Racing Roundup: Park Lane Deputy rules in Hot Head Stake
July 11, 2009,from Harness Publicists across North America
Saturday’s (July 11) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Balmoral Park, Scarborough Downs, Scioto Downs, Yonkers Raceway, Vernon Downs, Cal-Expo, Scarborough Downs and Ocean Downs.
Crete, IL — After being hampered by tough trips in his last three starts driver Dale Hiteman took no chances with Park Lane Deputy in Saturday’s $12,000 Hot Head Stake at Balmoral Park as he sent to the pacer to the front and then settled into a pocket sitting position in route to a thrilling head victory in 1:51.1.
My Boy Luke was second while What It Means (Dave Magee) came on late to finish third.
With the win the Homer Hochstetler trained son of Sportsmaster-Darling Katherine now boasts a record of eight wins, one second and one third in 12 starts this year with earnings of $76,347 for owner Shirley LeVin. The odds on choice of the betting public returned $3.60, $3.20 & $2.10.
— Tom Kelley
On A Tear in track record performance at Scarborough
Scarborough, ME –– Speed came to the forefront on Saturday (July 11) as On A Tear delivered a track record performance in the $25,000 Mid Summer Classic at Scarborough Downs. The pacer toured the oval timed in a blistering 1:54 with driver Shawn Gray calling all the shots to equal one of the oldest standards still on the books at the southern Maine harness venue as the 6-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight joins the venerable Prince Ebony (Ron Pierce) who has held the gold standard for aged stallions at the Downs since the 1990 edition of The Presidents Pace.
“We acquired On A Tear about two weeks ago” owner Scott Dillon remarked, “I work with a broker who told me I should consider this horse. He’s a great horse – A great horse!”
“It’s great to win a race like this in front of the hometown fans” Dillon continued, “Even though I race horses at other tracks where the purses are much higher than this, it’s wonderful to be competing on your home turf.”
“All the people in the winner’s circle with me? They are all from Maine, all these guys, and being here with everyone from Maine – That’s what it’s all about. That’s what makes winning this race so special.”
One of the top owners in the state of Maine, Dillon has now won Scarborough’s marquee pacing event in back-to-back years — last season with Ideal Conditions — and both victories resulted in track record equaling performances.
“He’ll get a week off now before heading up to Bangor for the Paul Bunyon so he’ll be in Maine for a couple more weeks but then it’s back to New York” Dillon concluded, “I always want to participate in these big events in Maine. I’m thankful for the good fortune I’ve had these past two years.”
— Mike Sweeney
Stringtowner paces Scioto’s fastest of the meet
Columbus, Oh — The red hot gelding Stringtowner made it three wins in a row by taking the Open Handicap Pace at Scioto Downs on Saturday in 1:52.4, fastest mile of the 2009 season. The mile came on a track rated “sloppy” after a several hours of steady rains.
Despite starting from the outside post in the eight-horse field, the 8-year-old overtook pacesetting Lis Deo in the stretch and paced easily away to a 1-1/2-length victory. Handsome Prince rallied to overtake Lis Deo for second.
Stringtown is trained by Bruce Riegle for owner Chuck Grubbs of Grove City, Ohio. Scioto’s leading driver, Chris Page, was in the bike for the victory. It was Stringtowner’s sixth victory in 23 starts this season.
Last week Stringtowner won the Scioto Open in 1:53.1 and he had taken the Open Handicap at Northfield Park prior to that in 1:54.1.
— Dean A. Hoffman
Psilvuheartbreaker wins Open Handicap at Yonkers
Yonkers, NY — Millionaire Psilvuheartbreaker ended a seasonal schneid Saturday night, lasting on the lead to win Yonkers Raceway’s $48,000 Open Handicap Pace.
After disposing of a stubborn, first-up Wholly Louy (Stephane Bouchard), “Heartbreaker” needed the wire. He was able to get it at a very convenient time, holding off Forensic Z Tam by a head in 1:52.2. Eagle Real One (Cat Manzi), Jeremy’s Successor (Ryan Anderson) and Real Nice (Jason Bartlett) completed the cashers.
Psilvuheartbreaker, a 6-year-old Nobleland Sam gelding owned by Frank Bellino, returned $16.20 (fourth choice) for that first win in 22 seasonal starts. Despite a ’09 o-fer coming in, he had earned more than $196,000.
The state’s glamour division makes its second downstate appearance Monday night, with Yonkers Raceway hosting the $217,252 New York Sire Stakes Bruce Hamilton Pace for 3-year-old colts and geldings. Four divisions–at $54,313 a pop–go postward (including two non-bettors beginning at 6 PM).
— Frank Drucker
Waltrip Hanover wins fourth straight
Vernon, NY — Waltrip Hanover continued his winning ways for Wanda Polisseni’s Purple Haze Stables with a 1:52.1 pacing performance in the $9,000 featured eighth event at Vernon Downs on Saturday night (July 11).
Chris Lems did the catch-driving for Jessica Okusko, the meet’s leading trainer with 32 first-place finishes, as Waltrip Hanover ($5.00) dueled for the early lead with Triple Bars before taking charge in the clubhouse curve and continuing on to a 2-3/4 length triumph over the on-rushing Daley Deposit Only.
