Pinny Tiger A’s year started with zero wins in six starts, but ever since his second start in North America, the Aussie import has been on a roll.
On Nov. 11, the Per Engblom trainee won his first of four races in a row at Yonkers Raceway, following it up with victories on Nov. 18, Nov. 25, and Dec. 2. With the Westchester half-mile oval now on a break, he made the move to The Meadowlands on Saturday, Dec. 20, and switching from four turns to two made no difference to the gelding as he upped his string of victories to five in the featured $41,096 Open Handicap Pace.
The eight-year-old son of Mach Three-Tigress Franco might not have been racing on a small track, but was handled in a fashion as though he were. Driver Brett Beckwith had Pinny Tiger A flying away from post seven in the nine-horse field, and the gelding was three-wide around the first turn as Ammo (Mark Herschberger) and Odds On Wildfire (Geovany Hernandez) left underneath him.
Pinny Tiger A kept digging and had the lead while parked at the quarter in :27, and then was able to settle things down.
“I talked to Jason [Bartlett, who drove the horse in all four of his prior U.S. wins] actually before the race and asked him what he thought about the horse and he really seemed to like him, so that gave me a lot of confidence,” said Beckwith. “He’s from a good team, so it was all systems go.”
After backing down the tempo to the half in :56.2, Pinny Tiger A had things completely under control. It didn’t hurt that 3-2 favourite Go Go Grasshopper (Joe Bongiorno) was getting a rough trip trapped along the rail, but it didn’t appear that it would have mattered in the end. Pinny Tiger A reached three-quarters in 1:24.2, and he was on cruise control through the stretch, hitting the finish an easy three-quarter-length winner in a lifetime-best 1:51. Odds On Wildfire, who upset the apple cart in last week’s feature, was second, with Ammo third.
“He’s a catch driver’s dream, that horse,” said Beckwith. “He leaves a thousand [miles an hour] and can go :29 just like it’s nothing, right on a loose line. He was great to drive. It makes my job really easy when horses like their job like that. They relax, and then you show them the whip and they go on again.”
While lifting his lifetime numbers to 25 wins from 65 starts, Pinny Tiger A, owned by Elite Harness Racing LLC, increased his bankroll to $376,296. As the 3-1 third choice, he returned $8 to win.
Beckwith’s three-bagger led the driver colony. After winning 11 dashes for the race weeks Dec. 4-6 and 11-13, Beckwith scored 10 times this week, giving him 32 victories over the last nine racing programs. Jake Leamon and Joe Bongiorno topped the trainers with two walks each down victory lane.
There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $3,928 when racing resumes. The odds of the winners for the sequence were 3-2, 3-5, 3-1, 7-1, 8-1 and 4-1. Those with five correct selections cashed in for $95.38. All-source betting on the 14-race card totalled $2,689,707. Racing resumes on Boxing Day Friday at 6:20 p.m.
(The Meadowlands)