by James Witherite, Vernon Downs racing media
Tomy Terror ($2.70) took more than two seconds off the
Vernon Downs track record for two-year-old pacing geldings with his 1:50.2
effort in the John Simpson Memorial on Friday (October 24) evening.
The son of Western Terror and Mib Hanover tracked entrymate
Gold Coast Muscle (Mike Simons) through sizzling middle fractions of :54.1 and
1:22, pulling the pocket off the far turn and vaulting to the fore.
Chased home by Bet You (Brett Miller) and Hall of Terror (Mark MacDonald), Tomy
Terror and Corey Callahan prevailed by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:50.2.
John Butenschoen trains Tomy Terror for owners William
Wiswell, Jeah Goehlen, Eugene Schick, and the VIP Internet Stable.
Two other Butenschoen trainees were victorious in their
Simpson divisions, both in divisions for freshman trotting colts and
geldings. Boots N Chains ($4.60, Callahan, 1:54.4) and Explosive Drama
($36.60, Simons, 1:56.1) rounded out the Butenschoen training hat trick.
Butenschoen's attempt to sweep the trio of male trotting
divisions with Suit and Tie was thwarted by none other than Centurion ATM
($2.10). After rated patiently by trainer-driver Åke Svanstedt off the
top pair through a :56.4 half mile, the son of SJ's Caviar and Ens Tag Session began
is move in the final three-eighths, taking over in upper stretch and holding
off a late closing Sixteen Encores (Callahan) in 1:54.2. Centurion ATM,
the Peter Haughton Memorial winner, was well in hand approaching the post,
winning by 1-1/4 lengths with much in reserve.
Rounding out the Simpson winners for the evening were
trotting fillies Model Behavior ($44.60, Simons, 1:55.1) and Deli Royal
($32.00, Jimmy Whittemore, 1:57.2) who both proved upset winners, while the
lone event for pacing fillies ended in a 1:52.1 dead heat between Deli Beach
($4.60, John Campbell) and Heart Major ($4.50, Joe Pavia, Jr.).
Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on Saturday (October
25), with the first of 13 races scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EDT.
