Jody Jamieson made the trip down
from Woodbine to drive the red-hot trotter to a career-best equaling 1:51.3
score. Sent off the slight favorite over
runner-up Winning Mister, Mister Herbie paid $5 to win the sixth race
co-feature. Hot Shot Blue Chip picked up
the show money.
Mister Herbie posted his fourth
win in five starts this season for trainer Jeff Gillis, who co-owns the
4-year-old gelding with Mac Nichol of Burlington, Ontario. He entered the Cutler off a thrilling upset
over 2011 Horse of the Year San Pail in the Glorys Comet final on April 7 at
Woodbine. Mister Herbie improved his
earnings to $557,020 with the Cutler victory, his fourteenth in 29 career
starts.
“I didn’t mind being first up at
all,” Jamieson said. “This horse is an
incredible animal. I really thought that
the only way he could get beat was if something like that [a tough first over
trip] happened. He even surprised
me. This horse was just unbelievable
beating San Pail, something that’s not an everyday occurrence and tonight he
just dug in deep from a terrible trip and showed his true grit.
“This game is all about trips,”
Jamieson continued, “and Timmy [Tetrick and Winnign Mister] just got to glide
out of there and just go by the half in 56.1, which is crawling for these
horses. I was first up and maneuvering
the whole 3/8 before that. To show his
mettle by digging in that last 5/8 of a mile, he’s just an incredible
horse.
The Cutler honors the memory of
the late horse owner and New York City
“Artie was a great guy,” said New
Meadowlands Racetrack LLC Chairman Jeff Gural.
“He loved the Meadowlands and I wish he was here, because I’m sure he‘d
be my partner in this venture. He was a
great restaurateur and a great friend.
We have 80 or 90 of his friends who still gather here. Even after 15 years, we still have a great
crowd who comes here to honor his memory.
“It was a great race,” Gural
continued. “I really appreciate the
connections coming down here. I’m
disappointed San Pail didn’t come, but obviously, Canada
Golden Receiver surpassed $1
million in career earnings as he wired the field in the $180,000 Graduate final
for pacers later on the card. Driven by
Brian Sears, Golden Receiver rolled to a three-length tally over Bettor Sweet
in 1:48.2. Foiled Again was third.
“With that caliber of horses, I
definitely wanted to cross over before the turn because he has that kind of
speed,” Sears said. “The way he does it
every week is amazing, how sharp he is.
He does all the work; he’s never looking for a trip. All the credit goes to Mark and the
caretakers of the horse.
“I did get a couple of quarters
there and I knew I was going to have to push off from there. We just hit the gas and tried to outlast
them.
He’s sharp as ever, that’s for
sure.
Golden Receiver [$7.20] also
captured the Presidential final in January.
He is on his way to a peak season with nine wins in 11 starts thus far
in 2012. Mark Harder trains the
7-year-old Village Jove gelding for Stable 45, Richard Taylor, Stephen Springer
and Nina Simmonds.
“I think Brian’s trained him to do
that [come off the gate like that],” Harder said. “He’s obviously blossomed this year. He is better than ever.”
