The Best recorded one of the fastest miles of the season while capturing Saturday night’s $9,000 Open Handicap Pace in 1:50.4 at Vernon Downs.

After A and Gs Winner led the eight-horse field to the quarter in :26 seconds, Outlaw Blues took over and cut splits of :55.2 at the half and 1:22.2 to three quarters. With Bill Bailey doing the teaming, The Best moved from fourth in the final turn to second entering pay dirt, and then rallied to defeat the closing Hay Goodlooking by a head in Saturday’s featured eighth race. As the seventh wagering choice, The Best paid $33.80 after collecting his second season’s score.

The 1:50.4 clocking was just one tick of the timer off the Vernon standard for aged pacing geldings, set by Chewy Gross in 2006, and it was just two-fifths of a second off the track’s fastest mile in 2009, established by the pacer Riggins on August 2. The speedy performance also resulted in a new win record for the five-year-old son of Pro Bono Best-Guerilla Girl. Lonny Hale trains the career-winner of $252,341 for owner Rocco Manzi.

Jimmy Whittemore, Vernon’s leading driver after 58 programs, collected his 78th win and earned his sixth triple of the meet following a 1:52 tally with Kingsandqueens in Saturday’s ninth event. The four-year-old gelding’s career-equaling triumph also resulted in the second victory of the evening for both Hale and Manzi.

Bailey, who also guided the freshman pacing gelding Steel Rein (Teeth Of The Dog-Mindys Sister) to a 1:57.1 maiden victory in Saturday’s second race, and his son, Leon, the track’s top provisional driver with 16 first-place finishes, each posted a pair of driving victories during the program, while Dennis Whittemore recorded two training tallies.

(Vernon Downs)