The favourite, A Penny Earned, and Shes All In battled tooth and nail to the finish of Friday night’s $10,000 Open Trot feature at Vernon Downs. When the dust settled, the former got to the finish line first, but the latter ended up getting the victory.
Competing in Friday’s ninth race, A Penny Earned cut the final corner too sharply while leading the six-horse field into the stretch drive, and although the four-year-old battler nipped the on-rushing Shes All In by a nose at the end of the 1:54.3 mile, the judges disqualified the crowd’s choice from first and placed him in second place for a violation of the Eurorail rule (going inside a pylon during the mile).
The win was then awarded to the fourth betting choice, Shes All In, who paid $16 in the top spot on the payoff board.
The victory was the fourth at Vernon, the fifth this season and the 14th all-time for the four-year-old daughter of Revenue S and Simply Royal, who advanced her career earnings to $103,164. Luke Plano did the driving for his father, Rick, the mare’s owner and trainer.
Leading pilot and trainer Rick Plano completed the 11-race program with his meet-topping 16th driving double and three conditioning credits.
Driver Howard Okusko Jr. collected his second triple of the weekend, while Roman Lopez chalked up his ninth double during the track’s 50th program of 2013.
One of Plano’s victories was behind his wife’s (Maryann) trotter Ulay Boko in Friday’s sixth session. The 1:55.3 tally enabled the 11-year-old horse to become the meet’s winningest equine performer with seven first-place finishes.
The trotters A Gold, who earned a 1:56.1 score in Friday’s first race, and Glorious Winner, plus the pacer Ideally Magic, are all currently tied for second in equine triumphs with six each.
The Downs will present a 12-race pari-mutuel program starting at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday night, plus a non-betting division of the C.K.G. Billings Series for amateur drivers of trotters at 6:30 p.m. The track’s horsemen will earn money for the Food Bank of Central New York during the track’s 51st program.
(Vernon Downs)