by Mike Paradise, publicity director, Maywood Park
Melrose Park, IL — A compact field of six Illinois-bred pacers square off on Friday night in Maywood Park’s $10,000 Ideal Society Series Final with Incredivelocity (2-1) favored to get back on the winning track with the shift to this half-miler.
The draw couldn’t have gone any better for the four-year-old Roger Welch trainee in the third race co-feature, getting the favorable one post, just as he did in his January 7th second series leg here when he posted a 1:54.1 front-end victory with Tony Morgan.
“Incredivelocity is a big, long-gaited racehorse, he really gets around this track well — in fact he’s much slicker here than at Balmoral,” said Morgan after the pacer’s one and one-half length win. “The horse was well in hand, and really could have gone much faster. I never really had to crank him up.”
Sight To Behold (4-1, Tim Tetrick), who rushed past Incredivelocity in the Balmoral Park January 15 Series Final (1:54), leaves from post four and will open up at 4-1. Ernie’s Mack (Andy Miller), winner of the Incredible Finale Series Final here on December 17, is the 5-2 early second choice.
Completing the field are Oxford Bound (6-1, Dale Hiteman), O Boo (15-1, John Roberts) and Walter Pay A Ton (7-2, Dave Magee), a game first-over conqueror in his January 7 Maywood Park Ideal Society series leg for the Seldon Ledford Stable.
“Dave (Magee) did a really good job of rating this horse. I think to come first over the way he did shows the kind of confidence that Dave has in the horse,” said Ledford after the horse’s 1:55.4 victory.
“We’ve always expected good things from this horse,” added his winning trainer. “He’s a full brother to Parkland Powerful (1:49.3, $631,631) and he’s been kind of a late bloomer. I just think he’s really starting to come into his own. He’s a great horse to be around, both in the barn and on the racetrack, and has always wanted to be a good horse, he’s just been somewhat immature.”
His Lemont, Illinois owner James Jesk bought Walter Pay A Ton for $47,000 as a yearling at the 2001 Cottonwood Farm Sale.
While Incredivelocity went wire-to-wire for his Wisconsin owners William C. and William O. De Long here two weeks ago, his driver said the pacer didn’t need the lead to be successful.
“It really didn’t matter to me if I got to the front easy or not,” said Morgan. “But Andy’s (Miller) horse (Ernie’s Mac) really was having trouble through the turns, and it was easier just to avoid any trouble by sitting behind that horse.”