Coming into Friday’s $130,000 Maywood Pace with six wins in his first seven career starts, Mystical Marker Farms, Shim Racing, Mike Anderson and Kenneth Duffy’s A Cool Card figured to be an overwhelming choice
after drawing the inside post position.
Things worked out exactly as expected as the Erv Miller trained son of Sportsmaster-Annie Your A Cool Card sped right to the front and proceeded to make every call a winning one as he cruised home with a 2-1/2 lengths victory in an effortless 1:54 while knocking off six other Illinois conceived and foaled colt pacers.
Using the inside starting spot to their full advantage A Cool Card and Miller sped away from the gate and managed to keep a hard charging Boi (Dave Magee) and Fox Valley Griffin (Jamaica Patton) at bay as they sped through an opening split in :27.
“Even though I knew there was a big gap back there in third for Dave to tuck in with Boi I had a feeling he was going to come after us,” said Miller. “That horse was awesome last week and with the late scratch in the race (AJ Get’s The Money) there wasn’t much early speed left so I figured he’d be coming after us.”
After showing that he was not about to let anybody go Miller and A Cool Card then proceeded to roll through a half-mile in :55.4.
“Once they all got settled in behind us I was able to get a little bit of a breather,” said the red-hot reinsman who had five winners on the night.
Pacing a second quarter in :28.4 A Cool Card was in complete control of things as the field headed up the backside. Even when a hard charging Rockin Rumble (Dale Hiteman) came calling to challenge with a big first-over bid Miller still had the utmost confidence in his gelding.
“The fractions were pretty good and to our liking so my horse felt pretty good the entire way,” Miller explained. “My horse just swelled right up on the lead and never gave me any anxious moments. It’s sure nice to have another horse in the barn to race like this when you send the other big three-year-old in the barn (Dutch Richman) up to Canada.”
Cruising by the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:24.4 A Cool Card then seemed to find another gear as he quickly opened up a three length lead on his rivals. The issue was never in doubt from that point on as the Erv Miller-trained bay cruised under the wire with a 2-1/2 lengths verdict in 1:54 on a very cool “Summer” evening which felt more like an October night.
After the win Miller was had nothing but positives to say about A Cool Card, who missed his entire two-year-old campaign because of a series of small ailments.
“He’s got a knee which always bothers him a little bit but he just fights right through it now that’s he a little more mature,” explained the newest member of the 1,000 win club.” “He handles everything like a seasoned veteran and he’s now seven for eight in his career. He’s a well bred horse and I just hope he continues to keep on trucking all summer long for all of us.”
Fox Valley Mercury (Casey Leonard) rallied to finish second in the race while Boi overcame the difficult trip from post position eight to hang on for third.
Sent off as the 1-5 favourite in the wagering, A Cool Card returned just $2.60 while pushing his career bankroll up to $87,340 for his proud connections.
(Maywood Park)