by John Manzi, for NAADA
MONTICELLO, NY- When the
gate sprung in the North American Amateur Drivers Association's (NAADA) trot at
Monticello Raceway on the pleasant afternoon of July 19 little was left for the
imagination after “Yankee Joe” Lee gunned Soul Train to the lead and played
catch me if you can, and nobody could, as Lee's trotter circled the Mighty M
double-oval in a time of 1:58.2 to finish five lengths in front of six others
in the sixth leg of the 10-race trotting series.
“I had been racing him (Soul
Train) from behind but he didn't seem to like passing horses when moved him so
I figured I'd try to race him in front and it seems that's just what the old
guy likes,” Lee said while hanging up the line in the race paddock after the
contest. “This is the third time we won on the engine.”
When the starter said “go”
Lee hustled Soul Train to the lead and opened daylight on the field as a few
got tangled on the first turn. But once in front it seemed like the farther the
veteran trotter went the more his lead seemed impossible to overcome.
Soul Train, sent off as the
odds-on favorite in the race, trotted by the first quarter in :28.1 and Lee
kept the pedal to the metal as they passed the halfway point in :57.4 with Paul
Minore and Wygant Prince tight on his back. But that didn't last long when they
headed up the backside as Soul Train widened to a three-length lead by the
third stanza and then increased to five lengths as the field headed for home.
With Lee swinging on him,
Soul Train cruised home an easy winner. Keenan rallied to be second for John
Calabrese as Wygant Prince faded and finished third.
For Lee, who was last
season's National Amateur Driver of the Year, it marked his sixth driving
victory this year and his win today places him atop the NAADA Summer Series
leaderboard
With his triumph Soul Train,
a 7-year-old Trainforthefuture gelding, raised his career earnings to over
$383,000. He is co-owned by Lee , the Blindwitch Stable, Good Friends Racing,
and Santo Farina, and trained by Jose Godinez. He paid $3.30.
NAADA members are getting
ready to entertain their counterparts from Italy in early August for another
Friendship competition, the third time this season that the longstanding
international amateur organization will be hosting amateur drivers from Europe.
