Of the fourteen races contested on Sunday afternoon at Harrah's Chester, four of them eclipsed the 1:50 mark. Additionally, two were track record performances, with one of them a world record, as well
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Vintage Master ($4.40) turned in a dazzling 1:48.4 mile in the sub-featured $28,000 Four-Year-Old Open Pace, taking the lead en route to a sensible :55.4 half mile before facing a heavy threat up the backstretch from Barber Pole (Ron Pierce) which took the pair to three-quarters completion in 1:21.2 (a :25.3 third quarter). Vintage Master soundly rebuffed the challenge of Barber Pole, and pulled away from the pocket-sitting Go Go Solano (Brett Miller) by 7-1/2 lengths. Arctic Warrior (David Miller) was a ground-saving third.
Regular driver Daniel Dube was in rein to Vintage Master, who broke the world record for four-year-old pacing horses on a five-eighths mile track by one fifth of a second. Lookout Hanover held the previous record of 1:49, which was also taken at Harrah's Chester.
A short while beforehand, Western Shore ($9.40) also performed to track record standards, pulling away from Southwind Lynx (Andy Miller) by 4-3/4 lengths in a 1:48.3 triumph in the featured $32,000 Open Pace.
After making the front through a :54.4 half, it was no looking back for the seven-year-old son of Western Hanover, pulling away steadily from the pocket sitting Jeremys Successor (George Napolitano) en route to an effort which equaled Boulder Creek's track record for seven-year-old pacers. Daniel Dube also handled the driving duties aboard Western Shore.
Earlier in the card, Booze Cruzin (David Miller) withstood a taxing early pace to just prevail over Cessna Flight (Brian Sears) in a $19,000 fourth-level condition pace, stopping the timer in 1:49.3. The Sunday finale saw Real Celebration (Andy Miller) brave a first-over trip to just beat Jims Guy (George Napolitano) in the sub-featured $28,000 Winners-Over Pace, prevailing in 1:49.3.
It should be noted that with the help of a strong tailwind on the backstretch, the times for the third quarters on the Sunday card ranged from :25.3 to :27.4. However, the presser-stalker bias commonly attributed to the backstretch tailwind did not hold, as 13 of the 14 winners on the card were either on the lead or first-over moving into the far turn.
(Harrah’s Chester)
Awesome performance.
Awesome performance.