After throwing in a clunker in last weekend’s final of the Armbro Flight Stake at Mohawk Racetrack, Buck I St Pat bounced back with an ultra-impressive score in the second leg of the Miss Versatility Trotting Series
on Sunday at Tioga Downs.
The Ron Burke-trained six-year-old daughter of Jailhouse Jesse-Name It Something trailed throughout before using her patented closing kick to freeze the teletimer in 1:53.1 – the fastest trotting mile in the history of Tioga Downs.
Classic Lane charged to the lead for driver Mike Lachance, who laid down an opening panel in :27.4 before coming under attack from Lavec Dream, last weekend’s upset winner in the Armbro Flight Stake. Those two were first and second through middle panels of :56.4 and 1:24.4 before they felt the wrath of Buck I St Pat.
Tim Tetrick wheeled the multi-talented miss to the three-wide path going into the final turn while sitting last, and she circled foes like they were standing still. She powered away to win in 1:53.1 over Classic Lane, who held for the runner-up spot, and Up Front Hotsey.
“It worked out good, there was some speed up front and this mare has a vicious quarter mile in her,” said Tetrick afterwards. “She can really fly home. If I raced her like a human being like that in Canada, she probably would have win up there, too. If you can save her for the first three quarters of a mile, she’ll give you a heck of a kick. From the three-quarter pole on you can just keep going with her and she’ll fly home.”
It was the fifth win of the season in 10 tries for the 36-time winner, who races for the partnership of Howard Taylor, Edwin Gold, Abraham Basen and Ron Fuller. The lion’s share of the $25,000 purse bumped her lifetime earnings to $1,124,800.
Vernon Downs will host the third leg of the Miss Versatility Trotting Series on September 18, with the $100,000 (est.) final at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on September 24.
Later on the card, Jason Bartlett guided Cinderella Guy to a track record clocking of 1:50.3 for older pacing geldings in the $16,800 Preferred Pace. The clocking lowered the former record of 1:50.4 set by Michael Scores in 2007.
Cinderella Guy, who defeated P H Bestman and Mizuno, hangs his harness bag in the barn of trainer Tracy Brainard. The five-year-old son of Real Desire-Arterra, who is owned by Bulletproof Enterprises of Boca Raton, FL, won for the 13th time in his career while pushing his overall earnings to $343,180.