Some of the sport’s finest older pacing horses went toe-to-toe at Harrah’s Chester Racetrack on Sunday afternoon, as the five-eighths mile oval hosted a pair of $50,000 Ben Franklin eliminations
.
Shark Gesture, in rein to George Brennan, turned back a bold backstretch challenge from Hypnotic Blue Chip (Mike Lachance) en route to taking the first elimination in 1:49.1.
Shark Gesture was strung out by Mr Wiggles (Corey Callahan) before he was able to clear to the top in :27 seconds. He zipped by the mid-way point in :55.4 and then came under siege from Hypnotic Blue Chip going into the backstretch. Hypnotic Blue Chip gained a short-lived lead over Shark Gesture as the two blazed a third quarter in :25.4 en route to the three-quarter pole in 1:21.3. Shark Gesture eventually rebuffed that challenge and fended off the backfield in 1:49.1.
Atochia (Yannick Gingras) came on late to grab the runner-up spot while Hypnotic Blue Chip stayed on to finish third. The final cheques went to Three Of Spades (Jonathan Roberts) and Annieswesterncard (Ron Pierce).
Larry Remmen trains the seven-year-old son of Cams Card Shark-Simple Gesture for the partnership of Norman Smiley, Gerald Smiley and T L P Stable. The pacer, who is now 25-for-72 in his career, has stashed away more than $2.3 million in lifetime earnings. The sub-1:50 performance was the 11th of his career.
Vintage Master knocked three-fifths of a second off his own world record for four-year-pacing horses on a five-eighths mile oval when he sprinted to a 1:48.1 tally in the second elimination. Tim Tetrick used off-the-pace tactics to win the tilt for white-hot trainer Jimmy Takter.
Tetrick was in no hurry with Vintage Master, but that wasn’t the case for Dial Or Nodial (Brian Sears) and Foiled Again (Yannick Gingras). Those two slugged it out to the quarter pole in :26.1 before Foiled Again held up the white flag of surrender and scrambled into the pocket. Dial Or Nodial stepped the field to the mid-way point in what turned out to be an insane clocking of :52.4.
Vintage Master engaged Dial Or Nodial in battle up the backstretch, and as expected Dial Or Nodial came to a walk. Vintage Master blew by and had the field chasing him to the thee-quarter pole in 1:20.1. A :28-second final quarter was just enough for the four-year-old son of Western Ideal-Arts Vintage to hold off runner-up Won The West (David Miller) and Keep It Real (George Napolitano). The final cheques went to Dali (Luc Ouellette) and Foiled Again.
The Takter trainee is now a two-time winner this season for the partnership of Brittany Farms and Brian P Monieson Revtrust. The homebred is now a nine-time winner who has banked in excess of $1.5 million to date.
The top four finishers from each of Sunday’s eliminations will return to Harrah’s Chester Racetrack for the $500,000 final of the Ben Franklin on Sunday, July 18.