by John Manzi, for NAADA
On an extremely foggy
afternoon with intermittent rain falling in New York's southern Catskill
Mountains Paul Minore sat a two-hole trip then rallied his old warhorse,Wygant
Prince, to a neck victory in the third leg of the North American Amateur
Drivers Association (NAADA) trot at Monticello Raceway on Thursday March 29.
After starting from the pole
position Minore parked Jennifer Lappe's Here Come Numbers around the first turn
then allowed the 10-year-old gelding to take command as the field trotted by
the first panel in :29.
“I didn't want Here Comes
Numbers to take command with ease so I parked him a ways and then let Jennifer
have the lead,” Minore related in the paddock after the race was over. “I
figured I'd get a good two-hole trip behind her because her trotter was the
betting favorite and had raced well in his recent starts.”
Once on top Lappe showed the
way by the half in :59.2 with Wygant Prince tucked in tightly behind her
trotter. As the seven-horse passed the third stanza in 1:30.1 Here Comes
Numbers opened up daylight and he was 2-1/2 lengths in front as they headed for
paydirt.
“She (Ms Lappe) got away a
bit on the final turn but once we straightened for home my horse began to grind
away at the leader and in the final strides we got up for a neck victory in
2:00.3.
Third place went to Connie
Keeper , driven by Tony Verruso.
The race winner, an 11
year-old altered son of SJ's Photo, notched his third seasonal victory and the
34th of his illustrious career and leaves him just $93 short of
$400,000 in lifetime earnings. He is owned by Minore and trained by Taylor
Gower.
As for Minore it was
his 94th career driving victory in the USA and when one counts
Minore's three triumphs in races contested in Europe he now needs just three
more for 100 lifetime victories.
The NAADA trotting series
continues next Thursday at Yonkers Raceway.
