by Lynne Snierson, publicity director, Rockingham Park

Salem, NH — Scorpion Moon rewarded his backers in the Labor Day holiday weekend crowd who sent him off as the 1-2 favorite with a decisive victory in the $50,000 Joseph Carney Memorial Trot at Rockingham Park on Sunday, August 31.

Rockingham Park photo

Scorpion Moon was a 1:55.2 winner in the Joseph Carney Memorial Trot.

Driver Jonathan Roberts confidently let the field of nine settle into the first turn and then Scorpion Moon surged to the lead while rattling off fractions of :28, :57.3, and 1:27.1.

When Roberts called upon the 7-year-old gelding with one-quarter-mile left to race, Scorpion Moon answered decisively to trot home in 1:55.2 while finishing 2-1/4 lengths in front of 5-1 third choice Stiletto and Sean Bier. Bo Didley N, partnered with David Ingraham, turned in a strong effort to get third at odds of 21-1.

“It took him a little bit to get to the lead,” said Tracy Brainard, who trains Scorpion Moon and co-owns him with Andrew Herzog. “He was pressed for the whole mile but he raced really tough. He’s a great horse.”

Scorpion Moon, an Ohio-bred son of Armbro Scorpion and the Speed In Action mare Angies Nugget, returned $3.00 for a $2.00 win bet and keyed a $9.20 perfecta and a $45.60 trifecta.

Claimed for just $15,000 at Saratoga Raceway in February of 2007 by his current owners, Scorpion Moon upped his lifetime earnings to $393,267 with the winner’s share of the purse and he has now been victorious in 51 of 129 lifetime starts.

Brainard said that she is considering taking him to Colonial Downs in October for the $100,000 Patriot and his fall campaign might include races in Canada and at Harrah’s Chester.

Larry Stalbaum drove 7-2 second choice I’m A Cool Breeze in the Carney and ran into trouble when his horse broke stride shortly out of the gate and wasn’t a factor thereafter. But Stalbaum still had a banner day at Rockingham, winning six races on the nine-race card.

Stalbaum, who took both ends of the early and late daily doubles, found the winner’s circle with Ms Raider in the first ($12.00), Let’s Not Lock It in the second ($2.80), Sherry in the fifth ($3.80), Holy Moses in the sixth ($12.00), Prestissimo in the eighth ($20.80), and Cinderella ($3.80) in the nightcap.

He joins Bruce Ranger, Jonathan Roberts, and David Ingraham as the only drivers to post six-win outings in a single day since harness racing returned to Rockingham in 2003.

The 2008 live racing season wraps up on Monday with a special Labor Day card and post time of 1:05 p.m. Everyone coming to the races can enter to win a gas grill from Pepsi and the grand prize in the main Texas Hold ‘Em tournament in the track’s poker room is a new BMW 328i.