by Dan Conway, USTA web newsroom correspondant

Take off like the proverbial bat out of Hades, cool the pace and then hope you can gut it out to the wire. It’s a well trodden way of getting to the winner’s circle.

Lotsa Guy came in from Mohawk to Hazel Park Raceway on Saturday night to take on the local Invitational stars, JC, King Of Cards, Armbro Beijing and Meal Ticket. Two other regular Hazel Park Open and conditioned winners were also in the mix for the $12,600 feature.

The fans liked Lotsa Guy, who was shooting for his tenth victory in 23 starts this season. A tremendously improving five-year-old, he has already earned $63,802 this season out of his lifetime $95,302.

The second choice was Meal Ticket, who upset the big horse, Admiral’s Express, last week. And then there was always JC, a bridesmaid in his last four.

As the gate left, Kevin Wallis urged Lotsa Guy to the front in a very quick :26.2. Mark Webster took JC away second with Armbro Beijing and Danny Johnson third.

Pacing in front of the grandstand, Lotsa Guy led the field with Eric Goodell moving Meal Ticket out from fourth to come first over. Meal Ticket was followed by Scholars Choice, handled by Keith Crawford. King Of Cards, who won three straight until last week, was third over driven by young Tyler Buter. Wallis and Lotsa Guy slowed the pace, hitting the half in :56.2.

Around the second turn, Meal Ticket continued to move up gradually on the outside. Down the backstretch the pace quickened a bit with a :29.1 third panel in the making. At the three-quarter pole in 1:25.3, Lotsa Guy had a length and a quarter lead over Meal Ticket. JC followed along third with Scholars Choice fourth on the outside.

Around the final turn, it was turning into a real horse race with the field bunching up for the sprint to the wire. Down the lane, everybody fanned out and everybody except Scholars Choice put it in high gear and charged to the wire. Kevin Wallis, with a .346 UDR in a limited number of drives at Hazel Park, kept Lotsa Guy fired up, but as the field came to the wire Tyler Buter had King Of Cards flying. In the end it was Lotsa Guy with a neck victory in 1:54.3 over King Of Cards. JC finished third.

Lotsa Guy is by Threefold, out of Radiate. He is owned by John Turigliatto and trained by Raymond Farmer.