by Michael Chamberlain, Vernon Downs Publicity
A Penny Earned (Conway Hall-Penny Dream) scored a
front-running victory in the $10,000 Open I Trot feature at Vernon Downs on
Friday night. The gelding charged to the front before the field reached the
first turn and never looked back to win in a solid time of 1:53.4.
A Penny Earned (Chris Lems) grabbed the lead from Wild And
Crazy Guy (John Macdonald) just after the gate opened and led through a quarter
of 27 seconds, 56.1 for the half and 1:24.3 for three-quarters. Wild And Crazy
Guy sat the pocket trip behind the leader throughout the mile and did finally
tip out in the stretch, but was unable to get any nearer the leader. In fact,
Helios (Claude Huckabone III) came rolling up the inside to take second away
from Wild And Crazy Guy in the final strides.
The complete order of finish was: A Penny Earned, Helios,
Wild And Crazy Guy, Evil Urges, Jaipur, Surface Tension, Grey Ice, and War
Hero.
A Penny Earned is owned by Alfred Ross, Natalia Oliva,
and George Ducharme of Massachusetts and Paul Fontaine of Rhode Island. George
Ducharme is also the trainer.
Live racing resumes at Vernon Downs on Saturday night with a
12-race program. The seventh race is the $6,500 feature race on the card. The
5-2 morning-line favorite is Oh My Joepa, winner of two of his last three
starts at Vernon Downs. Post time on Saturday night is 6:45pm.
