, explained his recent win output to getting more live drives. However, any driver who has 9,576 career driving victories has a lot more going for him than just live drives. His current lifetime win total ranks Parker ninth in races won all-time in North American harness racing.
— John Manzi