by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Editor’s Note: Visit the USTA Cyber Circuit Page, where the video replay will be posted.

Chester, PA — Vintage Master (Tim Tetrick) took the longest possible way around the track, racing in behind the favorite Shark Gesture, before popping out at the top of the stretch to win the $500,000 Ben Franklin Pace for older pacers by a length in 1:49 on Sunday (July 18) afternoon at Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack. Shark Gesture (George Brennan) was second and Atochia (Ron Pierce) was third.

Vintage Master returned $8.00, $3.00 and $3.20. The exacta with Shark Gesture ($2.10, $2.10) was $12.40.

World Wide Racing Photos

Vintage Master was a 1:49 winner over Shark Gesture in the Ben Franklin Final.

The first quarter-mile marker was passed by Keep It Real (George Napolitano, Jr.) in a time of :26, with Foiled Again (Yannick Gingras) second on the outside behind him and the favored Shark Gesture fourth, three wide outside of Foiled Again. Vintage Master was sixth behind Shark Gesture and also three wide.

Keep It Real held the lead to the :54 half, but by the 1:21 three-quarters, Shark Gesture, going for his seventh straight win, was up on the lead by just a quarter of a length, with Vintage Master in fourth place.

As the field took the final turn for home, driver Tim Tetrick had Vintage Master out and moving and overtook Shark Gesture in deep stretch for the win, his third of the year.

Vintage Master is trained by Jimmy Takter and owned by George Segal’s Brittany Farms of Kentucky and the Brian Monieson Trust. Segal was on hand for the first time to see his horse race.

“You think I came to my first race for fun?,” Segal laughed. “I took the train at 6:45 a.m. out of East Hampton (NY) to Penn Station in New York and the Acela down to Philadelphia and I didn’t do that to see him lose. He’s a very good horse, always was, but there’s a lot of good horses out there. I kept saying, “How’s he going to get into the race behind Shark Gesture? But that’s the way he showed up.”

Driver Tim Tetrick said the race started out as less than ideal for Vintage Master.

“I got away fourth or fifth and I let Shark Gesture in front of me and I got to follow him. Foiled Again was parked and I had to go around him (three wide), but luckily I got back down to two wide before somebody could slip off the inside. It really worked out good for me, I got to follow him all the way to the top of the lane and my horse did the rest.”

Tetrick thought the five-eighths-mile track, with one more turn than a mile track, worked to Vintage Master’s advantage.

“On a smaller track, things happen and Shark Gesture has struggled in the turns,” Tetrick said. “Shark Gesture’s definitely the best older horse right now, but on the smaller tracks, things even out a little more.”

“I really wanted to win this one,” said trainer Jimmy Takter after the race. “I just love this horse. He’s just a fantastic animal, I just love him, he’s the coolest and just a fantastic animal. We have some races in a couple weeks at the Meadowlands and we might go there. I try not to look too far in front.”