EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J --
He's Watching rallied to win the $776,000 Meadowlands Pace in record-equaling
time on Saturday night at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment.
It was the exclamation
point in the storybook saga of a $3,000 yearling purchase who scaled the
heights of the sport with The Pace victory.
The time was a dazzling
1:46 4/5, tying the fastest clocking in the history of harness racing. He joins
Somebeachsomewhere, Holborn Hanover and Warawee Needy in that exclusive speed
club.
Tim Tetrick was in the
sulky for his fourth Pace victory in only eight drives.
“It’s just an honor to
compete in these races,” Tetrick said. “He’s a great horse, and I was lucky to
pick up the drive in a big race like this.”
He's Watching beat Always
B Miki by 2 1-2 lengths, his 11th victory in 14 starts.
Racing second over while
tracking North America Cup winner JK Endofanera, He’s Watching shifted into
high gear in the lane, kicking home with a 25 3/5 second final quarter.
“I couldn’t ask for a
better trip,” Tetrick said. “My horse really exploded, and he paced all the way
to the wire.
He's Watching, trained by
David Menary who made his Pace debut, paid $6.20, $3.80 and $3.40.
“I was hoping we’d get a
second-over trip behind JK Endofanera,” Menary said. “He’s versatile. He likes
it on the front and when horses come at him, he picks up the bit. He can
explode off the helmet, too.”
Always B Miki, caught
three wide all the way around, dug in gamely to get second, returning $5.80 and
$4.60. Tellitlikeitis paid $8.20 to show.
He’s Watching is owned by
Menary Racing, Brad Gray, Michael Guerriero and the Muscara Racing Trust.
The Pace, contested before
10,786 on a warm night, was main event of a stakes-filled evening.
Trainer Jimmy Takter holds
all the cards heading into the $1.2 million Hambletonian here on Aug. 2,
especially after his trio of talented colts swept the first three positions in
the $317,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial for 3-year-old trotters.
Father Patrick was first
to the wire, his 16th win in 17 starts for the Father Patrick
Stable. He will undoubtedly be the solid favorite in the Hambletonian.
Yannick Gingras was at the
lines for the 1:51 3/5 victory. Father Patrick, starting from post 9, took
charge down the backstretch and held off Nuncio by three quarters of a length
with Trixton third.
“He can race from the back
and he’s probably a little bit better following horses,” Gingras said. “With
the 9-hole in a 12-horse field, the last thing I wanted to do was get caught
behind traffic.”
Given the lead, Father
Patrick remained firmly in command.
“There was no excuse for
anybody,” Gingras said. “Father Patrick beat them straight up.”
Father Patrick paid $2.80
to win.
The Takter dominance could
limit the number of Hambletonian challengers. If there are 13 or fewer
entrants, the field will go in one dash without preliminary heats.
“This was basically the
Hambletonian,” Takter said. “I mean, who is coming?”
Takter struck again with
Shake It Cerry in the $213,500 Del Miller Memorial, the companion event for
3-year-old trotting fillies and the prep for the Hambletonian Oaks.
Shake It Cerry and driver
Ron Pierce won by 1-1/4 lengths over Heaven’s Door in 1:53. Designed To Be was
third.
Shake It Cerry won for the
fifth time in six starts this year and pushed her career earnings to more than
$1 million. She has banked $217,338 this season for Solveig’s Racing Partners.
Shake It Cerry led from
start to finish, hitting the halfway point in :57.4.
“When I saw we were
getting our way going to the half, I figured I better try to get away from
Designed To Be so we stepped on the gas the last half,” Pierce said.
“I think she’s coming into
the Hambletonian Oaks just perfect. Today she got a good workout, so I would
say she’s coming into the Oaks in real good shape.”
Shake It Cerry paid $9.60
to win.
Sweet Lou rocketed home in
1:47 1-5 in the $463,300 William Haughton Memorial, the sixth straight win for
5-year-old.
He had an ideal trip,
perched second-over as Captaintreacherous and Thinking Out Loud slugged it out.
Ron Pierce turned Sweet
Lou loose in the lane and he roared home to his 28th win in 64
starts, beating Bettor’s Edge by 1 1-4 lengths.
The first two finishers
were trained by Ron Burke.
“Ronnie had been using the
same move every week where he brushes up the backside and bottoms them out,”
Burke said. “I was wondering what would happen if we couldn’t do that. What I
liked best was at the wire he was just starting to stretch out. I was very
happy with him and Bettor’s Edge.
Sweet Lou, owned by Burke
Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, Larry Karr and Phil Collura paid $4 to win.
Captaintreacherous, last
year’s Meadowlands Pace winner, was third.
