by Kim French, USTA Internet News Editor
Columbus, OH — Despite not growing taller over her winter vacation, Roaring To Go certainly transitioned from an awkward teenager to a young lady after her third birthday. In fact, her conditioner Kevin Lare compares her much more mature appearance and potential to perform to the sculpted physique and celebrity status of none other than superstar Jennifer Lopez.
The now 3-year-old filly, who was in the hunt for divisional honors last year as a freshman prior to her fourth place finish in the Breeders Crown, will attempt to snare the spotlight once again when her considerable talents will be on display in the first of two C$35,000 eliminations for the Fan Hanover at Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday (June 10).
“I tell everyone she looks just like JLo,” said Lare. “She has all the curves in the right places as she really filled out her frame. She has that nice big chest now and that well-rounded butt. She just looks great and she has always had such a terrific attitude. She is not a horse that is loving, but is just grumpy enough for a mare or filly to be very good.
“She is also right where we want her to be right now as she had that really nice qualifier at Harrah’s Philadelphia in 1:53.1 (May 23, defeating Prairie Sweetheart). All I wanted was to not draw the eight-hole or have to face Tequila Monday in her first start (in a New York Sire stakes leg on June 2) and one of those wishes was granted, but I was very happy with her race (second to Tequila Monday).
“She has trained enough to be fit and the last race and this race this weekend should have her race-tight to fire her best in the Fan Hanover final. I couldn’t ask for anything more from her.”
Owned by Frank Chick, Roaring To Go will have the services of regular pilot Brett Miller when she commences her mile from post two in the evening’s fifth contest. She is the second selection on the morning line (4-1) behind Dan Patch and O’Brien Award winner Idyllic Beach (6-5, Yannick Gingras), recent Ontario Sire Stakes Gold winner Soiree Seelster (6-1, Sylvain Filion) and a filly that looks to be improving in Jaye’s A Lady (8-1, Louis-Philippe Roy).
“All I know is there are eight other very talented fillies in there,” Lare said. “There is no Tequila Monday in this one, who I think is the one to beat right now after that mile she went to win the Lismore Pace, but all these fillies are so good. That’s why we race them; anything can happen and any one of them can win. I’m just thrilled we have a horse with enough ability to be in there with them.”
Roaring To Go, a daughter of Art Major-Lionness Hanover, was purchased for $16,000 at the 2015 Goshen Yearling Sale and her dam is a half-sibling to Lookout Hanover (The Panderosa, $405,774), Long Fight Hanover (Allamerican Native, $162,337) and Lonewolf Currier (The Panderosa, $483,601).
The filly has collected $307,079 from a record of 15-7-4-0 and established the track record for her age, sex and gender at Saratoga (1:54) last July. Roaring To Go has also defeated Idyllic Beach in a 1:50.4 mile in a $73,000 division of the Bluegrass Stake at Red Mile and hit the wire before New York Sire Stakes and Lismore Pace champion Tequila Monday in the $225,000 Sire Stakes final, only to be placed second for a brief venture inside the pylons.
After her success in Kentucky, the filly scored a powerful triumph in her $20,000 Breeders Crown elimination while leaving Lismore Pace runner-up Agent Q and the aforementioned Idyllic Beach in her wake. Lare, who has a Breeders Crown trophy for guiding the career of the late, great Snow White, was understandably very confident Roaring To Go had a strong opportunity to bring home the hardware for his close friend and long-time colleague Chick. After decades in the industry, Chick still does not possess a Breeders Crown championship and Lare felt this was an excellent opportunity to remedy that situation.
Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the filly was fourth after setting the middle fractions and tired in the lane to finish behind winner Someomensomewhere, Agent Q and Idyllic Beach. She did, however, have an extremely excellent reason for not visiting the winner’s circle that evening.
“We didn’t know if we were going to even race her right up until we were warming her up that night,” Lare said. “We changed barns and she was really sick. She even went off her feed, which isn’t like her, and was filled up with mucus. About two days before the final she started feeling better, but we still thought we were going to have to scratch her right up until we were getting her ready to go to the gate and she was very responsive, so we decided to keep her in. She raced so well considering the week she had and it’s just like us when we get sick. It takes us some time to rebound even though you feel better and I think that’s what happened with her. The sickness zapped her ability to pace home strongly, but we were really proud of her.
“But we were also really disappointed, because we had hoped to supplement her to the Matron, as it’s Frank’s home track and then finish the year in Canada. Frank asked me what I thought and I told him to just shut her down to concentrate on this year, so that’s what we did.”
Roaring To Go opened her 2017 season with a second in a qualifying race at Harrah’s Philadelphia on May 16. Although she did not win, she paced her final quarter-mile in :26.2, then won her second qualifying contest prior to her second place finish in her pari-mutuel debut on June 2 in New York Sire Stakes competition at Saratoga.
If all continues to go according to plan, the filly will have numerous opportunities to demonstrate abilities that could propel her to the very top of her division.
“The idea was to bring her back a little later because it is a long season,” Lare said. “She has 23 or 24 starts this year including the Sire Stakes and all her stakes races. After the Fan Hanover, she will head back to the States to be in the James Lynch at Pocono, then go to Yonkers and Batavia for some Sire Stakes races.
“She will need to give her very best in every race. All these fillies are fast and they can all win every time out. While we are looking forward to the whole season with her, we also want to focus on those races in the fall; especially after what happened last year.”
Lare definitely is excited about what will transpire with Roaring To Go’s season and future, as she was a surprise to her connections, who felt she was a nice horse, but did not realize just how fast she was until she proved herself as her 2-year-old campaign progressed. The filly, however, has some company in the shedrow which also has Lare and Chick eagerly anticipating the fruits of their labors in 2017.
