The $100,000 Meadowlands Pace consolation didn't go off until almost midnight Saturday, but for Quebec owner Brian Paquet, watching at home with his wife and kids, the outcome made it worth waiting for
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North America Cup champ Up The Credit rallied from sixth with a :26.3 final quarter to score by a neck over High Noon with Brian Sears driving.
Paquet, who owns a quarter of Up The Credit, admits he didn't sleep well.
"A lot of things were running through my head. Like what would have happened if he'd been in the ($1-million Meadowlands Pace), the way it went, with a very fast half."
Paquet felt the Western Terror colt - now just shy of $1 million in career earnings - redeemed himself after failing to qualifying for the final after getting shuffled back in his elimination.
"I'd have liked to be in the final but that just didn't happen. It's still a nice win. He raced well."
Trainer Carl Jamieson thought so, too. "Perfect" was his description of the race. "He won pretty handily. He coasted down the lane," Jamieson said.
Up The Credit is the best horse Paquet has ever owned. The 66-year-old Quebec City businessman , owner of poultry farms and a feed business, has been involved in harness racing almost 40 years. "Every year, I'd buy or raise about 10," he said.
His previous best included Village Blitz (winner of the 2002 Battle of Waterloo at Elmira) and Big Bam Ray (victor in the 2007 Coupe de L'Avenir in Montreal).
Jamieson is hopeful that Up The Credit will race next in an overnight event before competing in the Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs.
(A Trot Insider exclusive by Paul Delean)