Freshman gelding Southern Rocketop shrugged off a Post 9 start in Balmoral Park's $47,850 Cardinal Stakes last night, as the son of Psychic Spirit cruised to a two-length victory in 1:55.1.
In against a group of Illinois-bred male trotters, Southern Rocketop sped away from the outer post for driver Brian Carpenter and led the field through splits of :28.1, :57.3 and 1:25.3.
"Early in his career I would have been worried with an outside post," said Carpenter. "Now nothing seems to bother him as you saw tonight when that horse down at the inside made a break (Justa Rebel, from Post 1) and starting acting up pretty badly."
Unlike his previous win in the Lincoln Land, where he opened up a 12-length lead as the field turned for home, the Monique Bernardi-trained gelding led the pocket sitting Definer (driven by Tyler Buter) by just two-lengths as the field straightened for the money.
"Even though we were not able to sprint away from the field this week things were going just as I thought they would," explained the winning pilot. "He was very relaxed again and I knew I still had plenty of horse left when we hit the top of the turn."
Holding his chief rival at bay with minimal urging from his pilot, Southern Rocketop was never seriously threatened as he coasted under the wire with his fourth straight victory and his ninth triumph of the year.
The reigning king of the division now boasts a record of nine wins and one second in 13 starts with earnings of $152,105 for owner Claude Powers of Winchester, Tennessee. Backed to the near exclusion of his eight rivals Southern Rocketop returned $2.20, $2.10 and $2.10.
Next up for Southern Rocketop is the Sarah Myers Stakes at Balmoral on October 26.
Click here to view the charted results.
(With files from Balmoral)