Talldarknhandsome, the undisputed tallest horse on the
grounds, scored his third consecutive victory for the trainer-driver
combination of Danny Gill and Jimmy Marohn, Jr. at Monticello Raceway on Thursday
afternoon (May 8).
Young Jimmy guided the altered pacing son of Life Sign to
1:57.3 nose victory over Wizard Of Art and Jimmy Devaux.
“Hey a win by a nose is still a win,” joked Marohn after the
race and then confided honestly, “He wasn’t as strong at the finish this week
as he was last week but he still got the job done.”
When the gate sprung Marohn sent his pacer to the lead and
they had command on the first turn and they led the field by the quarter in
:28.3. After a :59 half, and although Talldarknhandsome was trying to run out
on the straightaways, he had enough in the tank to pace two more 29 and a
piece final quarters and keep Wizard of Art at bay.
“He runs out because his feet are stinging him when he’s
going fast. He wears flip-flops which help ease the pain a bit,” trainer Gill
offered, with straight face.
The flip flops that Gill was referring to are
Talldarknhandsome’s front shoes.
Gill then lifted his pacer’s right front leg to show the
bottom of foot with the shoe he referred to as the flip flop. “He runs out
because his feet hurt him and this kind of shoeing relieves some of the pain.
But with a wet track like today he wasn’t grabbing it well because of the full
pad over the foot.”
A closer inspection showed that there was a full-swedge
aluminum shoe tacked on the front of the hoof and over a plastic pad that
covered the whole foot.
“See, he said,” as he stretched the pad from the frog area.
“It moves up and down some and it helps relieve shock when he going fast and
the pad acts as a cushion. That’s why we call it a flip flop. ”
It was the fourth seasonal triumph for Talldarknhandsome
who’s owned by the Ed Hall brothers, James and Edward from Connecticut.
Talldarknhandsome’s triumph was perhaps overshadowed
by the four driving victories by longtime Mighty M regular, Mike Merton who
currently is fifth in races won on the local leaderboard.
Merton started the afternoon with a trotting victory in the
second race behind Big Z Fortune ($65.50) in 2:03.3 over a then wet racetrack.
He won the next race with pacer Savvy Hawk ($21.40) in 2:01.4. Now with a
bright sunshine drying out the racetrack Merton then won the seventh race with
See You Smile,($7.80) with a wire to wire
effort in a time of 1:56.4 and he concluded the afternoon winning the eighth and final race on
the card with Check My Pulse ($28.20) in a 1:59.1 clocking.
Reached in the paddock after the races Merton was asked if
he’ll now be known as “Longshot Mike”?
He laughed and with his deep baritone drawl said “No… but I had some power and though they went off
long (priced) they raced good today. I figured to have a good shot with See You
Smile and we went wire to wire. In the other three races I sat back off the
quick early fractions and let them do the work up front. Then I came late to
pick up all the pieces.
