by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Balmoral Park

Crete, IL — Illinois conceived and foaled trotters were the featured attraction on Sunday (July 15) as a field of six diagonally gaited 3-year-old colts and geldings met in the $12,000 Brandenburg Stake.

After failing to find the winner’s circle in his first five starts of the year, Fox Valley Standardbreds and Harold and Joshua David Carter’s Vaporstar finally picked up his first win as a sophomore, going wire-to-wire in a 1-3/4 length victory while stopping the clock in a career best of 1:55.1.

Sent right to the top from the outside post by driver Dave Magee, the gelded son of Vaporize-Starlicious carved out splits of :28.3, :57.2 and 1:26.1.

With plenty in reserve, the Mike Brink trainee coasted home in :29 to score for the fourth time in 15 career starts. Power Net Gram (Todd Warren) sat in the pocket the entire way while taking the place money while Recollection (Kyle Wilfong) used a ground saving trip to grab the show dough.

Sent off as the 4-5 favorite by the betting public, Vaporstar returned $3.60, $2.20 and $2.40 while upping his career bankroll to $115,521.