It's been a frustrating past two weeks for Justgottogetthere at Buffalo Raceway with a pair of solid - but disappointing – second-place finishes.
But that annoyance was erased on Friday night as Justgottogetthere posted a convincing win by 2-3/4 lengths over Winkys Pride in the featured $8,200 trot.
Leave Your Mark (Jim Morrill, Jr.) set the fractions through the opening three stations with times of 29.4, 1:00 and 1:29. Justgottogetthere, in the meantime, began his first-over journey just before the half mile and eventually got on even terms with the tempo-setter with a quarter mile to race.
In the drive to the wire, driver Jim McNeight gave Justgottogetthere some minor encouragement and he responded to draw away for the popular $4.10 win in 1:59.3. Winkys Pride (Denny Bucceri) came on late for second, with Kahoku (Truman Gale) taking third.
Co-owned by Antonietta Landi and North Creek Racing, the seven-year-gelded Justgottogetthere (Valley Victory-Maras Theme) scored his initial win of 2016 after four previous appearances. Trained by Jerry Nugent, Jr., Justgottogetthere has won $8,660 this year and $211,534 lifetime.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)