Last week's winner Ice Machine effectively reduced that number to
five with an uncharacteristic break before the start. Yannick
Gingras seized the opportunity to put Wishing Stone on
the lead and put confirmed front runner Sevruga in the
pocket.
The fractions were honest; 27.1 and 55:3 to the half. The gallant
Arch Madness was put into play past the half by Trond Smedshammer and pressed Wishing Stone through a 28.1 third
panel with race favorite Guccio drafting behind.
In the stretch, trainer/driver Jimmy Takter
confidently fanned Guccio off the cover and wore down a
stubborn Wishing Stone by a measured length and a half in a career best 1:52-.
Guccio, a contender in many of
the top sophomore stakes a year ago including falling just a neck short in the Hambletonian, has returned in impressive form for Takter. The son of Yankee Glide has always done his best
trotting late in the mile and has discarded the trotting hopples
this season.
The future looks bright for the partnership of Christina Takter, Brixton Medical, John &
Jim Fielding and G. C. Falk who share ownership of Guccio. He has the look of a horse born for the
classics.
The first 9 races were won by 9 different drivers. That
streak was stopped when John Campbell scored a natural hat-trick, winning races
9, 10 and 11. In the 11th race he scored a sharp wire to wire
victory with Lexis Amigo in 1:52.4. That race was significant as it
marked the return of Little Brown Fox, who earned over $950,000 last
year. In his first start back, Little Brown Fox tired after moving first
over and could manage only to be fourth.
It was another banner night at the betting windows as the total
handle marked a 34 percent increase from the same Friday in 2012. The
2013 program did have 13 races compared to 12 one year ago.
The winter meet wraps up Saturday night with first post time at
7:15 P.M.
