Illinois-conceived and foaled two-year-old trotters took centre stage last night at Balmoral Park. A field of six colts battled in a $29,280 division of the Sarah Myers Stakes, while eight of their female counterparts squared off for a purse of $28,730 in the distaff division.
Living up to his 1-9 status in the wagering Powerful Charger had no trouble making his final start of the year a winning one as he cruised to an easy one and a half-length victory in 1:58.2.
“He felt strong sitting in the hole through that opening quarter and I didn’t want to get stuck behind any traffic so I moved him to the top,” said victorious driver Todd Warren. “The field really wasn’t that deep tonight so I figured I’d make them come and try to beat us.”
The Robert Taylor-trained Fox Valley Helena emerged victorious from the filly division, as the daughter of Vaporize rallied in the final strides to win by a head in 2:00.4 for driver Marcus Miller.
“This horse is pretty quick once you get her some racing room,” Miller said when asked whether he was worried about running out of time before the wire. “Once she gets out she can go at pretty at pretty good clip on the straightaways, and she showed that tonight.”
The $1 Pick 4 wager was not hit on Wednesday’s card, thus there will be a carryover of $7,990 into Saturday’s Pick 4 pool, and Balmoral Park management is estimating Saturday’s Pick 4 pool to be in excess of $35,000. The Pick 4 is held nightly on Races 7 through 10.
(With files from Balmoral)