A very busy weekend of stakes action came to a close in spectacular fashion last night at Balmoral Park, as Powers Stables' Southern Rocketop shattered the track record for a three-year-old gelded trotter while taking the $39,900 Hanover Stakes for sophomore trotting colts in a United States season’s mark of 1:52.2.
Using the inside starting spot to full advantage in the 12-horse tilt, driver Brian Carpenter hustled the son of Psychic Spirit--Summer In The City away from the gate and the speedy gelding went uncontested through an opening quarter in :27.3.
“I was hoping to just get him away in good shape and then let somebody else go because he’s able to relax so nicely in a hole this year,” said Carpenter. “Unfortunately, we were going so fast that none of the others were able to get close to us and provide the cover I was hoping for.”
Trotting along effortlessly on the front end, the Robert Taylor trainee continued to roll along all by himself through middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.3, which was just fine with his pilot.
“He was strictly on idle out there tonight,” said an astonished Carpenter. “Bobby (Taylor) told me he thought he was going to be good tonight but I had no idea he was going to be this good.”
On cruise control through the lane, Southern Rocketop laid down a :27.4 final quarter, which left his rivals gasping for air as he rolled under the finish line, recording a three and three-quarter length margin of victory. Ivy League Lindy (driven by Sam Widger) turned in a solid performance to finish second, while Rompaway Beau (Don Harmon) was a distant third, some 10 lengths behind the victor.
While the track record performance and national season's mark in the U.S. may have surprised some folks, trainer Robert Taylor seemed to take it all in stride.
“After the performance he turned in to win from the 10 hole the week before, I knew he was capable of knocking off this track record,” said the proud conditioner. “This was quite a performance from him tonight, but believe me he’s still got more left in the tank, and hopefully we’ll see an even better race from him during his upcoming schedule.”
(Balmoral Park)