He’s battling back from an injury that forces many horses to retire, but if Atta Boy Dan records a victory this Saturday (Sept. 15) at the Meadows, he’ll achieve a round milestone — $700,000 in career earnings.
He’s set to start from Post 5 in Race 8, a $13,000 conditioned pace, with Mike Wilder aboard. Since Atta Boy Dan will enter the contest with a lifetime bankroll of $693,802, only a win will get him to $700,000. First post is 1:05 p.m.
A nine-year-old Western Terror-Dropitlikeitshot gelding, Atta Boy Dan sold for a more-than-respectable $70,000 as a yearling, but had limited stakes success, as he won a PA Stallion Series split and earned cheque in other events. After Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi LLC acquired him privately in 2013, he began putting together his sparkling resume.
“We got him as part of a package deal,” trainer Ron Burke has recalled. “He turned out to be worth more than the rest of the package combined.”
In 2015-16, he won 26 races and more than $450,000. He took his mark of 1:48.4 at Pocono in 2015. That same year, he won at the Meadows in 1:49.1, fastest ever by an older gelding (he shares that mark with Escape The News and Reggiano).
But sometime after his January 23, 2017 victory at the Meadows, disaster struck in the form of a broken coffin joint. He managed only four more starts last year and five so far this year.
The finish line photo from Atta Boy Dan’s last win, which was recorded on January 23, 2017 at the Meadows (Photo courtesy Chris Gooden)
“With that coffin joint bad, it’s had for him to push off,” said Burke. ”He’s had numerous flare-ups, so we’ve had to shut him down a number of times. I would never race him lame. I’d like to be able to give him eight or nine starts in a row and get a better feel for him. Right now he’s a little overweight, so we’re letting him race himself into shape.”
Although he’s without a win since that January 23 victory last year, Atta Boy Dan has shown some promising signs, including two seconds and a third in his most recent outings, which he has been beaten no more than three-quarters of a length. Burke indicates he has no plans to instruct Wilder to take it easy on the gallant gelding.
“He’s raced a couple weeks in a row now, and he’s starting to get it back,” Burke said. “I think he can still rough it.”
Saturday’s card will offer a number of attractive wagering opportunities, including a pair of total-pool guarantees — $10,000 for the Pick 5 (Races 9-13), $7,500 for the Pick 4 (Races 4-7 — as well as a $1,864 jackpot in the Super Hi-5 (Race 13).
(Meadows)