Chester, PA — Will Take Charge used a sustained first-over drive to overtake leader Crazy Wow around the final turn and held off favorite Marion Marauder in the stretch to win Sunday’s (May 27) $150,000 Maxie Lee Memorial Invitational for older trotters in a world-record-equaling 1:50.3 at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Marion Marauder finished second, one length back. Crazy Wow, the event’s defending champion, was third. The winning time equaled the world record for a gelded older trotter on a five-eighths-mile oval, set by Sevruga in 2013.
Will Take Charge, driven by Tim Tetrick, was in fourth place behind Crazy Wow, Tuonoblu Rex and I Know My Chip when the field hit the opening quarter in :26.4. Tetrick moved Will Take Charge to the outside prior to the halfway point, leading the outside flow with Warrawee Roo, Marion Marauder and Broadway Donna following his cover.
Crazy Wow remained in front at the half, in :54.4, and three-quarters, in 1:22.4, before yielding to Will Take Charge.
“I got away in a tough spot where I knew I was going to be first up,” Tetrick said. “If I’d just pushed a little harder I might have been in the two or three hole and then maybe moved back to the front. But my horse raced really good. When (Warrawee Roo) left I had to come kind of early, but I knew I’d kept Marion Marauder one horse back from me. My horse raced first up from the quarter-pole on in a record time, so it was pretty special.”
Will Take Charge, a son of Kadabra out of Celebrity Angel, is a 5-year-old gelding owned by Mac Nichol and trained by Jeff Gillis. The horse has won six of 11 races this year and earned $205,268.
Nichol purchased the horse in November. The gelding was previously trained by John Bax and was runner-up in the Ontario Sire Stakes championships at ages 2 and 3. For his career, Will Take Charge has won 18 of 61 races, going 9-for-15 with Gillis, and earned $636,169.
“My horse coming into (the Maxie Lee) in his last two was awesome,” Tetrick said. “His last race at Pocono, horses just don’t do that. He did it with the ear plugs in, so I knew he was going to give me a good race today.”Will Take Charge made a splash with his seasonal stakes debut on May 5 by finishing second to defending Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover in the Cutler Memorial at the Meadowlands. In his start prior to the Maxie Lee, the gelding made a four-wide move around the final turn at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono to complete a last-to-first rally after a few missteps at the beginning of the race.
Tetrick has won the Maxie Lee on five occasions. Will Take Charge paid $7.40 to win as the 5-2 second choice.
FILIBUSTER HANOVER TAKES COMMODORE BARRY
Filibuster Hanover continued his season-opening win streak Sunday (May 27), capturing the $150,000 Commodore Barry Invitational for older male pacers by one length over Heaven Rocks A in 1:48.3 at Harrah’s Philadelphia. Rodeo Romeo finished third.
It was the fourth victory in as many races this year for Filibuster Hanover, who in his previous start won the Confederation Cup.
Filibuster Hanover got away second as Mach It So charged from post eight to get the lead in a :26 opening quarter-mile. Mach It So remained on top through a half in :53.3 and three-quarters in 1:20.4 before dropping back and finishing eighth. Filibuster Hanover grabbed the lead prior to the stretch and paced to victory as the 6-5 favorite on an unseasonable cool, damp, windy day.“He’s always had the speed, but his brain was a little bit the problem,” winning driver Yannick Gingras said. “It took him a little while to figure things out, but now he’s really figuring out what racing is all about. He was great again today.”
“It worked out great,” Gingras said. “I didn’t want to have him on the front today on this track, so I was looking to follow maybe (Heaven Rocks A) and be second-over or something like that. When we left, it looked like I was going to get away sixth if I took back. I thought (Mach It So) would be a good one to follow.”
Filibuster Hanover, a son of Somebeachsomewhere out of Fashion Ecstasy, topped the million-dollar level in career earnings with his victory Sunday. The 4-year-old gelding has won 11 of 37 lifetime races and banked $1.01 million. He is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing Stable, Joseph DiScala Jr., J&T Silva Stables, and the Weaver Bruscemi partnership.
Last year, Filibuster Hanover won five of 20 races. His triumphs included the Little Brown Jug and a division of the Bluegrass Stakes. He finished second in the Monument Circle, Matron, and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship.
