In an eventful career debut, DVC Gifted Indeed threw a shoe, opened up a comfortable lead and nearly squandered it en route to victory in a division of an $80,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series stake
for two-year-old colt and gelding pacers Tuesday at The Meadows.
The event was contested over four divisions, with, Native Justice, TSM Ryans Dragon and Pan Of The Lost taking the other splits.
Doug Snyder and DVC Gifted Indeed took the point early and, despite the missing footwear, moved out to a comfortable lead at the three-quarter pole. But as the gelded son of Place To Be - Is A Scooter tired, EZ Moving found his best stride and rapidly erased most of the margin. DVC Gifted Indeed held on by a nose over EZ Moving in 1:56.3, with Bodine Hanover third.
“I liked his build and his breeding, particularly his momma,” said Jim Brewer, who trains and owns the $2,500 yearling acquisition. “We’ll probably keep him in the Stallion Series and maybe some fairs. He still has a lot of holes to fill, but he’s doing very well.”
Native Justice also experienced an action-packed race, making a quarter-pole move for Eric Ledford that left him seemingly safe in the lane. But the son of Allamerican Native - Eternal Justice bore out significantly in the lane; Ledford was able to keep him going forward, and he prevailed in 1:56.3. Great George was second, while Coastal Art was fourth-placed-third.
“I usually castrate my two-year-olds, but this colt has been absolutely perfect, so he’s still intact,” said L. David Emanuel II, who trains and owns the $10,000 yearling purchase with Dean Cassaday. “He has a little bar crack in one foot. We saw it coming two or three days ago, but we didn’t want to change his shoeing. We wanted to make sure he was shod to go, but we will have to make a couple shoeing changes.”
TSM Ryans Dragon overcame a challenge of a different sort when a horse in front of him stopped dramatically down the backside. The ridgling son of Dragon Again - Lovin Yankee maintained his poise, allowing Mike Wilder to steer him to the outside for clearance and back to the pylons again.
He crossed the wire second but was placed the winner in 1:58 when Hes A Thriller was disqualified for a pylon violation. Mcrum N Coke was placed second while Spencer B was promoted to third.
“I wasn’t really surprised to see him come at the end like that because he showed us all along training down that he had the ability,” said Karen Fread, who trains TSM Ryans Dragon for Ted Thomson. “I think he was bothered by the stopping horse, but Wilder was trying to teach him a little something by putting him back in the hole. I was pretty happy with that, although he couldn’t get in gear fast enough when he came back out of the hole.”
(The Meadows)