Vernon, N.Y. – Homer Hochstetler and
Robert Buddig’s Sweet Thing ($9.10) made every yard a winning one in Friday
(October 21) evening’s featured $11,000 Miracle Mile/Open Handicap Trot at
Vernon Downs, evading local standout and odds-on favorite J A T O by 4-1/4
lengths to hand him a second straight Miracle Mile defeat.
Fern Paquet, Jr. wasted no time putting
the 4-year-old Chocolatier mare in play, sprinting to the fore and forcing Pop
I (Harry Landy) into the pocket through a :27.2 first quarter mile before
rating a :56.3 half. While Sweet Thing used a :27.3 sectional through the far
turn to amass four lengths of clearance on the field, J A T O (Chris Lems) had
sustained first-over gains to take second from the weakening and subsequently
breaking Pop I.
Despite J A T O’s best efforts to chase
Sweet Thing, the pacesetter held clear while driven to a 1:53.3 victory. J A T
O held second by half a length over Its Payday Friday (Ronnie Morales), who
split foes at head-stretch to escape traffic and stay on up the pegs.
For Sweet Thing, the featured win was
the 11th of her career and her third in four starts since returning
to the Miracle Mile from Saratoga. Paquet’s featured win accounted for half of
a driving double, a feat equalled by Truman Gale in the night’s late double.
Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on
Saturday (October 22) evening; post time is 6:45 p.m. Eastern.
