After a World Record performance in last week’s elimination of the Ben Franklin Pace, Vintage Master returned to Harrah’s Chester Racetrack on Sunday afternoon and used his off-the-pace skills to capture the $500,000 final
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Tim Tetrick, fresh off last night’s score with One More Laugh in the Meadowlands Pace, gave the Jimmy Takter trainee a patient steer en route to claiming his third Ben Franklin Pace title in the last four years.
Vintage Master settled off the pace in the early going while Keep It Real (George Napolitano, Jr.) and Foiled Again (Yannick Gingras) brawled to the quarter pole in a :26-second clip before the latter screamed “Uncle”. Shark Gesture (George Brennan) was asked to step three-wide to get around Foiled Again going into the second turn, and in a matter of strides he was prompting Keep It Real to a :54-second opening half.
Those two continued their tooth-and-nail battle across the backstretch, with Vintage Master and Tetrick sitting second over. Not much separated Keep It Real and Shark Gesture at the three-quarter pole in 1:21, but Shark Gesture eventually put away the stubborn leader by the time the field turned for home.
Shark Gesture took over command, but he couldn’t fend off the covered-up and tripped-out Vintage Master, who sprinted home to win in 1:49. Shark Gesture, who was sent off as the 2-5 choice, held on bravely to grab the runner-up award, with Atochia (Ron Pierce) a solid third.
“I knew there were some horses that could out-sprint my horse off the gate, mine’s a little slow off the gate especially from the rail with the slanted gate,” said driver Tetrick. “I knew Shark Gesture would get a little trouble in the first turn with all of them leaving underneath him. He’s a winner and he likes to win. He’s done everything I’ve wanted him to do in the last couple of weeks.”
“He’s the real deal,” said trainer Takter. “I just love this horse, he’s the type of horse anytime you put him the race he’s going to give you what he has. He’s a very laid back horse, but when they come into the stretch he just loves to go by them. I’m so proud to be the trainer of him. Tim drove a perfect race. It’s tough to come from behind too far, but as soon as I saw him coming at the top of the stretch I knew we were going to win it.”
Vintage Master, a four-year-old son of Western Ideal-Arts Vintage, is now 3-for-7 this season with earnings of close to $300,000. His lifetime bankroll swelled to $1,761,754 with the win. The homebred is owned by Brittany Farms of Versailles, KY and Brian Monieson Revtrust of Northbrook, IL.