By Frank Cotolo for The Meadowlands Racetrack
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – On Nov. 7, a week after Summa Cum Laude and Perfect Sting recorded the first dead-heat Breeders Crown win, Yannick Gingras steered him to a 1:50.2 win in the $204,050 Kindergarten Classic. Soaring to first off the gate was Shakespeare, followed by Captain Sleeze, with the Ron Burke-trained Summa Cum Laude in fourth behind Ilderton AM after leaving from the 10 hole. Shakespeare cut the first quarter in :26.4.
Summa Cum
Laude took to the outside and smoothly passed Shakespeare. With the lead, he
was entirely in charge pacing to a 1:23.3 three-quarters. Simon Says Hanover
came first over to make his bid but Shakespeare was still strong and still
after the leader, while Always B Sweet came into the stretch picture.
Without
urging, Gingras drove Summa Cum Laude across the wire to a lifetime-
best-equaling score by one-and-a-quarter lengths.
“I just
tried to get him in play,” Gingras said after the race. “I wasn’t going to take
back to last, so I was able to get away fourth and from there I saw what the
pace was going to be, though it didn’t matter, because he can race any which
what way. I had a ton of pace still when finishing.”
Shakespeare
held on for second, Captain Sleeze got third and Always B Sweet closed late to
get fourth.
Summa Cum
Laude is by Somebeachsomewhere—Western Graduate. Burke Racing Stable and P.
Collura, J. and T Silva-Purnel and Libby own the colt who took his fifth win in
14 starts and accrued $445,425 in earnings.
As the
favorite, Summa Cum Laude paid $4.00 to win.
Fresh from
her Breeders Crown 1:50.4 victory at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, Fire Start Hanover
and driver Dexter Dunn swarmed over her competition to win the $151,030
Kinergarten Classic for freshmen pacing fillies.
Fire Start
Hanover, opening the 1-9 favorite, was in no rush leaving the gate, and settled
into fourth as High Minded and Lindy At The Beach rushed from the outside and
Three Way Split held onto his rail position.
As the first
quarter clocked in :26.3, High Minded gave up the lead to Classicist, who could
not keep the top before the :55.2 half when Dunn guided Fire Start Hanover to
the outside. With Off The Record at his back, Fire Start Hanover became the
leader and never looked back.
The “Nifty”
Norman-trained filly glided into the stretch in total command, with Off The
Record in futile pursuit, crossing the wire one-and-a-quarter lengths in front
in a 1:51.1 mile. Off The Record was second and Classicist shifted into third
over High Minded, fourth.
Dunn said,
“She bounced back okay. It’s only a week since she raced in the Breeders Crown
and though that was a tough mile she did it pretty easily.” In the
Kindergarten, he said, “The way she was traveling to three-quarters I was not
worried because she was full of pace. She finished the mile with the ear plugs
still in. She’s strong.”
Fire Start
Hanover is a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, out of Fit To Frame. Pinske
Stables, David K. Hoese and Lawrence M. Means own the filly who collected her
eighth win in a dozen starts and has earned $593,101. He paid $2.40 to win.
Diamond
Creek Farm sponsored each division of the Kindergarten Classics.
MAKING THE GRADE: Wagering got off to a good start on the 13-race program as over $341,000 was pushed through the windows on the opener, leading to an all-source total of $2,561,614. … Todd McCarthy led the driver’s colony with three winners, including 45-1 long shot S McKee in the finale, leading to a 10-cent Pentafecta payoff of $7,786.22. … The 20-cent Pick-6 went unhit, which means a carryover of $8,085 will be up for grabs on the next program. Those with tickets bearing five winners cashed in for $245.02. … George Napolitano Jr., Corey Callahan and Dexter Dunn all had driving doubles. … Expect to see a big handful of the horses who raced in the Kindergartens to be on hand Saturday, Nov. 21 on Fall Final Four/TVG Finals Night, when approximately $2.8 million in purse money will be on the table. … Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m.
