Washington, PA — The Great Lakes Amateur Driving Association (GLADA) played host to amateur drivers from Sweden and the Netherlands on Thursday (Sept. 17) and Friday (Sept. 18) in the GLADA International Series.
That multi-race series began with a trio of events at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and concludes on Sunday (Sept. 20) with a pair of events at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair, which also hosts the Terry Holton Youth Driving Series, the Spring Haven Ladies Driving Championship and the Tim Fouts Memorial Standardbred Driving Championship on opening day of the five-day Little Brown Jug meeting.
Going into Sunday’s action over the Little Brown Jug-famed half-mile oval, the USA’s GLADA team holds a 39-33 lead over the Netherlands, with Sweden next.
Thursday’s action found the Netherlands’ Yanick Mollema taking the first event, taking Swan Legacy gate-to-wire in 1:56.3 over Guessiforgotim, who was disqualified and placed sixth.
Battin Athousand and Larry Ferrari moved up a notch to second and Modern Luxury improved to third for Dutchman Nico Post.
For Swan Legacy, a 9-year-old gelded son of Swan For All owned and trained by Todd Keith, it was his first win of the year in 22 starts — and his 32nd career win — with his lifetime earnings now at $340,837. He returned $6.20 to win as the second choice in the wagering.
Jerry Kehm reached the winner’s circle in the second GLADA International event with Northern Buff by overcoming post 7 and then holding the late surging Island Business and Nico Post by a neck, returning $39.40 to his faithful.
This 4-year-old altered son of Buffalino Hanover earned his second success of the season in 31 starts and vaulted his career earnings to $73,545. The winner is trained for owner Kehm by Mark Goldberg.
Rosesareexpensive was next, handled by Larry Ferrari, while Cantab Zette finished fourth for Jamie Marra, a neck better than Sure Is Silly and Yanick Mollema.
Mollema then returned to drive his first pacer in his career and used a backstretch blitz from third to use a :29.2 finale to score by 9-3/4 lengths with Glowing Lou, who covered the mile in 1:53, a new lifetime mark.
In a post-race interview, Mollema was surprised by the power of the pace, saying, “Gee, they really can go fast.
“I had never been on a pacer before — all of my 75 wins in the Netherlands are trotters — and I thought I was on a jet place! It was a real experience for me.
“I’d probably be hanging on for dear life if I ever got on of those 1:48 pacers!”
The GLADA International competition concludes Sunday over the Little Brown Jug oval in Delaware, Ohio, with post time set for 12 noon.