The reigning Horse of the Year is coming to Rosecroft Raceway. SSG Stable’s McWicked, harness racing’s 2018 Horse of the Year, will headlines an all-star group of pacers Sunday evening (Nov. 10) in the $100,000 Potomac Pace at Rosecroft.
The reigning Horse of the Year is coming to Rosecroft Raceway. SSG Stable’s McWicked, harness racing’s 2018 Horse of the Year, will headlines an all-star group of pacers Sunday evening (Nov. 10) in the $100,000 Potomac Pace at Rosecroft.
First-race post time for the 13-dash program will be at 7:15 p.m.
Rosecroft will offer a $10,000 bonus to any pacer who breaks the track record of 1:47.3,set by Keystone Victory in the 2017 Potomac Pace.
In addition, there will be a $5,000 guaranteed pool on the Pick 5 (Race 7 through 11).
The $100,000 Potomac Pace has become Rosecroft’s signature event. In its first three years, the Potomac has attracted some of the sport’s biggest stars, including Split The House, Keystone Velocity, Wakizashi Hanover and All Bets Off.
“We’re very excited and really looking forward to Sunday’s $100,000 Potomac Pace,” said Sal Sinatra, president and GM of the Maryland Jockey Club. “Since the inaugural Potomac Pace in 2016, the event has grown and has attracted some of the best pacers in North America. We very appreciative of all the horsemen who have supported this great event.”
McWicked joins that list as one of the sport’s top stars. A winner of 40 starts and $5.08 million, McWicked became the oldest pacer to be named Horse of the Year. Trained by Casie Coleman and driven by Brian Sears, McWicked has surpassed $1 million in purses for the third time in his career, joining Foiled Again as the only pacers with three million-dollar seasons. The eight-year-old won the Dan Rooney Invitational and Allerage Farms Open Pace earlier this year. McWicked will start from Post 7.
McWicked came up short in his attempt to win a third Breeders Crown Oct. 26 when he finished fourth behind American History in the $655,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace. American History, bred by Brittany Farms, previously won the $150,000 Bobby Quillen Memorial and has earned $437,291 this year.
Those facing McWicked and American History in the Potomac include Dorsoduro Hanover, second to American History in the Breeders Crown and winner of last year’s $530,000 Breeders Crown for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers.
Others entered in the Potomac include Dealt A Winner, fourth in last year’s Potomac, This Is The Plan, who turned in the fastest mile ever on a half-mile track in Canada earlier this year, 2019 Canadian Pacing Derby winner Courtly Choice, and Maryland’s Slick Tony, a winner of 14 of 34 starts this season.
(Rosecroft Raceway)
I think this is the first
I think this is the first time in history that 3 Breeder's Crown winners (McWicked in 2014 and 2018, Dorsoduro Hanover, also in 2018, and American History, in 2019) have ever faced each other in a single race.