The John
Simpson Memorial trotting stakes were raced at The Meadowlands on Friday
evening and no one in the house was prepared for the exhibition put on by
Trixton in winning the $51,543 “Ayres” for sophomore colts. The beautiful dark
son of Muscle Hill from Emilie Cas El was absolutely devastating, leading
virtually all the way in a stunning 1:51.2 while driver Jimmy Takter sat
motionless. The mile is actually faster than any three year old colt or gelding
trotter went over the entire 2013 season.
The top
priced yearling of 2012 at $360,000 Trixton was sold in the Hunterton Farms
consignment at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. The colt was brought along
carefully by Takter last year at two, winning four of eight and taking a solid
1:54.4 record at The Red Mile though appearing immature at times. After
recovery from off-season surgery he trained back strong for Takter, had two
impressive qualifiers and was absolutely airborne in a prep start last week
closing in 26.4 from an impossible spot to be second in 1:53.4. The fractions
on this occasion were 27-, 55.1 and 1:24 with a 27.2 kicker under his own
power. Lukas Hall came second and Flyhawk El Durado third.
The colt
is owned by Brixton Medical Ab and Christina Takter and adds another powerful
weapon to the three year old trotting arsenal in the Jimmy Takter.
Earlier
in a non-betting $33,516 Simpson “Elma” three year old filly trot Bob Key’s
Sweetie Hearts led all the way for Tim Tetrick to win in 1:56. The Angus Hall
filly was winning for the first time this season in her third start and was
home safely with a 28 second finish to the mile. Annie’s List was second and
Thisgirlisonfire third.
On the
pacing front, nine sophomore fillies assembled to race in the $48,415 “Leta
Long”, a division of the W. N. Reynolds stake. Jimmy Takter stable would strike
again here with the very lightly raced Rocknroll Hanover filly
Gettingreadytoroll winning easily in 1:50.1.
Sent
right to the front by Yannick Gingras through sensible fractions, the filly
never had an anxious moment wrapping it up with a 26.2 close while widening to
a large margin at the finish. The win was one of four on the program for
The Green Hornet.
Gettingreadytoroll
is owned in the Takter barn by his wife Christina along with John and Jim
Fielding.
An
interesting statistic for the night was that the first 12 winners on the
program either equaled or established a new lifetime mark. The only horse
that didn’t was Brownsville Bomber, who won the finale in 1:52, missing her
lifetime mark by one-fifth of a second.
The
Championship Meet kicks into gear on Saturday night with three races on the
road to the TVG Free For All Championships, consisting of two $40,000
eliminations for the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for the trotters and a $50,000
TVG Free For All Pace. Post Time is 7:15 P.M.
