Purple Lord Rules Again In Top Tioga Trot

Purple Lord winning at Tioga Downs

Purple Lord earned his third straight victory in the top trotting ranks at Tioga Downs since joining the Mike Deters stable, taking the $21,918 Open Handicap Trot on Saturday, May 31.

Leaving from post eight, Purple Lord and driver Jim Pantaleano took the lead just before hitting the quarter in :27.1. Purple Lord cleared early leaver Lava Field (Tyler Miller) and led to the half in :56 and three-quarters in 1:24.4 with the favoured Pocono Downs invader TNT Blue Chip (Bruce Clarke) first-up from third heading down the backstretch and challenging for the lead. As they reached the stretch, Purple Lord found another gear and won in 1:54.3 by three-quarters of a length over TNT Blue Chip, with Lava Field 2-1/2 lengths back in third.

Deters and partners John Spindler, Joel Warner and Michael Paulson acquired Purple Lord in mid-May after he had posted top three finishes in his first nine of 10 starts on the year. The five-year-old Tactical Landing-Paige Hanover gelding now has 12 career victories and lifetime earnings totalling $338,912.  

Let go as the 9-2 fourth choice, Purple Lord returned $11.40 to win.

Live harness racing returns to Tioga Downs on Sunday, June 1, with a post time of 1 p.m.

(With files from Tioga Downs)

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