East Rutherford, NJ- August 4, 2018 - The 2016 Hambletonian winner Marion
Marauder returned to the scene of his greatest victory to win the $286,650 John
Cashman Memorial for open trotters, the sixth race on Saturday afternoon at the
Meadowlands.
He is the first
Hambletonian winner to take the Cashman, formerly known as the Nat Ray Trot,
since Mack Lobell, who won the Hambletonian in 1987 and the Cashman in
1988. He trotted the 1 1/8 mile distance in 2:06 with a mile time
of 1:51.4, matching his Hambletonian clocking.
I Know My Chip
(Victory Kirby) got to the 26.1 first quarter at the head of the dozen horse
pack, soon overtaken by Marion Marauder, who then led the field to the 54.2
half. The 2017 Horse of the Year and the sole mare in the race, Hannelore
Hanover, was three-wide and moving to the lead, going three wide, and held it
to the 1:23.2 three quarters.
As the field
turned to go home, Will Take Charge (Tim Tetrick) came off the rail to
challenge Hannelore and while those two were battling it out in deep
stretch, Marion Marauder ranged up on the outside to win by a neck over Will
Take Charge in 2:06. Hannalore Hanover was third by a
half-length.
“He just has
the will to win,” said winning driver Scott Zeron. “It’s just a matter of
me getting him into the race, which has been difficult some places. But when
he’s within reaching distance, doesn’t he always seem to get up?
“The trip
couldn’t have worked out any better,” Zeron added. “He needed that whole
quarter to get to the front. When he did, (In Secret) was at my wheel and I
noticed that Yannick had made that three-wide move, which was even better. To
follow him through the back half of the race was great. It was good for my
horse not to have to cut the entire mile and an eighth. I couldn’t be any
happier with the way it went.”
Marion Marauder
returned $10.40 $4.60 $3.00, the exacta with Will Take Charge ($5.20 $3.20) was
$41.60 and the 8-1-12 trifecta with Hannelore Hanover ($2.10) was $140.00.
The winner is
owned by Ontario residents Marion Wellwood and Devin Keeling and is trained by
Paula Wellwood.
