Racing Roundup: Kentucky Rebel pulls upset in $37,500 Delaware Special
March 17, 2009,from Harness Publicists across North America
Monday’s (March 16) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Dover Downs, Pompano Park and Plainridge Racecourse.
Kentucky Rebel pulls upset in $37,500 Delaware Special
Dover, DE — Unheralded Kentucky Rebel pulled off a 25-1 upset in the $37,500 Delaware Special Handicap at Dover Downs on Monday. Ron Pierce had a five-win night.
Fotowon photo
Kentucky Rebel (#1) nosed out Art Director in the Dover feature.
Rodney Mitchell and trainer Johnny Waite’s Kentucky Rebel stepped up in class after a 9-1 surprise last week to win for the third time in four starts. The $37,500 feature race win was the 999th in driver Mike Cole’s career. Art Director closed strongly for Tim Tetrick to finish second. Mr Apples, winner of this event last week, got away last in the seven-horse field and closed well to finish third with Jim Morand in the bike.
Kentucky Rebel is an altered son of Armbro Operative-Kentucky Scarlet and has now won three of seven 2009 starts and banked $44,170 this year.
Caerleon Hanover was Ron Pierce’s fifth winning drive in the $26,000 Winners Over Pace. Max Walton and Greg Papaleo own the Western Ideal-Carmellos gelding, now a four-time winner this year. Benns Shotgun, driven by Vic Kirby, closed quickly to edge Days Desire and Roger Plante for second.
That’s Justice, a Village Jove-Power Persuasion gelding, raced into the lead heading to the three-quarters for Mark Gingrich and then held off Devil’s Ivy, with Pierce, for a 1:51 score in a $22,000 male pace. Marchand took the early lead for Corey Callahan and held on for third.
— Marv Bachrad
Seven straight for Front Page Star at Pompano Park
Pompano Beach, FL — Front Page Star ($2.80), who certainly deserves front page coverage as the winningest horse at the Isle Pompano Park in 2009, posted his seventh straight win on Monday.
Lap Time Photo – Skip Smith
Front Page Star and driver Anthony Napolitano posted their seventh straight win with a lifetime mark of 1:53.2.
Driven by Anthony Napolitano, Front Page Star started from post four in the fourth race $4,500 pace and got away in fifth place as Leutenant General (Bruce Ranger) left from post eight to take the early lead with Sports N Splendor (Fern Paquet, Jr.) in second place to the opening quarter in :27.
But before the half-mile marker in :55.3, Sports N Splendor quarter moved to take the lead back from Leutenant General as Sultan Of Suede (Kevin Wallis) came first-over with Front Page Star following the outside flow. Then as the field started up the backstretch, Ranger pulled the pocket with Leutenant General to regain the lead and Napolitano swept around Sultan Of Suede by the three-quarters in 1:24.2.
It then looked to be a two-horse battle down the stretch but Front Page Star showed he was the strongest horse, blowing by a tiring Leutenant General to win going away by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:53.2. A late closing Buttler (Richard Simard) was second with Leutentant General third.
It was a lifetime mark for Front Page Star, a 9-year-old gelding by Stubby B, who had moved up in class in posting his seventh straight win this year for trainer Paul Holzman and owner/wife, Mary.
Blessed Victory ($8.00) made it two straight in the $16,000 Open Handicap Trot for driver Dan Clements, grinding it out from the backstretch against Karpathos (Wally Hennessey) and then holding off Slave Dream (David Ingraham) in the stretch to win by one length in 1:55. Rate Exchange (Anthony Napolitano) was third.
It was a lifetime mark and the fifth win in nine starts this year for Blessed Victory, who is trained and leased by Bill Gallagher with Victoria Jackson-Carinda.
— Steve Wolf
Spring meet begins at Plainridge Racecourse
Plainville, MA — It was a nasty, raw, cold day at Plainridge Racecourse for the opening day, but track management, track grounds crew, trainers and drivers were ready to start off the new season with a bang and they sure did.
Plainridge Racecourse photo
The first race of the Spring Meet at Plainridge saw S S Ladro outlast Mister Hayes at the wire in 1:58.3.
Most of the opening day crowd stayed inside the clubhouse to stay warm but there were still some hearty souls that braved the cold to watch the races from outside and they were well rewarded with some outstanding races and in one case some expert handling of a horse that made a break coming down the stretch.
The star of the show was Drew Campbell, who captured the crowd’s attention with four wins on the 10-race card. He won the first with S S Ladro in 1:58.3, the third with Tom Collins in 2:00, the eighth with No Taboo in 1:58.3 and the 10th on Brooklets TNT in 1:59.4.
John Hogan was able to corner two winners, with one in the fifth race on Southwind Night in 1:58.2 and the other in the sixth race on Barolo Joe in 1:56.2. Also scoring two winners was Shawn Gray in the second race on Armbro Cayenne in 1:54.4 and in the fourth race on Kurt Rustler in 1:56.
A special congratulations goes out to Jim Hardy for saving the horses and drivers behind him from a bad accident while driving Pembroke Deluxe, who made an awful break while being beside the leader as they were coming down the stretch. Hardy prevented the horse from going down twice and maybe causing a serious accident. It certainly was a breath of fresh air after it was over.
— Robert Lieberman