by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Foiled Again will try to win the Bobby Quillen Memorial for the second consecutive year, which if he does will push his seasonal earnings to more than $1 million for the first time in his career and make him the oldest pacer in history to win $1 million in a season.

It would also increase his lifetime bankroll to more than $3 million and provide the stable of trainer Ron Burke with its fourth Quillen victory in the event’s five-year history.

Burke will send three horses into the $335,000 Quillen Memorial on September 19 at Harrington Raceway in Delaware. Joining Foiled Again are Atochia and Clear Vision. Foiled Again will start from post No. 1 with driver Yannick Gingras while Clear Vision got post five and Atochia got post eight.

Foiled Again won his Quillen elimination race on Monday by two lengths over Clear Vision in 1:51.2. It was Foiled Again’s 10th win in 22 races this year and pushed his earnings to $856,247. Aside from a three-race stretch in June and early July, the 7-year-old gelding has finished no worse than third in any start this season. His victories include the $306,000 Molson Pace, the $246,000 Graduate and the $100,000 Battle of Lake Erie. He was second in the William Haughton Memorial.

Mike Lizzi photo

Foiled Again will be looking to surpass the $1 million mark in 2011 earnings in the Quillen final.

For his career, Foiled Again has won 54 of 139 races and earned $2.86 million. Only 10 pacers in North American harness racing history have surpassed $3 million in lifetime purses.

“Reaching a million (this year) will separate him out a little bit, which I think he’s already done this year,” Burke said. “I think he’s shed the small-track-only label. He’s pretty much competitive wherever he races. I think he’s really come a long way.”

Burke said Foiled Again’s fifth-place finish in the Bettor’s Delight and off-the-board finishes in his Ben Franklin Pace elim and final were more because of race luck than any failure on the horse’s part.

“Basically, those miles he was (parked) out every step,” Burke said. “It’s hard against those horses; if you don’t get some kind of a trip I don’t care how good you are, you’re in trouble.”

Atochia won his Quillen elim by 1-3/4 lengths over Pangiorno in 1:51.1. It was Atochia’s fifth win in 22 starts this year. He has won 23 of 114 races and earned $1.18 million in his career.

“The last three or four weeks he’s finally starting to be the horse we always thought he could be,” Burke said. “I’ve said all along he’ll win one of these big races one day. It’s not that he doesn’t have the ability. He probably has more ability than either of the other two. They just try their hearts out and he just mails it in and gives as little as possible.”

Following is the Bobby Quillen Memorial field in post position order, with listed drivers and trainers: 1. Foiled Again, Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke; 2. Pangiorno, Ross Wolfenden, Dorothy Reynolds; 3. Go Go Solano, Tim Tetrick, Tony Poliseno; 4. Mainland Key N, Wolfenden, Peter Tritton; 5. Clear Vision, David Miller, Burke; 6. Giddy Up Lucky, Daniel Dube, Josh Green; 7. Hypnotic Blue Chip, Tetrick, Kevin McDermott; 8. Atochia, Ron Pierce, Burke.