The O'Brien Award-winning trotter Habitat was successful in his sophomore debut, winning the $133,170 Dexter Cup in front-end fashion on Saturday, May 2 at Freehold Raceway.
Leaving from post six, driver Yannick Gingras sent the overwhelming 1-2 favourite to the lead by the :28.2 quarter pole and never looked back through fractions of :58.4 and 1:27.4 en route to 1:56.4 victory. His winning margin was three and three-quarter lengths over Divisionist while Gabe The Bear Dean rounded out the top three finishers five and a half lengths behind.
“I like it that way, perfect for me,” said Gingras. “I just had to worry about the first turn, but once he was through there I know there would be no catching him. In the backstretch, I could tell they were coming a little bit so I just opened him up a little so I wouldn’t have to rush him in the last turn. He was never in doubt.”
Ron Burke trains Habitat for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Our Horse Cents Stables and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. Last year, the son of Conway Hall won seven of his 13 races and and earned $567,056 in purses. His richest victories included the $390,000 William Wellwood Memorial, $237,500 Matron Stakes and $124,621 Champlain Stakes.
“It was a waltz around, which is great for his first start,” said Burke’s assistant trainer Shannon Murphy. “He didn’t have to get stressed out at all and he did everything right. A half-mile track, he only raced once on it last year and he made a break, and we were a little concerned, but once Yannick scored him down he gave me the thumbs up.
“He raced on a bad track at Buffalo [as a two-year-old] so we decided not to race him on a half and just stuck to the big races so it worked out because he made so much money,” Murphy noted. “He filled out [last year to this] and didn’t get really much bigger, but he’s matured mentally and we’re hoping for a big year with him.”
The 56th edition of the Dexter Cup is the first major stakes for three-year-old trotters on the road to the $1 million Hambletonian on August 8 at The Meadowlands.
Undefeated E L Love went wire-to-wire and Northern Obsession tipped out three-wide in the stretch to win their respective $35,750 divisions of the Lady Suffolk for three-year-old trotting fillies.
Riina Rekila, driver and trainer of E L Love, sent the Yankee Glide filly to the lead off the gate and repelled challenges throughout the mile (:29.1, :59.1, 1:28.4) to score a two and three-quarter length victory over 3-5 favourite Rileys Dream. It was four and a half lengths back to Rules Of The Road in third. The mile in 1:58 flat was a career-best for the winner.
E L Love, who won both of her starts at two, is now two-for-two at three for a bankroll of $30,675. The homebred filly is owned by Finland's Erkki Laakkonen.
In the second division, 2-5 Jewels In Hock and 9-5 Blk Thai Optional broke stride in the first turn, leaving it to a trio of longshots to battle, with 22-1 Northern Obsession ($46.20) the a half-length winner in 2:01 over Southwind Cartier, the Muscle Hill filly who won the 2014 Marion Dancer Trot. Jewels In Hock recovered from her early break to finish third by a length and a quarter.
Northern Obsession, driven to victory by Eric Abbatiello, picked up her second straight win for Columbus, New Jersey trainer Gilberto Garcia-Herrera, who co-owns with Barbara and Donald Arnstine of Sacramento, California. Overall, the daughter of Conway Hall has two wins, three seconds and five thirds from 14 starts for career earnings of $50,813.
(With files from SBOANJ and HRC)