by Daina Kazmaier, Rosecroft Publicity Office

Ft. Washington, MD — Joe Offutt and George Aide’s Dixie Pride ($5.20, $3.00, $2.10) paced wire-to-wire to an easy victory in the $7,400 Winners Over featured event at Rosecroft Raceway on Monday (Jan. 22).

The 6-year-old Real Artist horse, trained and driven by Offutt, left the gate from post seven and dominated the field through moderate fractions of :28, :58.1 and 1:26 over an off-rated track. Dixie Pride won by five lengths in 1:55.1 as the betting favorite.

Blissfull Silence ($3.60, $2.40), with a driver change to Donnie Russell, raced in the pocket and held for second. Trained and owned by Trevor Stafford, Blissfull Silence was recently competing at The Meadowlands with some success. The 6-year-old gelded son of Blissfull Hall was a winner of over $40,000 last season and took a mark of 1:53.1 at Rosecroft.

There was a dead heat finish for third — both Crazy For Ever ($2.10) and Homeland Hero ($2.60) closed well and hit the wire at the same time. Crazy For Ever, the 2006 Rosecroft co-horse of the year, was driven by Jonathan Roberts from the inside of the gate and came on late with a first-over try. The 6-year-old Life Sign gelding is co-owned by Alvin Mindel and trainer George Bartlett.

Homeland Hero, driven by Corey Braden, had tons of pace late in the race but failed to find his way through traffic. The 6-year-old Western Hero gelding, owned by the Baxter Stables LLC, closed well with a :29.2 final quarter from post six. John Baxter owns the gelding.

The 7-5-2 trifecta returned $51.00, while the 7-5-6 trifecta paid $102.20.

Callahan is the “longshot” man

During the course of the evening’s card, driver Corey Callahan brought two longshot horses to the winner’s circle.

In the second race, Easy Hoosier ($63.40, $28.80, $8.60) found his way to the wire first after coming from behind. The 9-year-old Long Ago Blue Chip gelding, co-owned by Roberta and trainer James Eveland, paced wide at the top of the stretch and closed with a :29.1 final quarter to win by a neck.

In the following race, Callahan reined CM Arthur ($42.80, $21.20, $3.80) to a second-over victory. The 6-year-old Art’s Conquest pacing gelding showed improvement to win by three lengths in 1:57.3.

Roberts wins four on Monday card

Driver Jonathan Roberts won four of 13 races on Rosecroft’s Monday card — the first with Imperious ($4.40, $4.60, $3.40) in race seven. The 5-year-old son of Glowing Tribute hit the lead off of the gate and never looked back, pacing to an 8-1/4 length victory in 1:56.

In race eight, GE’s Justin ($5.20, $12.40, $3.20) found the winner’s circle through a front-end trip as well. The 14-year-old veteran son of WRH drew away from the field by over five lengths to win in 1:57.1.

In the 11th race, pacer Western Union ($3.80, $3.20, $3.80) finally came through for trainer Greg Trotto. Roberts again sent the 5-year-old Western Hanover gelding to the front to draw away by over eight lengths. Western Union posted a victory in 1:58.1.

Roberts rounded out an outstanding night in the final race with trotter Jim’s Message ($3.80, $2.80, $3.60). The 6-year-old gelding by Carry The Message took the lead after the half and held on by a neck in 2:01.3. Last year, Jim’s Message was at the top of his game at Rosecroft, taking a mark of 1:55.

Rosecroft will present live racing again on Saturday, Jan. 27. Post time is set for 7:20 p.m.