Freehold Raceway hosted two $97,222 New Jersey Sire Stakes Standardbred Development Fund finals for two-year-old pacers on Saturday, Oct. 19 with Xpert and Daily Double Deo taking top honours.
The colts and geldings faced off first. The Pat Lachance trainee, Xpert, finished fourth and first, respectively, in the first two legs of the event and started the final from post four with his trainer in the bike.
He got away fifth and stayed there until the field entered the third turn when he was pulled into the first-over position and began the trek to the lead. Lachance and his pupil cleared to the front just after the field reached the three-quarter pole in 1:26.3, passing the early leader, Floor It Freddie, who was victorious in both legs.
The pair said “catch me if you can” from there and went on to win it in lifetime mark of 1:55.4. This was the second consecutive win as well as second lifetime win in 10 tries for the son of American Ideal and Sir Jillian Z Tam. Jeff Dauplaise is the winning owner.
At 7-2 odds, a win bet on Xpert paid $9.40. Master Ofthe House, the favourite, finished 1-1/2 lengths behind in second and Do What U Do was third.
Daily Double Deo was victorious in the final for fillies. The 8-5 morning line favourite went off as the 3-1 third choice when the wings folded coming off fourth and first-place finishes in the preliminary legs.
John Ahle and the Noel Daley trainee started from post position six. Daily Double Deo paced the first quarter from the outer flow but was the first one to reach the quarter pole in :27.3 seconds. She cleared to the front shortly following that and didn’t face another challenger for the remainder of the mile, which was paced in 1:54.2.
The Ok Corral is the winning owner of the Captaintreacherous-Double Jeopardy filly. This was her third win in 12 starts and a new lifetime mark.
A win bet on Daily Double Deo paid $8.20. Bequeath followed 2-1/2 lengths behind in second and The Summer Lovin completed the top three finish order.
Another highlight on the 13-race card was a stylish first Freehold driving win for 21-year-old Bryan Quevedo, who piloted his own Artspire to victory at 11-1 odds.
Racing at Freehold Raceway resumes next Friday and Saturday with post time at 12:30 p.m.
(With files from Freehold Raceway; Photo of Xpert winning on Oct. 19)