by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Balmoral Park

Crete, IL — Despite a five week layoff and a sick scratch last week Dane May’s Dinky Dune proved that he’s a force to be reckoned with among this year’s Illinois conceived and foaled 3-year-old pacing colts as he rolled to a 2-3/4 length victory in 1:53.1 over five other state-bred sophomore pacing colts in Saturday’s (June 27) $8,000 Xpressbet Stake at Balmoral Park.

Balmoral Park photo

Dinky Dune and Pat Curtin parlayed a perfect pocket-sitting trip into an easy win in Saturday’s $8,000 Xpressbet Stake for 3-year-old pacing colts.

Given a perfect steer by driver Pat Curtin the gelded son of Duneside Perch-Dream Hand settled into the garden spot as Dixie’s Boy (Casey Leonard) led the compact field through pedestrian splits of 29.0, 58.0 & 1:26.4.

With the action heating up in the lane Curtin maneuvered the Dane May trainee to the outside of horses where he quickly gobbled up the pace-setter with a sixteenth to go. Effortlessly opening up an insurmountable advantage Dinky Dune easily kept heavily favored Earndawg (Todd Warren) at bay while rolling to his fourth win in seven starts this season. Earndawg, the 2-5 favorite in the race was forced to settle for a runner-up role on this night while longshot Casey At Bat (Mike Oosting) grabbed the show dough.

The second choice in the wagering Dinky Dune returned $7.00, $2.80, $2.40 while running his career record to 4-1-1 in 10 starts with earnings of $22,852.

The state-bred stake action continues on Sunday, June 28 with a pair of battles sharing top billing. Sophomore trotting colts kick off the festivities in race one as Fox Valley Qatar and Captain Greedy renew their rivalry in the $8,000 Xpressbet Stake. Later in the evening, sophomore pacing fillies will square off in the $8,000 Mystical Victress Stake which has attracted a full field of 10 led by division stalwarts Lex and Sportsmuffler. The wagering action gets underway at 7:10 p.m. on Sunday night and as always the $1 Pick-4 features a $25,000 guaranteed pool. The Pick-4 is on races seven through 10 on Sunday night.