Filibuster Hanover paid $4.40 to win Sunday
BETSY ROSS INVITATIONAL TO SHARTIN N
n the $150,000 Betsy Ross for older female pacers, 6-5 favorite Shartin N dueled with leader Pure Country before getting to the front prior to the three-quarter mark and winning by a half-length over Blue Moon Stride in 1:49.3. Divas Image was third.
“That’s quite a good trip she went; she was pressed for a long ways,” winning trainer Jim King Jr. said. “Any time a horse races for five-eighths of a mile (first-over) like she did, that’s a long ways.”
Shartin N, owned by Richard Poillucci and Jo Ann Looney-King, has won 10 of 12 races this year and earned $418,975. Her victories this season include the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series championship, as well as three preliminary divisions of the event, and the Sam “Chip” Noble Memorial.
For her career, the 5-year-old daughter of Tintin In America-Bagdarin has won 17 of 25 starts and $495,092.
“I don’t think I’ve had one like her before, that’s for sure,” King said. “At the moment, I don’t see an end. I’m sure there is one, and it’s closer than I want it to be. But she’s a good girl. She’s had a hard year already. We’ll get her rested up a little for the next venture up in Canada in the Roses Are Red.”
Shartin N paid $4.40 to win.
by Ken Weingartner, for USTA
SUMMARY OF "SUPER SUNDAY" UNDERCARD
The big card included three $30,000 divisions of the Great Northeast Open Series, for horses not racing in the Invitational features.
One may wonder how the defending Horse of the Year didn't get in the Invitational, but there is a simple explanation: trainer Ron Burke already had a Maxie Lee Trot horse in the veteran Crazy Wow, so Hannelore Hanover went in the Great Northeast race for trotters.
And Hannelore was sharp off a 22-day layoff in her second start of the year, going for the lead for Yannick Gingras, backing off the half to 57,then sprinting home in 55.2-27.2 with minimal urging, with her 1:52.2 final clocking equaling the track record for older trotting mares first established ten years and two days earlier, by Buck I St Pat in winning the inaugural Maxie Lee Trot!
Hannelore Hanover now has 38 lifetime victories in 60 trips behind the gate, with her earnings now at $2,573,677 for trainer Ron Burke and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Frank Baldachino, and J&T Silva Stables LLC.
In the Open pace, the Bettor's Delight gelding Bettor's Edge was hustled away from the gate by driver Scott Zeron, then yielded to Check Six and sat in the golden chair until headstretch. When Bettor's Edge was called on in the lane, he muscled right by with minimum urging to win in 1:49.3, raising his career earnings to $2,109,982 for trainer Jennifer Lappe, co-owner of the rugged 9YO with Robert Santagata.
L A Delight surmounted the difficult first-over journey to be a drawing-clear winner in the mares Open pace, tripping the timer in 1:50.2 and giving driver Yannick Gingras a pair of Great Northeast victories, both with mares. The daughter of Bettor's Delight raced her career earnings to $1,391,574 for trainer Nancy Johansson and owners Diamond Creek Racing.
There were two divisions of the $159,440 first preliminary leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies. In one division, Sidewalk Dancer looked pacesetting favorite Kissin In The Sand, making her seasonal bow, in the eye around the far turn, then paced away late to lower her mark by two seconds to 1:50.3. The daughter of A Rocknroll Dance was guided by Brett Miller for trainer Chris Oakes and the partnership of Northfork Racing Stable, Omar Beiler, and Dennis Collins.
In the other section, the Somebeachsomewhere filly Serene Stride posted her fifth victory in an undefeated 2018 campaign, roaring uncovered down the backstretch to the lead at the ¾ en route to a 3½ length victory while taking a new mark of 1:51.3. Eric Carlson was in the sulky behind the trainee of red-hot Mark Harder, with owners Emilio and Maria Rosetti possibly watching their filly extending her form streak – at 3:30 a.m. Monday in New South Wales, Australia.
Finally, a world record was set for a 5/8-mile pace on a 5/8-mile track, as the Relentless Yankee gelding Toastmygoats bulleted out of the outside post eight to sit the pocket behind 25-1 polesitter Perseverant's take-no-prisoners fractions of 25.4 and 53.3, then came out in the lane and overhauled the pacesetter by a neck in 1:07.1 at the sprint distance for driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Nick Surick, and the ownership of Engel Stable of IL LLC and J L Benson Stables Inc. The clocking erased the former standard of 1:08 set by Winyard Hanover at Pompano near the end of 2017.
From the PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia