Perfect Man goes over $200,000 lifetime with win in Buffalo feature

Hamburg, NY — Perfect Man, a 7-year old Malabar Man gelding, out of the Nearly Perfect mare Perfectly Swift, won the $10,000 Open Trot in 2:02.3 over a track rated good for owner Michael Ouriel at Buffalo Raceway Friday night. It was the second win this season for Perfect Man, who has been racing predominately in Open company.

Perfect Man ($6.50) leaving from post two and driven by Dave McNeight, Jr., settled in fourth as last week’s Open winner Fifty Two Finn (John Cummings, Jr.) cut the early fractions, :30 to the quarter and 1:00 to the half.

Second place finisher Ranger Gus (Dan Noble) hit the three-quarters with the lead in 1:31.1, with Perfect Man right behind. As the field hit the top of the stretch, it was obvious that Perfect Man was the stronger of the two horses and he prevailed by 1-3/4 lengths at the wire. Longshot Mystic Soulmate (Jim McNeight) came in third.

Trained by Dave McNeight, Jr., it was the 21st lifetime win in 124 attempts for Perfect Man, whose lifetime earnings now stand at $201,010.

— Sam Pendolino

Cal Expo
One needed a perfect trip, one didn’t, but the result was the same — a win for Lemoyne Svendsen. Conditioned and claiming male and female pacers were co-featured at Cal Expo on Friday night in a pair of $3,600 events, in which Ivegotwhatuneed and Bewareofthisaffair were victorious. Under urging with an eighth of a mile to go and continuing to gain, Ivegotwhatuneed still had to deal with a digging in Stanza, but got his nose up with a sixteenth of a mile to go, but with Stanza refusing to quit. Being urged and driven late, the gelding got his head up at the wire. Owned by Marty Garey in partnership with trainer Bob Johnson, Ivegotwhatuneed won ($3.60) in 1:55, thus recoding his 37th career triumph. Stanza had to settle for the place honors and Myra’s Hiho finished one length farther back in third. Distaffers were in the spotlight later in the card, in which Bewareofthisaffair was much the best. Drawing clear to the top of the lane, Bewareofthisaffair opened up with an eighth of a mile to go and kept expanding her lead while Svendsen tucked his sword with a sixteenth of a mile to pace while on their way to a solid 3-3/4 length win ($11.60). Bred and owned by Wendi Wiener and trained by Nathalie Tremblay, Bewareofthisaffair stopped the timer at 1:55.3, a lifetime best and the third of five piloting scores for Svendsen. Majestic Lass finished in second and favored Sleigh Belle finished one length farther back in third.