Art Stafford Jr. took Celebrity Pegasus to the front and then took no prisoners along the way to a lifetime-best equalling 1:53.3 conquest in the $15,000 4&5-Year-Old Winners Over Trot at Dover Downs on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
A five-year-old by Andover Hall-Celebrity Athena, Celebrity Pegasus had been racing well since her last win in late November with three consecutive seconds, a third and a fifth last week, but a change in post positions, from the outside to post two did the trick for trainer Eric Ell and owners Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar, Steve Iaquinta and Minisink Farms. A 15-1 shot, Machuca (Tony Morgan), finished second in front of fast-closing Royal Becca J (Jack Parker Jr.). The brown trotter won for the 13th time and now has won $152,010 lifetime.
Tony Morgan won his third of four wins during the day guiding Richard Gutnick and TLP Stable’s Moonlight Cocktail, trained by Linda Toscano, to a career-fastest 1:54.4 triumph from post eight in the $13,500 semi feature. A Canadian stakes seasoned daughter of Kadabra-Angustura, the four-year-old mare earned her third straight victory. Streamsong (Jonathan Roberts) led for most of the mile and held on for second-place. Myclaimtovictory (Kim Vincent) was third.
Morgan, who is the second-leading dash winning driver in North America, finished the program with four trips to the winner’s circle. Ross Wolfenden, Yannick Gingras and Art Stafford Jr. had two wins each.
As usual, the top pacers now active in the sport battle it out on the Thursday card headed by a $30,000 Preferred Pace.
(With files from Dover Downs)