Not only did Josh Green’s Triple Command win the $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) Three-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot Final, but another Green trainee, Ontario-sired Traverse Seelster, set a track record of 1:51.2 winning the feature trot on Wednesday, April 10 at Dover Downs.
Green, not only won the feature races, but all four of his trainees made the winner’s circle.
Triple Command, who won the DSBF $100,000 title at two, swept both his preliminaries prior to adding the big one with a 1:58.4 clocking. It was a wide-open dash rounding the final turn when Solo Command (Jim Morand) broke stride disturbing several contending trotters. Ross Wolfenden was able to skirt the incident while racing for the lead on the outside and then continued to the finish line. It was the second straight DSBF Final victory for Wolfenden. Royal Briefing, driven by Art Stafford Jr., also avoided trouble and finished second with Command Flight and Brad Hanners coming in third.
Josh Green and Richard Lombardo purchased Triple Command early last fall and the CR Commando-Triple T Carmel colt steadily improved where he now has five wins in 10 career starts and nearly $140,000 banked in purses.
Former Balanced Image and Dream Of Glory Stakes champion Traverse Seelster and driver Corey Callahan have become a winning team. The Angus Hall-Travelin Lavec five-year-old gelding became the fastest trotter in track history with a powerful 1:51.2 performance to win the $16,000 Winners Over Trot for the second straight week. Allmar Surprise (Vic Kirby) was second best. Keystone Thomas (Daryl Bier) took third. Spunky Vic was scratched.
The former track trotting record was set early this meet when Big Rigs (David Miller) won in 1:52.1 on Nov. 21. The former gelding record of 1:52.2 belonged to Enough Talk (George Brennan), set Jan. 7, 2008.
In addition to winning the day’s top two trots, Green conditioned two pacing winners, and is an owner or part owner of three of his winners. The winning day clinched Green’s ninth Dover Downs training crown, including the last eight meets in a row.
The fourth and final $100,000 DSBF featuring three-year-old colt and gelding pacers and a $35,000 Preferred Pace headline the Thursday program, the final day of the 2012-2013 meet. Post time is at 4:30 p.m.
(With files from Dover Downs)