by Harness Racing Communications, a division of the USTA
After 12 failed attempts, Up Front Brad finally finished — up front. He did it emphatically, setting a Bye Bye Byrd (Pennsylvania Sire Stakes) record by winning in 1:51.3 at The Meadows.
The three-year-old pacer will look to duplicate his performance this Saturday in his Max C. Hempt Memorial elimination race at Pocono Downs. A total of 18 horses, divided into three elimination groups, will compete for the right to race in the $162,969 final on May 22.
“He raced real well,” trainer Kelly O’Donnell said. “I was kind of shocked that he did that in his first start of the year. He did it all on his own. [Driver] Dickie Stillings said he was strong as heck at the wire; he paced right through the wire. He just went an unbelievable mile.”
Up Front Brad (Western Hanover-Tricky Tooshie) was a $90,000 yearling purchase at the Standardbred Horse Sale. Ed Mullinax of Amherst, Ohio owns him. He made three starts in qualifiers this year, two in Florida and one in Ohio, before beginning his three-year-old season last Saturday.
O’Donnell was pleased Up Front Brad drew post one for this Saturday’s Hempt elim. His race also includes Santastic’s Pan, Four Starz Esquire, Maltese Artist, Rapid Dialing and Hop Sing.
“We’ll see if he can keep improving,” O’Donnell said. “I would like to see him get an easy trip after that mile last week, and set him up for the final. He’s not a big horse, but he’s got a big set of lungs to him. He never seems to get tired.”
Up Front Brad is eligible to all the major stakes this year, including the North America Cup and Meadowlands Pace. Other Meadowlands Pace eligibles in the Hempt elims are Santastic’s Pan, Rapid Dialing, Grissini, Marchand and Driven To Win.
“If he races well the next two weeks, we’ll probably go to the Hoosier Cup,” O’Donnell said. “We won that race in 1998 with Dragon Again, and I think Mr. Mullinax would like to win it again. If he’s good there, we’ll probably skip the Burlington and get ready for the North America Cup.”
Up Front Brad had three second-place finishes and four thirds in 12 starts last year and earned $56,327. He was second to Panspacificflight in a division of the Bluegrass and had second-place efforts behind Georgia Pacific and Metropolitan in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action.
“He had a lot of bad luck,” O’Donnell said. “He drew a lot of outside posts and got some bad trips. He paced a lot of big miles, but just never had a chance to get acclimated. Mr. Mullinax is pretty calm and cool; I don’t usually get too much pressure from him. I knew he was a good colt, he just never had luck enough to win one.”
Until now.