A pair of Josh Green trainees swept the Valentine’s Day double feature paces at Dover Downs, with Dancin Yankee taking Thursday’s $35,000 Preferred and Summer Camp capturing the $23,000 Open.
Dancin Yankee went used down-the-road tactics to take home top prize in the Preferred for driver Corey Callahan. The five-year-old son of Yankee Cruiser-Dancewiththebest took the field through fractions of :26.4, :56.2 and 1:24.1 before using a :27.3 final frame to seal the deal by a neck over Stolen Car in 1:51.4. Adventure Bound was a lapped-on third in the featured tilt.
Sent off as the 2-5 favourite, Dancin Yankee improved this year’s record to 2-1-0 from four trips to the track. The 21-time winner, who races for owners Robert Briley, Baron Racing Stable and Richard Lombardo, has banked $458,712 to date.
Summer Camp survived a first-over journey to secure a narrow victory in the Open Handicap for driver Jonathan Roberts. Sent off at odds of 5-1, the six-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover-Roman Art prompted tempo-setter Mainland Key N through middle splits of :55.3 and 1:23.1 before using a :27.4 closing quarter to beat that foe by a neck in 1:51. Taking home the show dough was the lapped-on Beavercreek Artist.
It was the second victory of the season and the 25th lifetime tally for Summer Camp, who is owned by Baron Racing Stable of Horsham, PA and the VIP Internet Stable LLC of Piscataway, NJ. The lion’s share of the purse lifted his lifetime earnings to $429,150.
(With files from Dover Downs)