With harness racing continuing to prepare for the return of pari-mutuel activity in Ohio, one notable pacer highlighted the 14th qualifier on Monday (May 18) at Northfield Park -- millionaire Southwind Amazon.
A regular name in the Open pacing ranks, the now 10-year-old Southwind Amazon was a one-and-a-half length winner in 1:52.2 with a :27.4 closing kick with regular pilot Ronnie Wrenn Jr. aboard for trainer Paul Holzman. The Camluck son went wire-to-wire through fractions of :27.4, :56.4 and 1:24.3.
A winner of $1,057,471, Southwind Amazon nears the 100 lifetime wins club as thus far in his career, he has tasted success 92 times -- five times already in 2020 in just eight starts.
Southwind Amazon and driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. victorious at Northfield Park
Driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. was also thrilled with the gelding's qualifier. “I was really happy with him. I thought he felt like his old self. I don’t think the layoff hurt him any -- if anything, it really helped him.”
While Wrenn was excited to be back behind Southwind Amazon, the reinsman was also excited to be back in the bike in general.
“Netflix and Hulu along with a few home projects kept us busy throughout the quarantine. Thankfully, throughout everything we all managed to stay healthy. It was nice to have some extra family time but I’m very happy to be back at the track and qualifying horses, I’m looking forward to getting back to racing next week.”
Southwind Amazon's 1:52.2 Qua
Southwind Amazon's 1:52.2 Qua on the 1/2 mile track there yesterday is the fastest post-Covid mile so far at any size track, anywhere. Not only that, the track condition at Northfield was listed as sloppy, with a 1-second allowance.