by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — How many times does a winner in a harness race return a mutuel payoff in triple digits? The answer in a word – rarely.

But on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Monticello Raceway, the masked marvel Wolf’s Moses, in rein to the outstanding amateur driver Alan Schwartz, returned the biggest payoff of the year, thus far, when he lit up the tote board with a $159.00 win mutuel. And to go along with that was a $50.00 place price and a whopping $83.50 for each $2 show ticket. Furthermore, if that wasn’t enough to create some hub-bub among the railbirds the 7-8 perfecta payoff of $4,095.00 certainly did.

Racehorsephoto.com photo

The victory by the masked marvel, Wolf’s Moses (#7), sparked a $159.00 win payoff.

After they started from post seven, Schwartz settled his trotter along the pylons in fifth position and didn’t move until he neared the three-quarters. At that point he followed cover provided by Mountain Spring N (Jimmy Devaux) and in the lane Wolf’s Moses took command and held off a late charge by Mac’s Ms Victory (Eric Goodell) for a head triumph in a time of 2:01.2.

Wolf’s Moses, owned by Charlie Steinberg of Long Beach, N.Y., has been more than a useful trotter over the years. The 10-year-old altered son of A Go Go Laumont, who in recent years has been a Billings participant, has amassed purses in excess of $181,000 while earning a 1:56.2 career record as a 4-year-old.

“I didn’t bet a cent on him,” Steinberg bristled. “I was working from my home and was stuck there because my daughter had the car and my wife was out at work.

“I wasn’t so anxious about our chances in the race because Alan said we were in tough so I didn’t even buy a program. But I watched it (the race) on the internet (Youbet.com) and I couldn’t believe it when we won. With that pay-off I was kicking myself for not even betting a few dollars on him (Wolf’s Moses).”

Schwartz also won the fourth race on the card with a wire-to-wire, one length triumph in 2:01.4 with his own Credit Winner 4-year-old trotter Iroquouindianmagic.

However, Iroquouindianmagic wasn’t the only good looking 4-year-old trotter to win on the Wednesday afternoon card. Kermit Allen’s Lord Valentine made it four in a row and remains undefeated this year after Jimmy Devaux guided the CR Renegade stallion to an 11 length laugher in a time of 2:00.1.

As a non-winner of seven races lifetime, Lord Valentine has the right to earn his way through ranks and he’s doing just that. According to the horse’s trainer, Art Green, Lord Valentine hasn’t hit bottom yet. Green acknowledges that Lord Valentine will probably be competing against the open trotters after a few more races in the class he is currently competing in.