By Ray Cotolo, for The Red Mile
LEXINGTON,
KY—Trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt darted Six Pack to the lead moving to the final
turn and raced the clock to a 1:49.2 world-record victory in the $145,000
Cantab Hall Allerage Farms Open Trot—sponsored by Jeff & Paula Gural—on
Saturday, Oct. 5 at The Red Mile.
Following
two recalls caused by equipment issues with Trolley the starting gate sent the
field to race. Eurobond left for the lead from post 4 and took the field past a
:27 first quarter while Lindy The Great raced second and Crystal Fashion sat
third. Svanstedt sent Six Pack from fourth nearing a :54.2 and dashed to the
front rounding the final turn, opening his lead towards three-quarters in
1:21.3. Through the stretch Svanstedt urged Six Pack as the four-year-old
Muscle Mass colt won by open lengths over Lindy The Great with Mission Accepted
finishing third.
“He
had been sick for about a month but [his] last race was good—he came home
fast,” Svanstedt said after the race of his return to the races in the Caesars
Trotting Classic.
The
1:49.2 mile bests the previous record for a four-year-old trotting stallion of
1:50.1 set by Chapter Seven in 2012 and equaled by Eurobond and Southwind
Chrome.
“Today
I thought we were going to break the record [but] he needed a little bit of
help,” Svanstedt also said. “It was a little bit slow but he came home good.
He’s a little lazy when he’s on the front [but] I tried.”
Co-owned
by Svanstedt with Little E LLC, Knutsson Trotting, Stall Kalmar and Lawrence
Berg, Six Pack won his 18th race from 33 starts, earning $1,658,105.
“It
was a little nerve-racking with the recalls to tell you the truth,” said Jeff
Gural, who co-owns Six Pack through Little E LLC. “I’ve actually dreamed of
giving myself a trophy because I’ve never done it. I’ve given the Hambletonian
trophy the last five, six years and the trophy for this race so it’s a real
thrill. This horse has had a lot of bad posts and he’s cut most of the miles
where he got beat—he got beat at the wire. He did all the work but then
somebody else gets a record. So I was really happy for him today.”
Six
Pack paid $5.00 to win.
Grand
Circuit action concludes at The Red Mile on Sunday, Oct. 6 with the 127th
renewal of the Kentucky Futurity, which goes as a single heat with a field of
12 for $450,000. The 54th Kentucky Filly Futurity also goes as a
single dash with an 11-horse draw for $267,000. Two divisions of the $540,000
Tattersalls Pace, the $69,500 Allerage Farms Fillies and Mares Trot and $87,000
Allerage Farms Fillies and Mares Pace will also go on the eight-race card.
Racing gets underway for the season finale with first-race post at 1:00 p.m.
(EDT).
