by Harness Racing Communications, a division of the USTA
Chocolatier and driver DR Ackerman swooped the field in the $50,000 second division of the Hayes Memorial Trot for two-year-old colts on Thursday afternoon at the DuQuoin (Illinois) State Fair, winning by four lengths in 1:56.1. The son of Credit Winner is trained and owned by Doug Ackerman, father of DR.
USTA Photo
Chocolatier and driver DR Ackerman swooped the field in the $50,000 second division of the Hayes Memorial Trot for two-year-old colts.
Racing from post 10 in a field of 11, Chocolatier sat well off the pace set by Man About Town (Ron Marsh) and Kid Wizard (Henry Lunsford) to the :28.1 quarter and 57.1 half. Approaching the 1:27.1 three-quarter mile mark, Ackerman urged Chocolatier up on the outside to challenge. He cleared the lead in the stretch of the one mile track and was all alone at the finish. Lotsa Muscle (Eric Ledford) was second, followed by Roman Holiday (Andy Miller) and Man About Town.
Chocolatier has now put together a three race win streak, with prior wins in the Hanover Stake at Balmoral and also the Review Stake at Springfield. “He needed that,” said DR Ackerman, of the colt’s come-from-behind win. “Every other start I just gassed him. It was good for him to race from behind. He said, ‘I’ll just take you where you want to go.'”
Chocolatier shows multiple breaks in two of his first three starts, which Ackerman attributed to experimenting with the best shoes for the colt. “We had him in borium and that didn’t work, then in flip flop shoes and that didn’t work, so we just went right back to what he started out with – 9/16ths half swedge with a crease. ”
USTA Photo
Victor’s Finesse (#2 Andy Miller) wins a $50,000 division of the Hayes Memorial Trot for two-year-old fillies on Thursday afternoon at the DuQuoin (Illinois) State Fair in 1:56.2.
The colt competed at Hoosier Park much of the summer and he did not compete in races like the Peter Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands, though that was not by design, laughed Ackerman. “We had another colt staked to those races and now he’s turned out. This colt wasn’t staked to any of them and he’s still going.”
Victor’s Finesse won the $50,000 first division of the Hayes Memorial Trot for two-year-old fillies by a half length in 1:56.2. His brother Erv trains the Illinois-bred daughter of Valley Victor. Passionate Glide (Marcus Johansson) was second and Merrie Annabelle winner Miss Wisconsin (Mike Lachance) was third.
