Back-to-back grand slams for Perry in Virginia
August 30, 2018,by Darrell Wood, for the Shenandoah (Va.) County Fair
Woodstock, VA — Chuck Perry directed four horses to victory for the second consecutive day in Woodstock, Va. on Thursday (Aug. 30) as the Shenandoah County Fair meet reached its halfway point. Two of his wins established new fair track records at the half-mile oval, which underwent an $800,000 renovation two years ago prior to the Shenandoah Downs pari-mutuel meet.
Perry guided Henry Lewis’s Yeahboyyeah to a 1:56.2 mark in the first Aldine Jenkins Memorial Open Pace heat, then crushed that mark three races later in 1:55 aboard the same pacer in the Memorial’s second heat. The previous mark of 1:57 was set by Perry last year with PL Dragon. Both Thursday triumphs were in wire-to-wire fashion, by two and three lengths, respectively.
Perry also connected in both heats of a conditioned pace with Lemonaideshine, who was the 2017 Virginia Breeders champion 2-year-old pacing colt. The Jimmy Viars trainee wired the field in both as well, in 1:57.4 and 1:58.2 respectively, crossing by two lengths over FF Bigshow in the first and by one over BP Burnmer in the latter.
In Wednesday’s (Aug. 29) kickoff card, Perry scored with B Blissful twice, and with Loose Rocket and Midnight Dragon once.
Driver Scott Woogen, who serves as the president of the Virginia Harness Horse Association, collected a four-pack of wins over the two days. He was in the sulky for his Southwind Ferrari, who captured the Bernard Offutt Sr. Memorial Open Trot’s second heat Thursday in 1:57.3. On Wednesday, he prevailed twice with Peoplesayimnogood and once with Hold The Gold. The Mechanicsville, Va. resident owns both horses as well.
The final two days of fair racing are Friday (Aug. 31) and Saturday (Sept. 1), with post time at 1:00 p.m. both days. A total of nine races are on tap Friday. The five-week Shenandoah Downs pari-mutuel meet will begin at the same venue on Sept. 15 and continue through Oct. 14. Details are at shenandoahdowns.com.