MR - BRUCE ALDRICH, JR’s BLUE CREEK ANGIE IN NEAR TRIPLE DEAD-HEAT

January 10, 2012 (Monticello) - On the Monday afternoon card of January 9 at Monticello Raceway Bruce Aldrich, Jr. won four  more races to bring his seasonal total to 14 here and Blue Creek Angie began her 2012 season with a victory. However her triumph in 1:58.3 was in a rare dead-heat finish with Jordan’s Jewel who was piloted by Jacques Primeau. Still, for the now 9-year-old daughter of On The Attack, it was her second consecutive triumph and fifth in her last 10 starts.


Angles are deceptive but Blue Creek Angie (#1) and Jordan’s Jewel (#4) finished in a dead-heat with JMDancingshannon(#3) a  head short of making it a triple dead-heat.  (Geri Schwarz Photo) 


 “We got a little lucky  with a two-hole journey behind Jimmy’s (Devaux with  Rootintootinfilly) mare  and in the stretch we used the passing lane but at the wire I couldn’t tell if we won or lost  because there were three horses across the track,” Aldrich explained after his victory. “   When the judges posted the numbers we had a dead-heat victory with Jacque’s (Primeau) horse (Jordan Jewell) and it was as close as a triple dead-heat  could be without actually  being one.”



Blue Cree Angie and Jordan’s Jewell pose together after theit dead-heat victory (Geri Schwarz Photo)



Aldrich was certainly correct with his assessment because only a short head kept Billy Dobson’s JMdancingshannon from being part of harness racing history.

Last year Bruce Aldrich Jr. copped his third Monticello Raceway driving title since the turn of the century and second consecutive  when his  410 winners out distanced Zeke Parker’s  388. Two pacers, Edie’s Desire and Blue Creek Angie, helped Aldrich bolster his numbers with both mares  winning  19 races each last year and both were tied for top honors—with two others—for most wins in North America during the 2011 campaign.

 Kyle DiBenedetto reins  Sixth Sense  home first for one of his 4 wins on the card (Geri Schwarz Photo).

Not to be outdone, Edie’s Desire kept pace with Blue Creek Angie when Aldrich reined her to a 1:58 victory in a later race on the card. It was the 6-year old Real Desire’s first start and first victory of the new year.

Aldrich also scored behind Aruba Sunset in 1:59.1 and Winforu N in 2:00.

Also on the card, former Mighty M driving champ Kyle DiBenedetto had himself a 4-bagger that day, also.