Illinois-conceived and foaled two-year-old colt pacers were back in action on Sunday night at Balmoral Park, as a total of 18 youngsters squared off in a pair of $10,000 Wicked Brew Stakes splits.
In the first division, William C. and William P. DeLong’s Voomerang made his career debut a winning one, as he went from last to first to win by one and a quarter lengths in an impressive 1:55.2.
Reserved early by a red-hot Josh Sutton the altered son of Cole Muffler-Vavoom Hanover came away last as Tarr (driven by Dave Magee) and Fort Hamilton (Brandon Simpson) battled through an opening quarter in :29.1.
With Fort Hamilton finally gaining command on the backstretch, Sutton moved his charge to the outside where he proceeded to pick up a developing outer flow. Steadily gaining ground as the pace setter rolled through middle splits of :57.3 and 1:28, Voomerang was up to fifth as the field turned for home.
Continuing to gobble up rivals as he tipped wide for the drive, Voomerang set his sights on the leader. Unfortunately for Simpson and Fort Hamilton, that colt made a break in the late going and the hard-charging Voomerang went right by him with a wicked :26.3 final quarter. Fort Hamilton finished second, but was disqualified and placed third for the miscue. That moved Power Of A Moment (Marcus Miller) from third to second.
Coming off a pair of sharp qualifying events while being driven by conditioner Roger Welch, Voomerang took plenty of action at the windows, returning $11.20, $5.00 and $2.60.
In the second division, Carol Graham’s Nash Gram avenged a pair of second-place finishes in his first two career starts with a one and a half-length victory in 1:55.
Taking advantage of the inside starting spot, driver Josh Sutton put this son of Henry Clay--Ladylux in the pocket as Apache Renegade (Brian Carpenter) led the field through splits of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:27.
After enjoying the perfect journey, Sutton moved the pocket-sitting Tom Graham trainee into action and the homebred responded beautifully, blowing right by the pace setter as he sealed the deal with a nifty :27.3 final quarter. Charlie Beans (Sam Widger) who also saved ground for much of the mile, came on to finish second, while Apache Renegade held on for third.
Coming off those two second-place finishes to start his career, Nash Gram returned $10.20, $5.20 and $3.60.
(With files from Balmoral)