Homer Hochstetler and Robert Buddig’s Sweet Thing made every yard a winning one in Friday evening’s featured $11,000 Miracle Mile/Open Handicap Trot at Vernon Downs, evading local standout and odds-on favourite J A T O by 4-1/4 lengths to hand him a second straight Miracle Mile defeat.
Fern Paquet, Jr. wasted no time putting the four-year-old Chocolatier mare in play, sprinting to the fore and forcing Pop I (Harry Landy) into the pocket through a :27.2 first quarter mile before rating a :56.3 half. While Sweet Thing used a :27.3 sectional through the far turn to amass four lengths of clearance on the field, J A T O (Chris Lems) had sustained first-over gains to take second from the weakening and subsequently breaking Pop I.
Despite J A T O’s best efforts to chase Sweet Thing, the pacesetter held clear while driven to a 1:53.3 victory. J A T O held second by half a length over Its Payday Friday (Ronnie Morales), who split foes at head-stretch to escape traffic and stay on up the pegs.
For Sweet Thing ($9.10), the featured win was the 11th of her career and her third in four starts since returning to the Miracle Mile from Saratoga. Paquet’s featured win accounted for half of a driving double, a feat equalled by Truman Gale in the night’s late double.
Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on Saturday evening at 6:45 p.m.
(Vernon Downs)