Illinois conceived and foaled three-year-old pacing colts renewed acquaintances on Saturday, June 30 at Balmoral Park as a field of nine state-bred sophomores met in the $12,000 Betzotic Stake.

As he’s done many times in the past, Sawgrass Farms' Uncle Smoothie snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as he came flying down the lane to win by a neck in 1:51.3 for driver Brian Carpenter.

Sent right to the front by Carpenter, the gelded son of Sportsmaster-Kan Commute was on top through an opening quarter in :28.2. The action then got hot and heavy on the backstretch as Kings Legend (Dave Magee) came charging up to take command as the field hit the half-mile mark in :57.1.

With a live outer flow bringing several horses into contention as the field moved into the final turn, Kings Legend continued to show the way. Urawomanizer (Mike Oosting) had drawn alongside to challenge the pacesetter while Uncle Smoothie was back to third. Crime Of Passion (Casey Leonard) was also right with the leaders as he started to power up three-wide as the field reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:24.3.

Through the stretch, Urawomanizer grabbed a short lead as Kings Legend began to tire just a bit pushing back Uncle Smoothie as he patiently waited for the passing lane. With a sixteenth of a mile to go, Urawomanizer was still clinging to a short lead as Crime Of Passion tried to get to him on the outside of horses. Unfortunately for both of those rivals a fit and fresh Uncle Smoothie was now in high gear down at the pylons and the Nelson Willis trainee went charging right by both of those rivals, sealing the deal with a :26.2 final quarter to post his third win in eight starts this year. Urawomanizer finished a neck back while Crime Of Passion was third, one length behind.

The win was the eighth in 21 lifetime starts for Uncle Smoothie, who now boasts career earnings of $131,353.

(Balmoral Park)