Fort Washington, MD - With the absence of No Recess, the $2,500
Rosecroft leg of the RUS MidAtlantic series looked like a two-horse race
between Atout De Fontaine and perennial favorite Hyway Marcus. Well, a two-horse race it was but it was
another Sofia Zingale-trained horse, Egosnattitudes who crashed the party to
win a thrilling duel in his maiden RUS start with a mile in 2:00. The field was reduced to four with the
defection of One True Friend who was scratched Saturday.
When the gate opened, Hyway Marcus (Sasha Moczulski) quickly
left to get the first call while Egosnattitudes (Sofia Zingales) raced two-wide
around the first turn. By the time Hyway
Marcus reached the first quarter, he had a four-length lead over Egosnattitudes
in a :28.3 split. As the duo hit the stretch
for the first time, Ego quickly closed on the race leader, racing on the outside
to be only a head behind Marcus as the tandem reached the half in :58.3.
Determined to protect his rail advantage, Hyway Marcus
continued to park his opponent. At one point,
Egosnattitudes got the lead but by the time the two horses reached the third
station in 1:28.1, Hyway Marcus still had a nose advantage. Marcus attempted to put some more distance
between the two, managing a lead of a head over Ego as the duo reached the top
of the stretch. As much as Marcus dug
in, Egosnattitudes was not to be denied and by the time the pair reached the
wire, it was Egosnattitudes out-grinding Hyway Marcus to score a three-quarter
length victory over the RUS veteran. The
other Zingale-trained horse, French trotter Atout De Fontaine (Maria Buchanan)
was three lengths further back in third. Puddin N Pie (Stephanie Jacobs)
finished fourth.
This concludes the 2018 RUS MidAtlantic series. Plans are already being made for next year’s
series. Any new tracks (fair or pari-mutuel)
wishing to be part of the 2019 RUS MidAtlantic series may contact RUS
MidAtlantic at info@rus-midatlantic.org.
