by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Thinking Out Loud burst through the stretch and caught favorite Sweet Lou in the final strides to capture Saturday’s $400,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace by a head in 1:48.3 at the Meadowlands.

Sent off at odds of 4-1, Thinking Out Loud and driver John Campbell rallied from sixth place in the stretch to finish ahead of Sweet Lou, State Treasurer and Modern Legend at the wire.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Thinking Out Loud collared Sweet Lou in the final strides to capture the Breeders Crown Open Pace by a head in 1:48.3.

Campbell extended his record for victories by a driver in the series to 46. It was the 16th triumph for trainer Bob McIntosh, who is second to Jimmy Takter in victories in Breeders Crown history.

Bettor’s Edge went to the front early before giving way to Foiled Again in an opening quarter-mile of :27.3. Sweet Lou grabbed the lead on the backstretch, but received pressure from Modern Legend as the field hit the halfway point in :54.2.

Those two remained locked in a battle at three-quarters, in 1:20.4, before Sweet Lou began to edge away in the stretch. But Thinking Out Loud was only beginning his charge and made up 4-1/4 lengths in the lane to claim the victory.

A total of 2-3/4 lengths separated the entire seven-horse field.

“I was third over, but I was having a hard time keeping up at that point,” Campbell said. “I had to chase him hard until mid-stretch and then he kicked in and that’s when he was pacing his best the last eighth of a mile. He is a closer; we’ve tried to race him up front and every time it doesn’t work. He’s just a real good closer and always has been.”

Thinking Out Loud, a 5-year-old homebred son of Ponder-Los Angeles, is owned by Robert McIntosh Stables, C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings. He has won five of 21 races this year and 16 of 54 lifetime, with total purses of $1.87 million.

“It’s very special, one that I raised myself and raced his father and his mother, too, so that’s special,” said McIntosh, sporting a Detroit Tigers cap. “I knew it was going to be very tough, I think this is the best bunch of free-for-allers I can remember in my 40 years in the business.

“When you have four from one stable (of trainer Ron Burke), it was tough. I was using (an expletive) there because it didn’t look good, stacked up, but thank God that Brett Miller came with (Modern Legend) and mixed it up a little; that made it a better race. It was a hell of a race, hell of a race.”