Wings Of Royalty received a perfect drive from Tim Tetrick and the pair spoiled the four-year-old debut of Pinkman in the Friday night feature at the Meadowlands, a $20,000 conditioned event for trotters.
The race looked like an easy one for 3-5 favourite Pinkman, the winner of last year’s Kentucky Futurity, Canadian Trotting Classic and Hambletonian. But Wings Of Royalty, who finished last in last year’s Hambo, scored some revenge on his high-profile foe.
Pinkman worked his way to the top in :27.2, but was pressured by the first-over Bourbon Bay at the half in :55.4 and three-quarters in 1:23.4. Pinkman finally shrugged his challenger off to lead by two lengths turning for home, while Tetrick was finding open road for Wings Of Royalty, who was third at the head of the stretch.
Pinkman still looked like a safe winner with a sixteenth of a mile to go, but Wings of Royalty found more in deep stretch and got up on the wire to win by a nose in a lifetime-best 1:51.4. Possessed Fashion was third.
As the fourth choice in the wagering, Wings Of Royalty paid $27.40 to win for trainer George Ducharme and owner Raymond W J Campbell Jr. The four-year-old son of RC Royalty has now won 12-of-32 lifetime outings and earned just over $417,000.
The 11th race $.20 cent Jackpot Super High Five carryover keeps getting bigger and bigger. After the official order of finish of 5-1-3-7-6 failed to produce a single winning ticket, the carryover for the next program stood at $217,277.84.
Only two favourites emerged victorious on the 11-race card.
The Big M is back Saturday with a live program that gets underway at 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)