Last Call At Dem’s wins Landmark Stake at Goshen
July 3, 2004,by Harness Racing Communications, a division of the USTA
The $26,367 featured Landmark Stake for three-year-old trotting colts at Goshen Historic Track on Saturday, July 3, was won in 2:01, wire to wire by Last Call At Dem’s. The win, by about two lengths, earned the son of Sir Taurus a hot bath, but a win last fall nearly won him a frosty beer.
When Last Call At Dem’s won the final of the $150,000 New York Sires Stakes for two-year-olds at Yonkers Raceway last fall, trainer/driver/co-owner Ray Schnittker fulfilled a promise to co-owner Steve Demeter. “I told him that if this horse won the final, I’d bring him to his bar. Demeter owns a bar near the Tappan Zee Bridge (over the Hudson River linking Westchester and Rockland County, New York); and we brought the horse in there for about an hour. He was really good – he didn’t make a mess or anything. He had a bucket of water, but no beer.”
The victory was the second in a row this season for Last Call At Dem’s, who also won a New York Sires Stakes event at Batavia Downs in western New York on June 26. Schnittker said he’d stick to races inside the New York state boundaries and not venture out of state for stakes events. Schnittker said that Last Call At Dem’s may have another night out at a pub if he wins this year’s sires stakes final in the fall, but “horses this size,” he said, gesturing with a laugh to the diminutive horse, “don’t race in the Hambletonian.”
Mal Pacino (Jeff Gregory) crossed the wire third but was placed second in the race won by Last Call at Dem’s, Amesbury (Stephen Smith) was second, but placed third for a lapped on break at the wire.
In CKG Billings Series amateur driving action, Todd Whitney said he was the, “happiest man from Maine right now,” with a win in a $3,000 division with the six-year-old trotter Reign of Power K. Whitney, a concrete contractor from Auburn, Maine, co-owns the horse with Jacqueline Graffam. He was accompanied by his 80-year-old caretaker, retired farrier Bill Wagg. The win was the second in 11 starts in 2004 for Reign of Power K.
Racing resumes at Goshen Historic Track on Sunday, July 4 at 1 pm, with New York Sires Stakes and the Hall of Fame Trot, featuring the newest Hall of Famer John Simpson Jr. and Ray Remmen, Howard Beissinger, Mike Lachance, Jim Doherty, Cat Manzi and Clint Galbraith. The Hall of Famers will do a meet and greet session next to the grandstand after the 8th race. Goshen is located at Exit 124 off Route 17.