Four Starz Speed and Riggins enhanced their reputations as the showcase weekend for New York-bred standardbreds continued on Friday night at Vernon Downs
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Four Starz Speed turnpiked his way to a 1:55.1 triumph in Friday’s sixth race, the $60,000 James Crawford Memorial for NY-sired trotters, while Riggins roared to a 1:50.3 victory in the eighth event, the $60,000 Bruce Hamilton Memorial for pacers produced in the Empire State.
Former Vernon percentage champion (1991-93) Brian Sears did the steering for trainer Ron Burke as Four Starz Speed ($2.40) went right to the front, shrugged off a brief early challenge from Bet To Win, and then continued on to a 1-3/4-length tally. It marked the eighth season’s score and 18th overall for the steady striding four-year-old gelded son of Conway Hall-Lotstoliveupto, who raised his lifetime earnings to $539,597 for the Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Howard Taylor and the JJK Stables.
Riggins ($2.70), a speedy son of Art Major-Towners Image who recorded a 1:50.2 track record performance for four-year-old pacing horses here on August 1, rallied from fifth in the early going and closed from second in the stretch drive to defeat the pace-setting Lucky Bettor by 1-1/4 lengths and earn his seventh season’s score and 16th all-time. Tracy Brainard conditions the career winner of $716,868 for the Bulletproof Enterprises.
In Friday’s $10,000 seventh race, the week’s Open for female pacers, newcomer Marietta Hall ($2.80) forged a 1:51.4 front-end score that missed the Vernon standard for older mares by just three-fifths-of-a-second. Morrill did the driving for Brainard and the Bulletproof Enterprises as the quick-footed daughter of Cambest-Mib Hanover collected her seventh win of 2009 and 19th overall, while hiking her all-time winnings to nearly $340,000.
Sears secured four scores during Friday’s 11-race program, while Morrill and Brainard each visited Vernon’s winner’s circle on three occasions. Sears also won four races in his last appearance here on July 21. Brainard’s triple moved her into a 56-all tie with Jessica Okusko for most training triumphs after 72 programs. The Brainard owned and trained PJs Niagara (Morrill driving) extended his winning streak for four and tied Tip The Tide for most consecutive trotting tallies at the meet. The pacer Waltrip Hanover leads in this department with five.
Vernon will host the $1.4 million New York Sires Stakes “Night of Champions” program at 6:55 p.m. tomorrow evening.
(Vernon Downs)