“We have definitely put in some work over the winter and now it’s time to see what we have,” Lare said. “We have 12 2-year-olds we are very happy with, including a full brother to Wakizashi Hanover and a half-sister to Yankee Bounty, who Frank owned and then sold.
“I had to talk Frank into going to Kentucky with Roaring To Go last year and he had never been. Of course it is always better when you win your first time there like he did, but I kept trying to tell him how Lexington is; the horsemen all come together and everyone is so kind and congratulatory. Now he wants to go again, which we are with her and those two 2-year-olds, but he was asking me about staking each one down there this year; he has never done that before. It’s just great to see him this way about it as he breaks each horse himself before they ever change addresses to come to me. Hopefully all that hard work pays off again and there will be many more trips for him to Kentucky in the future.”
Fan Hanover – Elimination 1 (Race 5)
Post-Horse-Driver–Trainer-Line
1. Al Mar Got A Fever-Brian Sears–Mike Weller-12/1
2. Roaring To Go-Brett Miller–Kevin Lare-4/1
3. Soiree Seelster-Sylvain Filion–Tony O’Sullivan-6/1
4. Jaye’s A Lady-Louis-Philippe Roy–Nancy Johansson-8/1
5. Dancing Shadows K-Randy Waples–Rod Boyd-15/1
6. Future Headlines-Tim Tetrick–Colin Johnson-12/1
7. Idyllic Beach-Yannick Gingras–Jimmy Takter-6/5
8. Blameitonthenight-Jonathan Drury–Tony Alagna-12/1
9. Roselily-Travis Cullen–Richard Moreau-10/1
Fan Hanover – Elimination 2 (Race 7)
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Line
1. Agent Q-David Miller–Aaron Lambert-3/1
2. Obvious Blue Chip-James MacDonald–Mark Steacy-6/1
3. Action Majesty-Yannick Gingras–Gregg McNair-8/1
4. Dudesalady-Brett Miller–Howard Okusko Jr.-20/1
5. American Sara-Sylvain Filion–Murray Brethour-20/1
6. Tequila Monday-Brian Sears–Chris Oakes-2/1
7. She’s Watching-Scott Zeron–Tony Alagna-8/1
8. Bettor’s Up-Doug McNair–Scott McEneny-5/1
9. Someomensomewhere-Tim Tetrick–Jimmy Takter-8/1
10. Ain’t Three Ok-Trevor Henry–Mike Weller-20/1
For entries for the full card, which includes North America Cup and Roses Are Red eliminations, please click here.
- North America Cup elims set for Saturday (Tuesday, June 06, 2017)
The battle for a spot in the C$1 million Pepsi North America Cup will be intense, as 25 three-year-old pacing colts and geldings were entered to race in this Saturday’s (June 10) eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack.
- Eliminations galore this weekend at Mohawk (Tuesday, June 06, 2017)
The Pepsi North America Cup eliminations may snag most of the headlines, but Friday (June 9) and Saturday’s (June 10) cards of racing are flooded with stars of the sport competing in a variety of elimination races.
- Playtime first, then business time (Wednesday, June 07, 2017)
Beckhams Z Tam is the type of horse that likes to have fun. But when it comes time to work, the colt is all business. And after watching Beckhams Z Tam take care of business in his most recent start, his connections are ready to send the Indiana-bred pacer on a business trip — to the Pepsi North America Cup at Ontario’s Mohawk Racetrack.
- Busy Grand Circuit weekend begins Friday (Thursday, June 08, 2017)
Grand Circuit action this week begins on Friday (June 9) at Mohawk Racetrack with two C$35,000 eliminations in the Armbro Flight for trotting mares and two C$30,000 eliminations in the Goodtimes for 3-year-old trotting colts.
- Hambo hopefuls excite Antonacci (Thursday, June 08, 2017)
Frank Antonacci is excited about hitting the Hambletonian trail with two horses this weekend, but he figures he won’t be alone in feeling enthused. “There are a lot of good horses out there,” said Antonacci, the trainer of International Moni and Shake It Off Lindy in Friday’s eliminations of the Goodtimes Stakes for 3-year-old male trotters at Ontario’s Mohawk Racetrack. “Everybody only talked about (returning Dan Patch Award winner) Walner, but there are a lot of nice horses. This is a nice field. It’ll be a fun year to be a racing fan.”
- Lawrencetown Beach on the rise heading into NA Cup eliminations (Friday, June 09, 2017)
Nine years after coming together to win the Pepsi North America Cup with the great Somebeachsomewhere, the Schooner Stables and Paul MacDonell team up again with Lawrencetown Beach, a lightly raced son of Somebeachsomewhere, in Saturday’s (June 10) Cup eliminations.
- Roses Are Red and Fan Hanover eliminations are contested (Sunday, June 11, 2017)
Pacing fillies and mares did their best to shine on Saturday’s (June 10) Pepsi North America Cup elimination card in the eliminations of the Roses Are Red and Fan Hanover stakes. A group of 23 older pacing mares were split into three $C35,000 eliminations for the Roses Are Red, while 19 sophomore pacing fillies competed in two C$35,000 Fan Hanover divisions. The top three finishers, plus a fourth-place finishers, gained access to the Roses Are Red final. With the elimination winners being Frost Damage Blues, Nike Franco N and Lady Shadow, while the Fan Hanover elimination winners were Idyllic Beach and Tequila Monday.
- Gingras looks to finish in front with Idyllic Beach in Fan Hanover (Friday, June 16, 2017)
Idyllic Beach spent a lot of time near the front of a lot of races last year, but driver Yannick Gingras says the filly doesn’t need to be setting fractions to be successful.