Through a light but unrelenting rain, day three of the Grand Circuit meet at Goshen Historic Track took place, featuring the $10,000 Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge Gerry Trot
for Hall of Fame drivers.
For the fourth time, Mike Lachance, driving S F Sure Thing, was the winner of the Hall of Fame race, prompting fellow competitor Bill O'Donnell to quip, "That's it. You're barred now."
Lachance moved the six-year-old gelding off the gate and into the lead through fractions of :28.4, 1:00.2 and 1:28.3 and they got the win by one and a half lengths in 1:59.1. Rick Harp owns and trains.
"These guys are trying to build my confidence," joked Lachance, the only clean face among seven other muddy drivers. "I can't tell you much [about the race] because I didn't see anybody. I went to the front and I kept going. I looked over my shoulder but there was nobody coming. The trainer told me he just won with him at Monticello in 2:01 so with me on, he should be able to go two seconds faster and he was right."
Samswinner (Ray Remmen) was second and Buck I D (Cat Manzi) was third.
On the undercard, several divisions of the New York Sire Stakes were carded.
Keenan (Jeff Gregory) was a wire-to-wire, nine length winner of his division of the $15,000 NYSS for three-year-old trotting geldings. Keenan, who is trained by Larry Remmen for owner Ray Remmen, was unchallenged through fractions of :29, :59.4, 1:27.3 and 1:58 on the track labeled sloppy. Kemper Hall (Marcus Johansson) was second and Alaric (Stephane Bouchard) was third.
"That horse was very handy," said driver Jeff Gregory. "He can leave the gate like crazy and I was just able to get to the front real quick and control the mile."
Julianna Marvel (Ted Wing) also went out front early and stayed there to win her $15,000 New York Sire Stake for three-year-old trotting fillies in a time of 2:01.3 for trainer-driver Ted Wing and owner Marveland Stables.
The fractions for the daughter of Dream Vacation were :29.1, 1:00.3, 1:29.4 and 2:01.3. She was a half-length ahead of second place finisher Epona Blue Chip, who was left outside Julianna Marvel for the last quarter of a mile. Kendall Blue Chip (Stephane Bouchard) was third.
"She's a nice filly, her biggest thing is she's very game," said Wing. "A horse gets right at her and she just tries and tries. She knew that other filly was out there and she knows where the wire is. Her dam is the dam of Enough Talk. The owner bought her with the mare in foal with this filly."
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.