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Sunday, August 9, 2015

Random Thoughts On Hambletonian Day 2015


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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