Go Go Solano tied the all-time track pacing standard at Vernon Downs with a blistering 1:49.4 performance on a clear, but chilly Saturday evening
(Nov. 12).
A 1:51 winner at Vernon at age three, Go Go Solano was assigned the outside eight post by racing secretary Scott Warren for Saturday’s $10,000 Open contest.
With Greg Merton doing the teaming for trainer Jordan Rubin in race eight, the favourite Go Go Solano ($3.40) battled with Mystical Valentine for the lead past a :27-second opening quarter, took command going to the half (timed in :55.2), drew off past the third split in 1:22.4, and then tossed in a :27-second closing kicker to win by 7-3/4 lengths.
The sizzling showing tied Vernon’s 58-year-old pacing standard that was set by My Little Dragon in 2:008 and equaled by Stonebridge Wish in 2010. In addition to dropping his personal best time by one and one-fifth seconds, the fast paced mile tied the track’s aged pacing standard that Stonebridge Wish established on June 5 of last year. It also marked the 16th track record performance of the season at the central New York seven-eighths mile oval.
In addition to being his first Vernon score of 2011, it was the fifth season’s victory and 14th lifetime win for the five-year-old son of Bettors Delight-Real Excitement, who is owned by Richard Lombardo and Howard Taylor. The rapid-striding gelding increased his career earnings to $609,605.
Go Go Solano’s effort was one of four first-place finishes during Saturday’s 11-race card of harness racing for driver Merton, who also captured the seventh race with the pacer You Bet Your Glass, the ninth event with the pacer One More Day and the final contest with the pacer Spartacus Jim.
Driver Roman Lopez and trainer Arnie Marks were also credited with doubles during the track’s 88th program.
(Vernon Downs)