Rockincam sat fifth while Alexie Mattosie and Golden
Receiver traded leads through a :54 half. Driver David Miller then sent
Rockincam up to tackle Golden Receiver and he gamely wore the leader down for a
1 1-4-length victory in 1:48.1. Foiled Again tracked the winner en route
to a third-place finish.
“I wasn’t happy with the trip,” Miller noted. “I
basically wanted to get him qualified and have him race well, but not to be
quite as tough on him as I was. I wasn’t too sure I was going to get by
Brian [Sears and Golden Receiver] until the head of the stretch - he was still
pacing pretty strong. You don’t see [a first over victory] like that too
often. We get to pick our post [in the final], so at least we’ll have a
good spot.”
Rockincam [$7], trained by Richard “Nifty” Norman, picked up
his third straight win in his fourth start this season. The 5-year-old
son of Cambest-Migraine has earned just shy of $400,000 for his breeder and
owner, Stephen J. Farrell of Ocala ,
FL.
The $180,000 Graduate final for free for all pacers will be
contested on Saturday, May 12.
Earlier in the night, Meadowlands Pace eligible Bolt The
Duer wore down Mel Mara to win his sophomore debut, the $49,584 John Simpson
Memorial, in 1:51.3.
Mark MacDonald steered the colt to his seventh win in nine
career starts. Bolt The Duer, trained by Peter Foley, banked $214,058 as
a freshman. He was a $70,000 yearling purchase at Harrisburg Racing
of Towaco, NJ. The son of Ponder-Wonderbolt is a half-brother to
millionaire Shanghai Lil and hard-knocking veteran Blue Claw.
“He handles himself like a professional,” MacDonald
said. “He’s done everything effortlessly so far.
“I wanted to watch Bronson Blue Chip in the first turn
because he showed some breaks [in stride] leaving [the gate]. Danny [Dube
and Friday At Five] came at the half kind of hard, so I just turned him loose
going into the last turn. He got lucky to get out and on to Mel Mara’s
back and pick him up late.”
