By Kimberly Rinker for Maywood Park

MELROSE PARK, IL — Bob’s Minute Maid rocketed to her fourth consecutive victory Friday night at Maywood Park, besting six rivals handily in 1:54.2 in the $15,500 Gosox ICF Open.

Handled deftly by regular pilot Mike Oosting, Bob’s Minute Maid faced male competitors for the first time this season in her sixth time postward. Now 8, the daughter of Tattler’s Torpedo pushed her seasonal earnings to $39,283 for owner Paul Bertucci of Burbank, Ill.

Oosting left easily with the bay mare, letting her find her stride through a 27.3 opening panel led by Fox Valley Snaffle (Sam Widger). At the :56.4 half, Oosting pulled Bob’s Minute Maid to the outside flow behind a rough-gaited Prince Vince (Joe Anderson). Slightly impeded at the 1:25.2 three-quarters when Prince Vince began galloping, Bob’s Minute Maid made a powerful, three-wide move to take command of the race coming out of the final turn. From there, she drew off easily with a :28.3 final quarter to win by six lengths as Oosting sat calmly, his whip tucked neatly under his arm.

“She’s really sharp right now,” Oosting noted. “She’s been un resilient lately, and whatever you want her to do, she does. She just loves her work.”

Oosting, who keeps Bob’s Minute Maid stabled at the Double Dakota Farm in Crete, Ill., says the mare requires little training in between starts.

“She goes in the exercise wheel a couple times a week and may train one trip but we don’t overdo it,” Oosting stressed. “My main goal with her is to keep her fresh.

“She basically had most of this past week off,” Oosting continued. “I trained her one trip on Saturday and jogged her three miles and then she had Sunday and Monday off and trained a light trip again on Tuesday. She had Wednesday off and jogged two miles yesterday (Thursday). This schedule seems to keep her fresh.”

Oosting said that Bob’s Minute Maid will most likely be back in at Maywood next Friday night (Feb. 29), as she’s proven she can handle herself “against the boys.”

“I want to make sure she stays sound all year ‘round, and this kind of training regime seems to fit her just fine,” Oosting noted. “The interesting thing is—I’ve never really pushed her. I take it easy with her, especially coming off the gate, and she really likes to leave. But that’s where a lot of horses hurt themselves—the gate—because they’re really trying all they can go at that time. So I usually ease her out of there, let her settle and then ask her to go later on in the mile.

“I really believe we haven’t seen her best effort yet. I think she can go a lot more but I want to make sure she’s around for a long time,” he said.

Bob’s Minute Maid now has $296,587 in career earnings, with a 24-19-21 record from 125 career starts.