MR - HALLIN GATOR FASTEST OF 5 DIVISIONS OF MACEDONIO PACING SERIES-MIKE FORTE JUST 3 WINS FROM 3000

Dominic Macedonio was a longtime horseman at Monticello Raceway and he had been participating here since the early 1960’s. Upon his passing last year the raceway named a pacing series in his honor  and on Thursday afternoon, January 5^th  the first leg of the series was contested with  Hallin Gator turning in the fastest time of the five splits in which three were  for horses and gelding and two for fillies and mares.

Kyle DiBenedetto handled the driving chores behind for trainer Gary Campbell and he used the frontend route to score a 1:59.4 victory with the 5 year old Royal Art gelding. But that triumph was in doubt in the final one-sixteenth of the mile when hard charging Doug’s Boy rambled alongside the leader and they raced head to head in the final strides with Hallin Gator prevailing by a neck.



Mike Forte gets Imposter A (#2)home first for career win number 2997 (Geri Schwarz Photo)



Perhaps more importantly-- especially for Mike Forte-- was that he won a leg with Imposter A  in 2:00.1 in another split which was  exclusively for horses and geldings. As a result of that victory Forte draws ever closer to the 3000- career win plateau and now with 2997 driving victories the veteran reinsman  is just three wins away from a  personal milestone.

Optimist N  holds on for his fourth consecutive victory for driver Brandon Simpson (Geri Schwarz Photo)

The third split for the “boys” was copped by Optimist in a time of 2:00.1. Brandon Simpson drove for trainer Elisha Lafreniere and for the 13 year old Armbro Operative gelding it marked his  fourth consecutive victory and  eighth in his last nine starts.

Alan Schwartz won the first of the two divisions for the ‘ladies’ when he guided Space Chalet to a 2:01.1 triumph over Isn’t She Lovely and Kyle DiBenedetto. And the last of the five Macedonio Series divisions saw Peter Lutman III hustle Early Morning down the lightning lane to overtake Bruce Aldrich, Jr. and Classy Ivory for a 2:02 victory.

The Macedonio Pacing Series will continue on consecutive Thursdays  through January 19 with  the series finale slated for January 26, also a Thursday.