Among other
things, on Hambletonian Day 2015, Ron Burke’s aged pacing crew finally showed
signs of life: Clear Vision, who was zip for 14, won the $40,000 open, with
stablemate All Bets off second. Also, Foiled Again, who has only one win and
isn’t the ATM he generally resembles, was a rugged third in the USPC. All three
are staked to Friday’s Dan Patch at Hoosier Park….Along the same lines, the
four aged divisions are tattered and torn. Support from the four-year-old
brigade is very thin. Should we feel good about eight-year-old Anndrovette
winning the Lady Liberty? How about State Treasurer and Clear Vision? I guess,
but where are the kids?
*****
Broadway
Donna, the 1/9 favorite in the Doherty, didn’t beat 36/1 Kathy Parker by much,
but the daughter of Donato Hanover put another notch in his filly belt. This
“filly sire” has given us Check Me Out, Designed To Be, Shake It Cerry, Real
Babe, Livininthefastlane, Sarcy, Royal Assets….And don’t forget the winner of
the inaugural Fresh Yankee, D’One. Colts? Not so much. He had three in the
Hambletonian final—Donatomite, Uncle Lasse and The Bank—and the latter pair
finished third and fourth, but Donato is still missing a male winner of
anything resembling a grade 1 stakes race for sophomores. Possess The Will, from
his first crop, won his division at two; Maturity winner Your So Vain took
splits of the Simcoe and Bluegrass; Solvato has raced well in his aged form in
Europe, but there’s a sophomore colt hole in Donato’s resume.
*****
Jimmy Takter
and Ron Burke exited The Meadowlands with a little more than half the purse
money for the day. Each won three races; Takter’s brood made the board eleven
times…. Ake Svanstedt won the Vincennes with Resolve, but he was knocked out of
the Hambletonian after a pair of sixth place finishes, and finished eighth in
both the Doherty and the Ackerman…. Tony Alagna was second in the Cane with
Artspeak, but he was tenth in the Oaks, ninth in the Haughton, third in the
Ackerman and eighth in the $40,000 pacing open. With Takter and Burke vacuuming
up so much dough, this scenario played out with most of the other trainers.
*****
Pinkman’s
Hambletonian win was huge for Explosive Matter. Most of that stallion’s top
tier wins belong to the laid back gelding—Valley Victory, BC, Beal, Zweig.
Datsyuk upset Father Patrick in the Tompkins-Geers last year; Struck By Lindy
won a split of the Bluegrass; Vanity Matters took a split of the ISS; Amped Up
Hanover won the Ackerman and Jacksons Minion won an Arden split this year. But,
while Explosive Matter leads the sophomore class in gross and average earnings,
thanks in no small part to Pinkman, he needed a star.
*****
Dealt A
Winner, the 27/1 winner of the Cane Pace, is by that retired distributor of
extreme speed, Cam’s Card Shark. Four of his sons have won that race, with the
others being, Royal Flush Shark, Timesareachanging and Four Starzz Shark. The
only sires with more Cane winners are the great Adios, with five, and Meadow
Skipper, who won the race himself, and produced seven winners….Wiggle It
Jiggleit, who ran dry in the Cane after being flogged by In The Arsenal and
Brian Sears to the half, is scheduled to race in the Milstein at Northfield on
Friday and the Battle Of Brandywine eight days after that.
*****
The little
Cantab Hall filly Wild Honey, who won the Oaks in convincing fashion, joins a
long list of junior size champs that includes: Chapter Seven, Mack Lobell,
Wishing Stone, Ayres, Baltic Speed, and his son Valley Victory. I imagine
she’ll face off against Mission Brief in the Moni Maker at The Meadows a week
from Friday.
*****
Stacia
Hanover, a daughter of the great Western Ideal, took the Shady Daisy at 10/1
for Scott Zeron and Steve Elliott. The previous night her older paternal
sister, Krispy Apple, won still one more F&M open at Yonkers, from the
outside post. That one has supplanted Cabrini Hanover as the richest daughter
of Western Ideal. Her arch rival, See You At Peeler, got almost all the glory
during their filly days, but KA is less than $142,000 behind the daughter of
Bettor’s Delight, who is now busy turning out SBSW offspring.
*****
Obviously
the Hambletonian Day card favors trotting races, but there were five for the
pacers. Casie Coleman, who finished fourth on the trainer’s money list in 2014,
had nothing entered. She was also absent on Pace Day. This time last year she
was in the top ten on the money list; right now she’s number 41, with only 31
wins. McWicked has only started a couple of times, and the same goes for Vegas
Vacation. Reverend Hanover, her key to the sophomore division and the OSS, is
out of the mix. Key owner Adriano Sorella is selling off most of his stock. This
is a serious nosedive. The second week of August isn't "early."
Joe
FitzGerald
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