At a glance it appears that the number 2 horse Hi Sir and
driver Stephane Bouchard to be at least a ½ -length winner. But in reality the
horse on the far outside Distinct Color (4), with Rick Dane aboard, got up in
the final strides to dead-heat Hi Sir in a time of 1:58.
In that contest, down along the pylons, was third place
finisher Get Ready To Rumba (1) driven b y -Jimmy Marohn, Jr. They too were
individually timed in 1:58 with only a head separating them from the tied
winners. Although the photo- angle is deceiving that finish was the closest
thing to a triple dead-heat for win, ever at Monticello Raceway.
And incidentally, in that contest Get Ready To Rumba’s five
race win streak came to an end.
Hi Sir is owned by Tyler Buter of Middleton, NY while the
Rock N Roll Stable of Chicago, Ill. owns Distinct Color. The former paid
$2.60for win and the latter returned $5.30 win payoff.
There was a time at the Mighty M , and not too long ago,
when that 1:58 pacing dead-heat would have been a track record. However,
in 2007 pacers Lislea Phia and Hannah’s Delight finished simultaneously in a
time of 1:54.3 which is the current standard which erased the old dead-heat
record of 1:58.1.
The world record for a dead-heat for pacers on a half-mile
track is 1:52.2 set at Yonkers Raceway on July 28 by Rain Train (Stephane
Bouchard) and Winfall Nasty (Jeff Gregory).
And only 25 triple dead-heats have been recorded in harness
racing history with the first at Freehold Raceway’s half-mile track on October
3, 1953 in a time of 2:12.3. The latest came over the five-eighths mile
oval at The Meadows on March 24, 2009 when three pacers hit the wire
simultaneously 1:53.4.
