Gelfand , a sales agent by trade from Mississauga, ON , won
with Four Starz F in 2:02.3 while Stein, a veterinarian from Moreau, NY,
got Make it Hot home first in a 2:04.1 clocking. Both races needed the photo
finish camera to determine the winners.
In his division “ Doc” Stein was content to take a
seat on the first turn and follow Mandinga as driver Tony “the Capo”
Verruso cut the fractions.
“Doc” stayed comfortably behind Verruso until the passing lane opened and then he angled his trotter to the inside and Make It Hot did the rest, overtaking the leader and then holding off a late charge on the far outside by Bobby “Rapid Rail” Krivelin and Ace High Hall to score a head victory. Mandinga faded and finished third just a length behind the winner.
“This old guy will fool you because he likes to leave quickly but he’s no good on the front end and races way better when he follows,” “Doc” Stein said of Make It Hot, the classy veteran winner of over $275,000 in a great career which included a victory nine years ago in a 1:55.2 clocking –his lifetime record--in the famed Old Oaken Bucket over the lightning fast half-mile oval at Delaware, Ohio.
“I’ve had professional drivers handle him but he races
better for me than for them because I know him best,” Stein added.
He went on to say that Make It Hot, a very gentle 12 year
old Self Possessed stallion, will have three of his colts in the sale at
Morrisville, NY later this year. And although it wasn’t meant as a reward, the
old guy (the horse, that is) is scheduled to breed one of Stein’s mares, Congo
Queen, tomorrow at his farm in Moreau, NY.
Owned by the Stein Racing Stable, Make It Hot scored his
first seasonal victory and 26th of his career. Trained by
“Doc” Stein the trotter paid $13.60 for win. And for Stein, it was his 24th
win in his amateur driving career.
Howie Gelfand, in from Canada, made his U.S. debut a
winning one in a near triple dead-heat when he too, used the
passing lane for a victory.
After leaving from the five hole Gelfand sent Four
Starz F to the lead on the first turn and then yielded to Dave “Yes It’s True”
Offenberg with Whatnblazes.
Content to trot along in second place until the top of
the lane at which point Gelfand sent his trotter down the passing lane
and Four Starz F out-footed Whatnblazes to the wire and then held
off Iroquouindianmagic and driver Alan “the Intimidator” Schwartz to
score a short head victory in 2:02.3. And Whatnblazes was just a nose
behind the aforementioned duo in third place.
It was the third win of the season for Four Starz F whose
owned by J.W Wagner, Dr. Scott Woogen and Syl King, Jr. The trotter paid
$13.60 for win. For Gelfand it was his 35th winning drive.
In other action Monica Banca reined her third winner in just
four lifetime starts when she guided Indescribable to a come-from-behind
head victory over Tom Riddle and driver Steve Oldford in the fourth leg of the
Catskill Amateur Drivers Club’s spring pacing series.
Banca, the lone lady in the contest, drove Indescribable
to victory in a 1:58.2 clocking and returned a $16.60 win mutuel.
She co-owns the pacer with Rick Dane, Jr.
