Bruce Aldrich, Jr and Bob Lounsbury are at it again. Two
years ago here at Monticello Raceway that driver/trainer combination had 18
consecutive victories with a claiming pacer by the name of Tracy’s Song, and
currently they’re running another string with Burlesque, also a claiming pacing
mare.
On the Monday afternoon card of Sept. 22 Aldrich guided the
Lounsbury-trained Burlesque to an easy 1:57.3 victory over Rusty’s Flying
(Jimmy Marohn, Jr.) which was the mare’s seventh win in-a-row.
It’s true that seven is a long way from 18 but, as Aldrich
said referring to the mare’s winning journey, “we’ll take it one step at
a time, although honestly, it’ll be nearly impossible to win that many in a
row.”
Actually Burlesque showed shades of brilliance earlier in
her career but she could never could get it all together. She amassed nearly
$100,000 in purse money at two and three but wins as came sparingly.
“Phil (Schultz) claimed Burlesque for $12,500 in Canada
earlier this year but he was not happy about with her after he claimed her,
“Lounsbury said. “She didn’t want to race so finally Schultz sent her to his
other trainer, Mike Watson, and told him to put her in at Monticello Raceway
for a $4000 claiming tag.”
Watson also trained Diamond Tiara for Schultz but he stables
his horses in Wind Gap, Pa. some 90 miles from Monticello Raceway.
“With shipping bills around $200 every time she raced at
Monticello it didn’t pay Phil to have Watson keep trucking her here since she
wasn’t racing very well,” Lounsbury explained. “I’ve trained horses for Phil
before so he sent her to me to stop the shipping costs.
“She didn’t race well for me either, at first. I know she
was sour because she’d try to runoff the track when we jogged her so we began
feeding her ‘Dr. Green’ (turning her out in a pasture) a few days a week and
that she seemed to sweeten up.”
Lounsbury won his first race with Burlesque on June 10 when
Aldrich sat a two hole with the 4-year-old daughter of Mach Three and then
rallied her to a 1:56.4 victory. Her only other triumph prior to that was a
1:53.3 mile on February 24 for Jonathan Drury while racing for a $12,500 tag at
Woodbine.
However, after Schultz claimed her, Burlesque refused to
race at all so he sent her to Mike Watson and he told him to put her in for
$4000 (claimer) at Monticello Raceway.
“She (Burlesque) only picked up a few small checks in her
first three starts for Mike so he sent her here to me so there would be no more
shipping costs,” Lounsbury explained.
Once at the Mighty M and under the tutelage of Lounsbury,
Burlesque won her first race on June 10 and since then she has won 9 more times
for Lounsbury-Aldrich combination, every time racing for a tag which was
continually magnified by her being a mare and a four year old.
“She’s not a mean mare but she’s temperamental and being
here where she can get away for the race track a few days a week helps to
sweeten her up,” Lounsbury added. “She has a mind of her own but Bruce(Aldrich)
gets along real well with her.”
