All Bets Off Upsets In Milstein

All Bets Off and driver Matt Kakaley overtook heavy favourite McWicked down the stretch to pull off a 7-1 upset in the inaugural $400,000 Carl Milstein Memorial on Friday night at Northfield Park.

The talk of the toteboard was the $34,000 supplemental entry McWicked, the 1-5 favourite riding a five race win streak. Driver Dave Miller made his move early and sent McWicked to the lead, clearing All Bets Off ($16.60) and Kakaley at the :26.1 first quarter mark. They continued to set the pace, reaching the half in :54.1 and three-quarters in 1:22.1 with Luck Be Withyou and Ron Pierce advancing first over. But down the stretch, All Bets Off came through at the pylons for the 1:50.3 victory by three-quarters of a length. Luck Be Withyou matched strides with McWicked as those two finished second in a dead-heat.

"I got the trip I wanted. I wanted to push out and make sure there was enough room for Ronnie to get behind me and then just follow Dave. It worked out perfect," said Kakaley after the race. "In the last turn I thought Dave was just kind of backing into me, but he was done. I just needed room and once I got it, he exploded. He's a good little horse. When he gets a trip like that, he'll give you a big run and he didn't disappoint tonight."

The Bettors Delight colt has won half of his 22 career starts while banking $697,857. He's earned six of those wins in his sophomore campaign, including the Art Rooney Final. All Bets Off is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, Frank Baldachino of Clarksburg, New Jersey, The Panhellenic Stable Corp. of Oyster Bay, New York, and Rosemary Shelswell of Cookstown, Ont.

"He's a very good horse. He fits in the top five group with the other horses here," said Burke, who purchased him with his partners mid-way through his freshman campaign. "The other horse has been super good, but it looked like if we could get the trip we got, hopefully we would pace through, and we did. It's a big win for him. This is probably the biggest race of the year for him."

The race is named in honour of Carl Milstein, a Cleveland real estate developer who took full ownership of Northfield Park in 1984 and operated the track until his death in 1999.

All Bets Off will compete in the New York Sire Stakes and may be supplemented to a couple other stakes. He is not eligible to the Little Brown Jug, but Burke said he is pinning his Jug hopes on Consolation runner-up Limelight Beach.

Alberta-owned National Debt set a new track record for three-year-old pacing colts with a 1:49.4 triumph in the $100,000 Consolation.

Limelight Beach and Kakaley left from the inside post position with National Debt ($5.80) and Pierce dropping in behind and keeping the Brett Miller-driven Allstar Partner parked out to the opening quarter in a blistering :25.1 seconds. Limelight Beach quickly retook the lead and raced past the half in :53.2 and three-quarters in 1:21.2, opening up two lengths on top while National Debt pursued the slight favourite first over. Down the stretch, National Debt began to reel in the leader and eventually collared him at the wire in a photo finish. Three Of Clubs came on for third with Doug McNair aboard.

"They were moving, they were smoking," said Pierce of the early speed. "I was doing everything I could to keep the hole closed so that horse had to work harder up there because I knew I was getting away in a bad spot. This horse came through for me. I was lucky to fall in around the last turn and then when we hit the lane there he started to pace and I just started to chase him.

"You know what, that horse never did come back to me. He paced hard all the way to the wire, Matt's horse. But I was lucky, Tyler Smith let me use his bike and it's a really fast bike and a really fast horse, a top trainer, and everything just came together."

"That was great. I didn't expect that," said trainer Ron Coyne as National Debt shaved close to a full second off his lifetime mark. "They were down there in such hot numbers, I'm just glad we were able to get up."

The Allamerican Native colt was developed by O'Brien Award winning horseman Kelly Hoerdt, who shares ownership with fellow Beaumont, Alta. partners Blair and Erna Corbeil and the New York-based J And T Silva Stables LLC. After a perfect four-for-four freshman campaign, he has now won four of his 10 sophomore starts to lift his bankroll to $139,500.