Parked the opening five-eighths following an unruly pre-race performance, Keystone Blade nevertheless found more for Kelly “Sky” Walker and sprang an 18-1 upset in Friday’s $25,000 Midwestern Championship of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Trot at The Meadows. The event, styled as the Delvin Miller Memorial Gold Cup, was contested at 1-1/4 miles over a “good” surface.
Keystone Blade was visibly unhappy while scoring down, tossing his head and trying to shrug off those attempting to adjust his equipment. With those changes made, however, Walker and Keystone Blade set sail after the early leader, 3-2 favourites Jazmin “The Little Flower” Arnold and Celebrity Pegasus, a task complicated by the break of Alesha “The Hoosier Hotshot” Binkley (Body Of Work) in front of them.
Walker and Keystone Blade finally cleared their rivals and went on to down Arnold and Celebrity Pegasus by 1-3/4 lengths in 2:30. “Tiny” Tim Miller (Song In My Heart) and “Chicago” George Bonomo (Tartufo Lindy) completed the ticket.
Keystone Blade now has banked $148,022 for Walker, who also trains the six-year-old Yankee Glide-Keystone Brittany gelding for Kelly Walker Stable.
In the $18,000 Open Handicap Pace, K Ryan Bluechip survived a demanding three-wide opening quarter and scored in 1:51.4 for Dave Palone, trainer Mike Palone and owners J.R. Ryan, Stephen Ronay, Lone Wolf Stable and Collin Ryan. With the victory, the seven-year-old Art Major-Fool That I Am gelding soared over $500,000 in career earnings.
Mike Wilder piloted four winners on the 13-race card.
Live racing at The Meadows resumes Monday when the program features a $49,290.29 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-5. In addition, the card offers a $5,000 total-pool guarantee for the Pick 4 (races 3-6) and a $3,760.10 carryover in the Pick 5 (races 2-6). First post for the 13-race program is 1:05 p.m.
(Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)