Badlands Nitro, Its That Time win Hempt elims
May 17, 2008,by James Beviglia for Pocono Downs
Badlands Nitro and Its That Time captured the two Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace elimination races Saturday afternoon (May 17) at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs as the nine-horse field for next week’s approximate $300,000 finals is set.
Badlands Nitro, driven by Brian Sears, won the first Max Hempt elim in 1:52.
In the opening elimination race, Badlands Nitro, driven by Brian Sears, came from off the early torrid pace to win in 1:51.1 with Blueridge Western (Yannick Gingras) second. Third was Mystery Chase (George Brennan) with fourth going to Segundo Hanover (Ron Pierce).
“I just sat back and my horse let me do what I wanted to do,” said Sears. “It was a pretty heated battle on the front end. I wanted to rate him out there and that is how the race developed. We’re definitely a contender to win next Saturday.”
Badlands Nitro, trained by George Teague Jr., is now two-for-two in 2008 with the other win coming at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in a time of 1:52.
Brennan and Its That Time left from the one post in the second elimination race and stayed there the entire mile before winning by 1-1/4 lengths over pocket trip horse Duke Did It (Eric Goodell), with third going to Four Starz Affair (Gingras). Fourth was Alastair Hanover (Tony Morgan). Time of the race was 1:52.3.
“Steve (Elliott) told me Its That Time wasn’t good on the front end,” said Brennan. “No one really challenged us and we had things pretty much our own way.”
The top four horses in each elimination made the finals along with the fastest fifth-place finisher Fly High (Goodell) with a time of 1:52.