Golden Gun held off the late charge by Jds Brent N Sheree to capture the $6,500 featured pace at Vernon Downs on Saturday, Aug. 25.
Golden Gun went straight to the front, controlling through splits of :27.0, :55.3 and 1:23.3. Jds Brent N Sheree followed the whole way until they reached the top of the stretch, where the two traded blows. Oh My Joepa went three wide to join the pair in deep stretch. When it looked like Jds Brent N Sheree would go by, Golden Gun stayed on the front and found something extra to win by a nose at the line. Jds Brent N Sheree settled for second with Oh My Joepa getting third money.
Golden Gun is owned by The Wiz Kids Stables and trained by Jeff Sorenson. He is an 8-year-old gelding by Headmaster. It was his third win in 2018. He now owns 27 career victories. Driven by Josh Kinney, he paid $82.00 to win.
Jimmy Whittemore drove two winners on the night. He got his wins with Major Starlight ($2.50) and Release The Terror ($3.70). He still has the most driving wins on the season. After Saturday's racing he now leads all drivers with 77 wins. Three-time defending dash-driving champion John MacDonald is second with 67 wins. Claude Huckabone III is third with 36 wins followed by Truman Gale in fourth 35 tallies and Leon Bailey with 31 wins.
MacDonald and Whittemore are also battling for the training wins title. MacDonald is in first with 35 wins with Whittemore behind with 30 victories so far. Homer Hochstetler is third on the list with 24 wins followed by Misty Carey in fourth with 22 wins and Dan Daley fifth with 20 wins.
Vernon Downs returns to live racing Thursday, Aug. 30 with two divisions of the New York Sire Stakes for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Post time for the nine race card is 6:10 p.m.
(With files from Vernon Downs)