A nose, two heads and a neck. Sounds like a blanket finish, but it's not. It's the margin of victory Ontario-sired Beechwood Wayne has recorded in his past four starts.
While Beechwood Wayne sure does like cutting it close it's proving to be a winning formula as the seven-year-old gelding is now a perfect four-for-four on the 2014 season with another narrow win in the $10,500 Open Pace at Buffalo Raceway Saturday night (Feb. 15).
Beechwood Wayne ($4.90) won this week by the slimmest margin yet, a nose. While the margin of victory may be narrow, the results are still the same...a trip to the winner's circle.
Dont Say Goodby (Peter Wrenn) scooted out from the gate and put up fractions of :29, :58.3 and 1:28.3, but had Beechwood Wayne breathing down his neck in the pocket to the three-quarter pole.
Salazar (Kevin Cummings), meanwhile, cruised three-wide down the backstretch and had the lead entering the lane. But driver Ron Beback Jr. managed to slip Beechwood Wayne to the outside and collared Salazar at the wire in 1:58.1 over the 'good' track. Every Girls Desire (Billy Dobson) skimmed the pylons for third.
Trained by JD Perin and owned by Tessa Roland and Mark Jakubik, Beechwood Wayne (Western Terror-Sanskrit Hanover) has now earned $18,500 this season and $178,629 lifetime. The victory was his 13th since the start of 2013 and 28th of his career.
The harness action returns on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. with a 12-race program slated.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)