Wild Wild Western let Prince Of Tides do the heavy lifting on the front end, then blew by him in the lane to collect his third straight victory — in a career-best 1:49.1 — in Friday’s $16,000 Open Handicap Pace at The Meadows.
Wild Wild Western sat comfortably in the pocket while Prince Of Tides threw down a wicked 1:21 three-quarters. When Mike Wilder popped his earplugs into the final turn, the five-year-old son of Western Ideal-Caila Fra had little trouble clearing the well-meant Prince Of Tides, defeating him by 1-1/4 lengths, while Captainfabulous rallied for show. The time was a tick off Unlocked’s track record for horses five and older.
Norm Parker trains Wild Wild Western, who lifted his lifetime bankroll to $355,657 for Jacobs Creek Racing, Andrew Altobelli and John Deters. The win was one of three for Wilder on the 13-race card.
The race marked the return to the wars of millionaire Dorsoduro Hanover, the 2018 Dan Patch Award winner for three-year-old male pacers who hadn’t raced since the November 21, 2020 TVG Open. The six-year-old gelding finished fourth and was moving forward late.
Tom “Mayhem” Svrcek and Kombucha led every step but had to fight off a race-long challenge from Floyd “The Roper” Rhodes and Back Door Man to secure the victory in Friday’s $9,000 leg of the Great Lakes Amateur Driving Association (GLADA) Trot.
Mayhem fired to the lead from post three while The Roper had the more eventful journey, moving three-wide past the quarter before settling in the two-path for the backside chase. The pair drew away late, and though The Roper still had trot, he couldn’t lasso Mayhem, who scored by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.2
Bryce Brocklehurst trains Kombucha, a four-year-old daughter of Kadabra-Terrific Dream who has $122,175 in career earnings, for owners Kristen Cron and Svrcek.
Stephen Oldford was third with Hititoutofthepark, notable because that driver piloted another horse to a second-place finish in an amateur event Thursday at the Delaware County Fair... which goes to show “You’re Never Too Oldford.”
And a tip of the cap to Donald “Dooger” MacDougall Jr., who steered 99-1 bomb Mister Gelato to a fourth-place finish.
Live racing at The Meadows resumes Tuesday when the 12-race program features a $5,018.83 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-5. First post is 12:45 p.m.
(With files from Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)