John Ahle and Austin Siegelman left little opportunity for any other driver to score on the 12-race card at Freehold Raceway on Saturday, Jan. 13. Between the two of them, they won nine races. Ahle had five wins, including the feature, and Siegelman was right behind him with four wins.
John Ahle should be among the top ranks of the leaderboard for 2024. He currently has eight wins at Freehold this year, which puts him second behind Siegelman in the rankings. The new year is extremely young; however, the current standings may be an indicator of the year to come.
The 26-year-old said, “I thought I had a couple good shots going into today and they all seemed to show up.”
One horse that always seems to show up for Ahle was his Preferred Handicap pacing mount, Yo A J.
In the feature race, Ahle piloted Yo A J at 6-5 from post six for Kathleen LaMontagne. After the wings folded, it looked like Ahle considered taking a spot third on the rail but decided against it and cruised onward to overtake the early leaders instead. From there, he marched along and set the pace, setting fractions of :28.1, :58 and 1:27.1 over the 'good' track. He paced on without facing much pressure from his competitors.
Ahle said, “A J was second last week and raced super; he just got caught at the wire off fast fractions. I thought he was the best in there today and with the soft fractions he got the job done easy.”
The five-year-old Betting Line gelding paced the mile 1:56.1.
When asked about his goals for 2024, Ahle replied, “Don’t really have any set goals. Just want to keep driving and having fun doing it.”
So far in 2024, he has eight wins and finished in the money 20 times in 53 starts. He has seven more drives tonight at the Big M.
Siegelman was 2023’s leading driver at Freehold and has taken early command of the lead in 2024, now with 11 wins.
Siegelman said, “I never imagined I’d win any driving titles, but it’s a great honour and I’m just hoping to stay happy and healthy in 2024 and do it again.”
One of Siegelman’s steers tactfully took down the hot hands from the previous afternoon, Tyler Miller, who had won three on Friday’s 11-race card. In race eight, Siegelman sat the pocket with Hes Electric behind Miller and the even-money favourite, Just Plain Loco. In the stretch, he was able to sneak by to win by a nose and upset the favourite at 9-2. This made a training double for Mark Ford, who had teamed up with Siegelman earlier in race four to win with Buchannon Hanover.
Siegelman commented on the successful day: “I had good posts and gate speed today, both keys to success at Freehold. Made it possible to put the horses in the right spot and grab four winners.”
Freehold Raceway hosts daytime harness racing every Friday and Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m.
Polansky Goes Pillar to Post in AHDC Trot
Mike Polansky pointed My Big Kadillac to the lead and stayed firm on the helm to the winning post in the $9,000 American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) Trot.
Leaving from post four, Polansky secured the lead for My Big Kadillac before a :29.3 first quarter while also keeping outside leavers Masster Blue (Anthony Verruso) and Hammer Creek (John Calabrese) parked. The wide trip caused Masster Blue to start dropping anchor through a :59.4 half, leaving Polansky to scoot away unfettered with My Big Kadillac to the backside. Polansky opened a three-length lead trotting to three-quarters in 1:29.3, which proved sufficient cushion as he tired in the straightaway but crossed the beam three-quarter lengths better than pocket-charger Train (Paul Minore) in 2:00.3. Lionhead (Yogi Sheridan) sat a pylon trip for third, beaten another three lengths, while Hammer Creek overcame the wide route for fourth.
Polansky trains and owns My Big Kadillac, a 10-year-old gelding by Kadabra, who paid $9.20 to win.
AHDC action resumes at Freehold Raceway next Saturday, Jan. 20 for another preliminary of its trotting series. First-race post time at Freehold is 12:30 p.m. (EST).
(With files from Freehold Raceway and the AHDC)