The spring 2012 season of live harness racing at Rosecroft Raceway will close this Saturday evening, but there is plenty of action set
.
With the fantastic cooperation of local horsemen, enough entries came in to have an entire card of superfecta wagering. A lucky 13 races will be contested on the betting card, with qualifiers and baby races conducted before the card.
Justin Vincent, one of the 'young guns' driving at Rosecroft, will accept an award for being leading driver at the meet. He will also be signing posters before the card begins. Vincent seized early control of the driving race with a six-bagger and has never looked back. This is the first time he’s been a leading driver, but at age 25 and only in his fifth year of driving he’s already surpassed the number of wins in any one season.
The training title will probably go to longtime Rosecroft trainer Joe Offutt, who has sent out the winners of 14 races at the track. Offutt has been a regular at Rosecroft for years and will shortly halter his 1,700th career winner.
Several trainers are a couple of winners back, but have emptied the barn in an attempt to catch Offutt. Trainer Greg Trotto won’t have anything in on Saturday evening but won an impressive 10 of 29 starts to easily be the leading UDR trainer. Trainer Freddy Collazo has had 10 winners out of 64 starts and a UDR of almost .300. Veteran Kenny Schlotzhauer has also won 10 races (out of 81 starts), but is the leading trainer in terms of earnings. Both Collazo and Scholtzhauer have six entrants on the card.
After a lot of deliberation, Rosecroft has decided to honour three horses for their outstanding seasons at Rosecroft. They will be recognized as the Trotter of the Meet, Claimer of the Meet and Conditioned Horse of the Meet.
The qualifiers will begin at 5:00 p.m., with baby races (for two-year-olds) following immediately after. The betting card will begin at 7:25 p.m. and Pete Medhurst will be in town to announce the closing night card and festivities.
(Rosecroft)