Rockincam capitalized off some hot early fractions and came charging down the homestretch from the back of the pack to take the $60,000 Open Handicap Pace at Harrah's Chester in a new lifetime mark of 1:49.2 on Sunday
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In the afternoon's feature event, Pangiorno (Tim Tetrick) worked his way to the lead ahead of Mainland Key N (Corey Callahan) during a sizzling :25.4 opening quarter. But Mainland Key N refused to sit a pocket trip and swept around Pangiorno as they raced in front of the grandstand for the first time.
The parked out Big Bay Point (George Napolitano Jr.) then moved up to challenge the new leader to the half-mile juncture in :53.3 with 43-1 longshot Silent Swing (Ron Pierce) on his back and last week's Open winner, Annieswesterncard (Yannick Gingras), positioned third over.
Silent Swing swung three-wide down the backstretch and poked a head in front of Pangiorno, who then made a break in stride and moved into the safety lane and out of contention. Full control of the field was left to Silent Swing at the 1:21 third quarter, but not for long as the backfield began to fan three, four and five-wide around the final bend.
After sitting back in seventh for most of the mile, Rockincam and driver Dave Miller were the duo in the four-path and they came charging home in :27.2 to steal the glory in the last sixteenth of a mile. Rockincam stopped the teletimer in 1:49.2, shaving two-fifths of a second off his lifetime mark. Drop Red (Andy Miller), the longest shot on the board at odds of 57-1, shot up the rail for second with the favourite, Vintage Master (Dan Dube), rallying five-wide from last place to third. Silent Swing finished fourth with Pangiorno fifth.
Rockincam paid $15.20 to win as the 6-1 third choice in the field of eight.
The four-year-old Cambest-Migraine pacer recorded his seventh win of the season in 18 starts and pushed his 2011 earnings to $176,425 for trainer Richard 'Nifty' Norman and owner-breeder Stephen Farrell of Ocala, Florida. Lifetime, he has won half of his 26 starts while banking $283,775.