Indiana’s richest female pacer of all time made her return to the winner’s circle on Friday (May 11) in the featured $24,000 Fillies and Mares Open at Hoosier Park
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Accompanied by Ricky Macomber Jr., the eight-year-old mare found racing room late in the stretch to score in 1:54 by a head. Go On BB and stablemate Red S, driven by Pete Wrenn, were sent postward as the 4-5 favourites in the field of 10. Starting from post two, Go On BB was able to grab position behind the early race leaders Red S and Forever Showin Off, with driver Charlie Conrad.
Following along through fractions of :27.2 and :56.4, the seasoned veteran sat patiently waiting for her to turn to strike as the field began to shift. Josh Sutton was the first to commit CR Hope to the outer flow and they reached the front heading into the last turn. The new race leaders quickly felt pressure from Gran Gabriel and Jason Dillander as they were able to put a nose in front at the three-quarters mark of 1:25.1.
As the field began to fan out across the track, the veteran mare put her class on display fighting through heavy traffic to wear down her rivals with a :28-second closing panel. Forever Showin Off tracked the top two the entire mile to finish a game second while Cadies Gotta Gun benefitted from a second over trip from driver Tyler Smith to get up for the third place finish.
“'BB's getting older and we are trying to race her from off the pace now,” said Jamie Rucker, who oversees all training responsibilities for the division of the Burke Stable racing at Hoosier Park. “The trip worked out for her and tonight she did what she was supposed to do. My entire barn has been sick and was really sick last week so hopefully she’s better and on her way to making a comeback.”
Go On BB now sports a bankroll of $1.4 million for Frank Baldachino, who purchased the mare as a yearling for trainer Ron Burke. The daughter of Dontgetinmyway-Challo B B is now two-for-14 in 2012. Her career record of 1:50 was established as a four-year-old at The Meadows. Go On BB now has a total of 66 wins in 156 career starts and was Indiana’s first ever Indiana sired female millionaire.
(With files from Hoosier Park)