Perfect
Alliance continued her perfection on the racetrack on Thursday night with
another powerful win in the $15,000 first division of the second leg of the
Charles Singer Memorial.
On a cold
and blustery night with temperatures in the high teens and a strong, steady
wind facing the horses for the length of the homestretch, Perfect Alliance
raced wide around the first turn to make front then drilled home in 28.4 to
close out a 1:53.2 new career best. Ray Hall again followed the winner around
the track, just as he did last week and was second best. You Rock My World was
third.
The
winner’s share put her over $100,000 in lifetime earnings for owners Little E,
Settlemoir, Stolz and Geiger. The Credit Winner mare will now go into the
$52,600 March 8 final as the prohibitive favorite for trainer Julie Miller and
her regular driver Andy Miller. Coming back bigger and stronger at age
four, it appears that Perfect Alliance has an opportunity to become a major
factor in the mare trotting division.
The most
formidable opposition will likely come from Time To Quit who carries an
unbeaten streak of his own into the Singer final. While his wins have been by
much smaller margins, Time To Quit has been getting the job done for the Ron
Burke barn and Yannick Gingras. This one was a “by the skin of his teeth” nose
win over Cajole Hanover in 1:54.1 to put his seasonal earnings over the $60,000
mark for owners Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and Phil Collura. Yannick
Gingras didn’t display much confidence about his chances against Perfect
Alliance in the Final, stating “I’m not sure he (Time To Quit) can go
with Perfect Alliance, thankfully, she’s in the other division again. She’s
done it three (starts) in a row. I think she’s the only horse that can win from
the outside, the rest need an inside post and a trip.”
It is certain that the road to the
Charles Singer Memorial winners circle goes through Perfect Alliance.
Racing
returns with a 13-race program Friday night, featuring a pair of $30,000 Free
For All’s, one for the trotters and one for mare pacers. Post Time is 7:15 P.M.
