Two days removed from Muscles Yankee colt Deweycheatumnhowe tasting defeat for the first time, Ray Schnittker has spoken to Trot Insider, touching on the Canadian Trotting Classic elimination and looking forward to the $1 million final.
"I thought he was going to win off those fractions," Schnittker, who co-owns, trains and drives 'Dewey,' told Trot Insider. "He was stung somewhat early, but got things his way after that.
"I was surprised when he didn't fire in the lane, but he got beat by a good horse [Crazed] and it's not like he was terrible out there or anything. Somebeachsomewhere also didn't do all that well in the lane that night."
Schnittker went on to say that maybe Dewey could have just had a bad night, or maybe the ship affected him somewhat. He said that Dewey seemed to be himself after the race, alert and all.
"He had a pretty long ship from DuQuoin [Illinois], so that could've been a factor, I'm not sure," Schnittker said about the 2008 Hambletonian winner that has banked over $2.2 million in his 18-race career.
Schnittker told Trot Insider that ">Deweycheatumnhowe is staying at Marv Chantler's farm in Loretto, ON and that he could be showing a different racing style Saturday in the $1 million final, where he has drawn the disadvantaged Post 10.
"He's been on the front all this year in the top races," said Schnittker. "Maybe those trips have started to take a toll, somewhat. He's tight now heading into the final. Post 10 will present us with the opportunity to possibly race from off cover. If we do race from off cover and that cover is live, he should be good."
To view the charted lines from Saturday at Mohawk Racetrack, click here.