Sandbetweenurtoes gutted
out a neck victory over Weeper in the $212,150 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old
pacing fillies to extend her season-long unbeaten streak.
Brett Miller was at the
lines for trainer Larry Remmen and owner Bradley Grant as Sandbetweenurtoes
improved to 6 for 6 in 2014.
“She’s something else, for
a filly who had only one start as a 2-year-old,” Miller said.
The time was 1:49 3/5.
Sandbetweenurtoes paid $5.40 to win.
Rocklamation emerged from
the pack in deep stretch to take the $183,450 Golden Girls Free-For-All for
pacing mares in a career-best and stakes record 1:48 3/5.
The 6-year-old improved to
21 for 89 as she closes in on $2 million in career earnings. Gingras was in the
sulky for his third stakes win of the night. Burke trains for the Our Horse
Cents Stable, Stable 45 and J & T Silva Stables.
“My mare’s a hard knocker,”
Gingras said. “She’s getting up there in age, but she’s such a sweetheart.”
Rocklamation beat Drop The
Ball by three quarters of a length with Jerseylicious third. She paid $26.80
for the upset victory.
Bee A Magician, the 2013
Horse of the Year, got her first win of the year by capturing the third leg of
the Miss Versatility Series by a neck over Charmed Life in 1:51 1/5. D’Orsay
was third.
Bee A Magician and driver
Brian Sears found a second-over trip behind D’Orsay, taking the front in
mid-stretch and holding off a fast-closing Charmed Life.
Bee A Magician, who was
17-for-17 last season, had three second-place finishes among four starts prior
to the Miss Versatility. She has won 28 of 35 career races for owners Mel
Hartmann, Herb Liverman, and David McDuffee, and trainer Nifty Norman.
She paid $4 to win.
The card also included
four $100,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes finals for 2-year-olds.
Guess Whos Back fired off
cover while Mission Brief exploded with a gate-to-wire stakes record
performance in the trots.
Mission Brief, who paid
$2.60 to win, broke her own stakes record of 1:55.1, with a 1:53.3 mile besting
a field of six trotting fillies. The winning margin was an eye-opening 13 1-4
lengths.
The outcome was never in
doubt as Gingras guided the Ron Burke trainee to her second win in three
starts.
With the daughter of
Muscle Hill, out of the Breeders Crown winner Southwind Serena, racing on an
uncontested lead, the battle was for second and Dynamite Dame edged out Rules
of the Road.
She is owned by Burke
Racing Stable, Our Horse Cents Stables, J&T Silva Stables and Weaver
Bruscemi.
Guess Whos Back tipped
five-wide in the stretch and pulled away to a one-length victory in the event
for trotting colts and geldings.
Guess Whos Back, driven by
Brian Sears paid $6.40 to win. Canepa Hanover was second with 99-1 Mountain Top
a length and three-quarters in third/
The 1:56.1 mile was a
lifetime best for Guess Whos Back, trained by Nikolas Drennan and racing for Joseph
Davino and Brad Shackman.
July 12, 2014
–A pair of Western Ideal youngsters, Artspeak and Stacia Hanover, scored in the
$100,000 finals of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for two-year-old pacers on
Saturday, July 12, 2014 at the Meadowlands.
Artspeak [$3.40, $2.80, $2.40], a son
of Western Ideal, captured the New Jersey Sire Stakes for pacing colts and
geldings in 1:52.3, finishing a length and three-quarters ahead of Hurrikane
Ali, by Rocknroll Hanover.
Dealt A Winner by Cam’s Card Shark was
an early breaker who reconnected with the field and got up for third by two and
a half lengths.
Artspeak, driven by Scott Zeron and
trained by Tony Alagna, was sent off as the 3-5 favorite and did not
disappoint, picking up his second win in two career starts. A $100,000
Lexington Selected Sale purchase, he races for Brittany Farms, Marvin Katz, Joe
Sbrocco and the In The Gym Partners.
In the 13th and final race
of the night, Stacia Hanover took command early and held the lead at every
call, extending her unbeaten streak to three with a career best 1:53.4 mile.
Scott Zeron guided the Western Ideal
filly, who is trained by Steve Elliott and races for Ohioans David Van Dusen
and Michael Ciamaglio, who purchased her for $35,000 at the Harrisburg Sale.
Stacia Hanover returned $3.40, $2.40,
$2.10, finishing a length and a quarter ahead of Cashaway, who was a half
length ahead of Ideal Nuggets. All three are by Western Ideal.
Total handle for the 13-race program
was $4,288,237, compared to the $4,311,546 wagered on the 14-race card in
2013. By comparison, handle through 13 races last year was $4,096,588.
Racing returns on Friday, with first
post time at 7:15 P.M.
