Market
Share, the 2-5 favorite, had his unbeaten streak snapped at six when he made a
first quarter challenge for Not Afraid’s lead and broke stride for the first
time in his career. He finished seventh.
Not
Afraid [$17.00, $4.60, $5.00], from the team of driver Ron Pierce and trainer
Jimmy Takter, was on top at every call, trotting the mile in 1:55.4, a tick off
of the stakes record of 1:55.3 set in 2009 by Anders Bluestone.
Frost
Bites K [$9.40, $8.60] made a bid for the win in the final sixteenth but came
up short. It was two and a quarter lengths to On The Podium [$3.60] who
miscued early in the race but rallied for third.
Not
Afraid posted only his second career victory, although he has finished
in-the-money in 10 of 11 career outings, and boosted his earnings to $124,520
for the ownership of Christina Takter of East Windsor, NJ; John D. Fielding of
Toronto, Ontario and Goran Anderberg of Malmo, Sweden. Christina Takter
acquired Not Afraid as a weanling for $17,000 at the 2009 Harrisburg Mixed
Sale. Fielding and Anderberg came on board in November of 2010.
The
gelded son of SJ’s Caviar, the 2001 Dexter Cup winner, is out of Beverly
Crusher. His only other win was in the $44,500 final of the Charles
Singer Memorial on March 2.
Pierce
recorded his fourth Dexter victory. He also won in 1993 with American
Winner, 1998 with Trade Balance and 2008 with Holiday Credit.
Not
Afraid is eligible to the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 4, 2012 at the
Meadowlands.
-Submitted
by Carol Hodes for SBOANJ
