by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Entering last weekend’s $102,000 Mohawk Gold Cup Invitational Pace, Won The West was in the midst of a slump unlike any of his career. He made quick work of ending it.

Won The West equaled the fastest mile in Canadian harness racing history by winning the Gold Cup in 1:47.2 on June 18. He next will turn his attention to the $500,000 Ben Franklin Pace at Harrah’s Chester. Eliminations, if necessary, are Sunday (June 26) and the final is July 3.

The Gold Cup victory was Won The West’s first win of the year, in his fifth start. He came into the race off three consecutive sixth-place finishes — never before in his career had he gone three races without getting a piece of the purse. Only once, in 2009, did he go three straight starts without a top-three finish.

For his career, the 7-year-old gelding has won 34 of 94 races and earned $3.54 million. He ranks No. 4 in earnings among all pacers in history and is trying to surpass Gallo Blue Chip’s record of $4.26 million.

USTA/Ed Keys photo

Won The West has won 34 of 94 races and earned $3.54 million.

“If this (slump) would have happened in the middle of the year, nobody would have noticed it,” said Ron Burke, who trains Won The West for owners Country Club Acres, Strollin Stable and William Robinson. “It’s just because it was the beginning of the year and everybody is convinced he’s 7 and he’s got two feet in the grave. I really don’t think that’s the case. People forget he never raced at 2 and he’s never been raced more than 28 starts in a year.”

Won The West, who is trying to join Hall of Famer Rambling Willie as the only pacers to win three consecutive Dan Patch Awards for best older pacer, showed signs he turned the corner despite his sixth-place finish when he came home in :26.3 in the Bettor’s Delight at Tioga Downs on June 12. He raced on the outside for the entire mile as winner Bettor Sweet set the world record (1:48.1) for an older gelding pacer on a five-eighths-mile track.

After the race, driver David Miller told Burke, “He’s back.”

In the Gold Cup, Won The West was in front by nearly six lengths when he reached three-quarters in 1:19.3 — the fastest three-quarters of a mile in Mohawk Racetrack history. He won by 2-3/4 lengths over favorite Art Professor and reduced the stakes record by a full second and the track record by four-fifths of a second.

“It’s funny; that’s how he’s trained the last couple times he’s trained,” Burke said. “We were more surprised that he was racing not quite the way we thought he should be.”

Burke said “a bunch of little things” contributed to the turnaround. Among them was Burke’s willingness to let Won The West wear a bar shoe in his last two races.

“He was training in it and then I was making him race in his normal shoe,” Burke said. “Maybe I gave in and quit being stubborn.”

Won The West will not be Burke’s lone entry in the Ben Franklin Pace. Expected to join him are Foiled Again and Atochia.

Foiled Again has won seven of 11 races this year, including the Molson Pace and Graduate, and earned $481,600. He has won 51 of 128 career races and earned $2.49 million.

Atochia has two wins in 12 starts this season and $135,200. He has earned $1 million in his career.

“He needs a trip and needs things to work out for him,” Burke said of Atochia. “He almost won this race (the Franklin) last year (finishing third), but he didn’t get through quite in time. Chester is a track that he likes. I still say that one of these days that horse, in spite of himself, is going to win one of these big ones. He has as much talent as any of them.”

Following are the fields in post position order for the Ben Franklin Pace eliminations, with listed drivers and trainers. Vintage Master is the race’s defending champion.

Elim One: 1. Blatantly Good, Tim Tetrick, Mark Kesmodel; 2. Urgent Action, Ron Pierce, Richard Silverman; 3. Foiled Again, Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke; 4. Aracache Hanover, Doug McNair, Gregg McNair; 5. Ideal Matters, Pierce, Noel Daley; 6. Gallant Yankee, Tetrick, Mark Ford; 7. We Will See, Pierce, Sam DePinto.

Elim Two: 1. Atochia, Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke; 2. Won The West, David Miller, Burke; 3. Vintage Master, Daniel Dube, Jimmy Takter; 4. Pangiorno, George Napolitano Jr., Lou Pena; 5. Hypnotic Blue Chip, Dave Palone, Kevin McDermott; 6. Giddy Up Lucky, Eric Goodell, Josh Green; 7. Bettor Sweet, Brian Sears, Thomas Cancelliere.