Colonial Champion Back In Spotlight
Docs Bonanza, 2012 Horse of the Meet at Colonial Downs, got back to the winner’s for the first time in two starts at the current fall season in Wednesday’s $6,000 Winners Over featured pace.
Driver Chris Page, who wasn’t at Colonial for Docs Bonanza’s first start a week ago, was in the bike Wednesday and the connection from last year’s success kicked in immediately. The six-year-old The Panderosa horse sat fourth through the first three fractions, went to the extreme coming out of the turn and wore down front-steppers A Fool For Mark, Jolt Of Fire and Docs Zippy in the stretch.
Docs Zippy set the early pace, triggering fractions of :26.2, :54.1 and 1:22.3. Docs Bonanza ended up winning in 1:51, a seasonal best, by one and three-quarter lengths over Fly To The Angels. Last fall, the Mary Dawson-trained horse had a winning mile of 1:49.4 in New Kent.
A trio of late closer pacing series took place on the card as well. Fortunes Jenna and Lemondrop Martini scored $3500 divisional wins in the Horace Martin Memorial’s second leg. Jeff Nisonger directed the former to a 1:53.4 one length triumph while Gerald Longo guided the latter to a new life mark in 1:53.3.
Whats Up Rock made up for an early break in the VHHA Pacing Series’ first leg to score a tight win over Plain Easy in a $4,000 second leg division Wednesday. Driver Robert Dinning directed trainer Dean Eckley’s three-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding to a neck victory in 1:54.2.
A sluggish I Reckon So shook off a tough start and stormed by six other pacers in the stretch to capture the second VHHA division. The three-year-old Yankee Skyscraper gelding crossed in a lifetime best 1:53.3 after going off stride before the start and languishing in last through much of the first three-quarters.
The U Gotta Win One Now Series also got underway with a single $3,500 division and Henry Lewis’s Vertigo Hanover got his second win of the young meet in a 1:36.3 North American record in the seventh-eighth-mile pace. Driver Chuck Perry took advantage of a perfect pocket trip to beat runner-up All Is Lost by nearly three lengths.
(With files from Colonial Downs)