Pacer Kamwood Warrior, overlooked at 13-1, won the $17,000 feature pace while Spent Force won the $12,500 trot easily at Dover Downs on Saturday, March 14. Red-hot Corey Callahan drove five winners
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In the $17,000 Male pace, Kamwood Warrior N moved up on the outside heading to the final turn and when Kuai Diam N (Brandon Givens) broke stride turning for home, Eddie Davis Jr. drove the Courage Under Fire-Kamwood Lass gelding into the lead and quickly opened up in the lane reaching the finish line in 1:53.1 to score his first U.S. win. J&E Stable and trainer Bob Stevenson own the six-year-old. Roman Conqueror N (Tony Morgan) escaped from being locked in third to get loose late and rallied to finish second. Mattjestic Art (Frank Milby) was the show horse.
Higher Mark was an all-Callahan winner. Corey Callahan drove Higher Mark, owned and trained by his dad, Nick Callahan, to victory in 1:55.3 in the $12,600 3,4&5-Year-old Delaware pace, his second win of the season. The four-year-old by Nuclear High-Mark It Paid has only been out of the money once in seven races in 2009. Roan Shark (Bret Brittingham) closed strongly within a neck of the winner at the wire. Norobbinthejet (Ross Wolfenden) was the third finisher.
Spent Force, the only three-year-old in the event, overpowered seven rivals in the $12,500 3,4&5-year-old trot scoring a lifetime fastest 1:58.1 victory with Ross Wolfenden driving. Wayne Givens trains the CR Commando-Classical Ginny gelding in his first start of the season prepping for the upcoming Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund stakes starting next week. Last year, Spent Force won three of four starts for owners Vicki Givens and Doris Marine. Handoverthesweets (Vince Copeland) was second with Man Of Style (Callahan) third.
Corey Callahan's fifth win came guiding PH Power Play to his second straight after being claimed by the PT Stable, a 1:55.2 triumph, in the $11,500 Male pace. It was the second win for trainer Mike Hall. Tys A Big Star (Davis Jr.) sat second the route. Fox Ridge Connor (Cole) closed strongly for third place.
Black Tie, a late blooming altered son of Muscles Yankee-Whiteland Blackie won for the second time in three starts this year taking the $11,000 conditioned trot with a lifetime fastest 1:56.3 clocking. Owned by Joel Halpern and trainer-driver George Dennis and Tina Dennis, Black Tie pulled out of third on the backstretch to take the lead in deep stretch for the victory. Meadowcroft Man (Davis Jr.) and RRs Caviar (Kim Vincent) were second and third respectively.
Corey Callahan completed a sweep of the daily double driving Todd Wise's Habeebee N to his first win in his second start in the U.S. The Falcon Seelster-Tanisa Vance gelding notched a 1:54.4 decision in a $10,200 Delaware 3,4&5-Year-Old pace. Badlands Pete (Tony Morgan) was the runner-up. Captain Casey (Roger Plante) took third.
Brian Callahan's classy veteran Beretta Hall, a 12-1 shot, came on strong in the stretch to overtake front pacing Wesmokempeacepipe (Jon Roberts) for a 1:52.4 victory in a $25,000 Delaware Claiming Allowance. Marcus Mainbrace A (Morgan) was the third-place finisher.
(Dover)