Unbeaten since arriving at the Downs on June 13, the steady striding 4-year-old son of The Panderosa-Witchn Flight is the leader in consecutive tallies after 37 programs with four.
— Jim Moran
Split Ticket Repeats; Marino Reaches Milestone At Cal-Expo
Sacramento, Ca — It was no surprise that Split Ticket won the Cal-Expo feature, but it was a surprise to Jim Marino that obtaining a plateau is his career was harder than he thought.
Open Handicap pacers were featured in Sacramento on Saturday (July 11) for a purse of $7,100, on which Split Ticket dominated.
Leaving softly from post-four in the field of the same number as a result of the late scratch of Keystone Eli, the gelding would drop in third just before the field entered the first-turn and would remain in that spot at the quarter-mile pole, timed in :28.2.
“I just wanted to duck him and have everybody settle – – then I’d move him,” stated driver Steve Wiseman.
Out and moving at the 5-16ths mile pole, Split Ticket would clear the lead at the 7-16’s mile marker before reaching the half-mile station, timed in :56.2. Did Wiseman have to use his charge in a second-quarter he paced in :27.2?
“No, not really. He felt pretty good and strong – – so I wasn’t concerned with the second-quarter or with the :56.2 half.”
With the field now on the final-turn, Wiseman was doing what was best for the five year-old.
“I just wanted to give him a little breather in the third-quarter – – then pull the earplugs and get away from D Jokerman (James Kennedy) when he came first-over because I know D Jokerman is better in the straight-aways.”
Getting rated until his earplugs were popped to the three-quarter mile marker, Wiseman got the response he wanted.
“He went on pretty good when I popped the plugs and I just wanted to get as much ground as I could on the rest of them. I thought at that point I had a good shot.”
Beginning to open up at the three-quarter mile pole, timed in 1:24.4, Split Ticket would expand his lead at the top of the stretch and further pour it on by lengthening his advantage to 4-1/2-lengths at the seven-eighths mile pole, all while under a drive.
“I kept urging him in the stretch to get as much ground as I could on Machine Maker (Rick Plano) and D Jokerman because they both can close. He felt good and was pacing pretty strongly down the stretch. He did get a little tired the last 20 yards – – which might have been because he had been off a week between starts and I had used him pretty good, plus I had stopped urging him late, but he still felt good at the wire.”
Owned by Richard Morita, David Yamada, David Ohara & Kaiton Wing, the Liberio Pacheco trained pacer won ($3.20) in a no-doubter by three-lengths, in 1:53.1. Machine Maker finished in second, and D Jokerman finished another three-quarters of one-length farther back, in third.
“It was a very good race for him, he raced good,” finished Wiseman.
Saturday’s 12th race may have just been a $3,000 claiming event for trotters, but for Jim Marino, it was a race he’ll never forget as he guided Southern John to a very narrow nose win, thus giving Marino 1,000 career driving wins.
“It was a nice milestone to reach and I’m really happy that it happened at Cal-Expo because this place has been all class with everybody treating me so well since I came here from my home in Canada,” said Marino.
Marino, however, found out that getting to a milestone was tougher than he thought.
“A lot of people told me that when you get close to a milestone that it plays on your mind, and that it can affect how you drive, thus making it tough to reach. I didn’t think that could happen to me, but I believe it did – – so it was nice to get it off my back. Plus it was ironic I got it on a trotter because I had never driven a trotter before I got to Cal-Expo.
“I will say one thing, to win 1,000 races makes me understand how big an achievement it is for those guys like Rick Plano who have won 5,000 races,” concluded Marino.
Speaking of Rick Plano, the 57 year-old “only” had four winners on Saturday night, thus giving him 17 winning drives out of 39 races for the racing week.
— Scott Ehrlich
Ranger wins four again at the Rock
Salem, NH — Leading driver Bruce Ranger put some more distance between the competition and himself on Saturday at Rockingham Park, winning four races on the card.
Ranger, who holds every driving record at The Rock and won back-to-back titles in both of the only two other years he competed here full time, started the day with 38 wins and was five in front of David Ingraham and Richard Wojcio, who were tied at 33 victories. Ranger extended his lead to 42 while Ingraham and Wojcio each won one race on Saturday to remain knotted in second place at 34 wins apiece.
Ranger also won a quartet of races on a single card this season on June 7th and July 3rd and he scored five wins on June 19th. In 2003-04 when he was the leading driver both seasons, he scored multiple six and seven win days and established the Rockingham harness and Thoroughbred record for eight wins on a single card for either a driver or jockey.
— Lynn Snierson
Arezzo Hanover wins photo finish
Berlin, MD —The feature race Saturday night at Ocean Downs included Art Thief, a 5-year-old horse whose last race and win came in November 2008. Still, the horse owned and trained by Arthur Fullwood was picked as the favorite in the race. Sitting next to 4-1 Art Thief in the two-hole was 7-2 Arezzo Hanover. This horse trained by Gene Long is the gelded son of The Panderosa.
Just before the final turn, both Arezzo Hanover and Valid Expectation took advantage of a slowing Art Thief and made an urgent push to give the race a photo finish. The photo showed Arezzo Hanover (5.60) winning the race by a nose. “My horse timed that perfectly. I was hoping to follow the horse in the two hole, but when the lead horse gave me an opening, we took it,” said driver Wayne Long.
— Ozi Menakaya