"He just sat there and galloped and I couldn't get him back on the trot. Then he was back on stride for a second, but just wouldn't stay trotting and I said to him, 'Damn, what are you doing you fool!?'"
Other than being off 4-1/2 months, breaking long before the start, and spotting the field 20 lengths in the Jim Grundy Hall Of Fame Remembrance Trot, Claudius Augustus and driver Lemoyne Svendsen went a mile that had to be seen to be believed.
Starting from post-position one in the field of five, Svendsen had issues to deal with behind the gate just to the head of the stretch. Not back on stride until a sixteenth of a mile plus to the start and lagging the gate by 20 lengths, a relieved Svendsen got his charge to trot a ton and had the field caught an eighth of a mile past the start into a :31 opening quarter.
"I thought from having caught the field that early, that I still had a shot. At the quarter, though, all I thought was to sit there and rest him and get him to settle down."
Remaining last at the half-mile station, timed in a slow 1:02.1 by the hat-trick seeking Alpine Hawk (Rich Wojcio), who did the tepid pace aid?
"It was definitely a help to me because I was able to give him a little break, no pun intended, from the stint he had. I, however, also knew that Alpine Hawk was getting it his own way and that worried me a little - - but there was nothing I could do about it."
Moving first-over to the 9-16ths mile pole and coming with a rush to the five-eighths mile pole, the seven year-old quickly made his way to the neck of Alpine Hawk at the three-quarter mile marker, timed in 1:32.2. Was there still gas left in the tank of the son of Angus Hall?
"I was literally ripping his head off at that point, so I knew I had 'go' - - but I also knew that Alpine Hawk probably had 'go' too."
Taking a slight lead to the top of the stretch, then leading by three parts of a length with an eighth of a mile to go, Svendsen knew what was best for his charge as Alpine Hawk started fighting back.
"I wanted to stay about three-quarters of a length in front of Alpine Hawk because I didn't want to overuse my horse. And Alpine Hawk did get up to my horse's throatlatch around the sixteenth pole, but all I had to do was tap him and that was as far as Claude was letting him go."
Refusing to let Alpine Hawk come back, all while Svendsen hardly urged, the Debbie Budahn owned, and Bob Johnson trained trotter won ($5.20) in monster fashion by three-quarters of one-length, in 2:00.4, thus recording his 23rd career triumph. Alpine Hawk raced as good as he could while finishing in second, and Franks Best (Jim Lackey) finished one-length farther back, in third.
"Besides the brain fart before the start, it was an awesome race," finished Svendsen.
Live harness racing continues at Cal Expo on Saturday (March 26) at 6:00 p.m. (PDT).