Burke Pupils Sweep Quillen Elims

Published: September 8, 2014 08:45 pm EDT

The top two finishers in last year’s Bobby Quillen Memorial – Clear Vision and Foiled Again – captured their respective eliminations in this year’s edition of Harrington Raceway’s marquee event for older pacing horses.

Foiled Again marched to the front in his Monday evening assignment, and he was allowed to set soft fractions en route to a 1:51.3 score. Yannick Gingras hustled the Ron Burke trainee to the lead from Post 5, and after carving out panels of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:25 the veteran was able to rocket home in :26.3 en route to the victory over Easy Again and Tarpon Hanover.

“It’s usually right around this time of year when he turns the corner,” said driver Yannick Gingras. “I actually am looking forward to this race because it’s usually when he starts getting good again. With the colder weather it’s bettor for him, and he’s always done good here.”

The 10-year-old son of Dragon Again-In A Safe Place, who was making his sixth appearance in the event, won for the fifth time this season and for the 81st time in his career. The career winner of $6,536,600 is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and JJK Stables LLC.

Clear Vision, the defending champ, used come-from-behind tactics to win his $20,000 elimination for driver Brett Miller and trainer Ron Burke. The eight-year-old son of Western Hanover-Artistic Vision watched Bettors Edge and Aracache Hanover take turns on the lead through panels of :26.1, :53.4 and 1:21 before taking over the lead and drawing clear for the 1:49.3 score. Stablemates Bettors Edge and Aracache Hanover rounded out the top three finishers.

“He feels just as good as he did last year going into the race,” said driver Brett Miller. “Everybody was racing in there, and the race set up perfectly for me.”

Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, The Panhellenic Stb Corp and James Koran own the 28-time winner who improved this year’s record to 5-6-3 from 21 starts with the win. His share of the loot lifted his lifetime earnings to $2,097,524.

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