Harness racing’s Great Lakes Amateur Driving Club (GLADA) was back in action on Monday, July 29, with Wild And Crazy Guy, the 13-year-old warrior, a handy winner in the $12,500 trot for 19-year-old driver Braiden Rhoades.
Making his 320th career start, the classy gelding won for the 64th time during his career—this time by eight lengths in 1:55.2, a seasonal best of four wins this year.
Holton, driven by Steve Oldford, finished second while Muscles For KIfe, handled by Lauren Harmon, was next. Baby Yoda, teamed with Edward Miller, finished fourth while Back Door Man and Floyd Rhodes picked up the nickel, recovering from an early miscue to grab the final award in the sextet.
Rhoades sent Wild And Crazy Guy alertly from the inside post on the track rated sloppy and, by the time they reached the opening turn, had a four length lead with early fractions of :27.4 and :56.2 putting a damper on any challenges—Holton second and Muscles For Life next in the spaced out field. A :28.3 third panel stretched the lead to 5-1/2 lengths through three-quarters in 1:25 with an effortless :30.2 finale sealing the deal handily.
In a post-race interview, Rhoades said, “I really didn’t have a plan going in except to use the inside post to put him a good spot this week. Last week, he was locked in and was really flying late to finish a strong fourth so I knew he was going to be competitive tonight. He raced huge tonight and did this all on his own… he made me look good!
“You know, he is a very classy trotter who loves winning and, of course, I was very happy with his performance.”
Trained by Bill Rhoades for owner Timothy Poitinger, Wild And Crazy Guy now has a 4-0-5 scorecard in 20 starts this season, good for $34,281 with his career earnings now at $914,297.
Braiden Rhoades, who began his career in the sulky at age 17, now has 14 lifetime wins—13 of those this year.
As second choice in the betting, Wild And Crazy Guy rewarded his faithful with a $6.60 mutuel.
The GLADA driving series puts a spotlight on amateur drivers donating all of their earnings In these events earmarked for charitable distribution supporting many worthy organizations from Standardbred aftercare to the retraining of retired Standardbreds for therapeutics, as show horses or riding horses.
(GLADA)