Vernon, N.Y. — While Richard Keys's Big Chocolate overcame a loss of cover on the far turn to take Friday (October 2) evening's $7,000 top-level conditioned trot at Vernon Downs, a pair of harness racing war horses now with 117 wins and over $1.2 million in career earnings between them stole the show in a $4,000 claiming event.
The evening's ninth race featured a septet of claiming pacers, with I Scoot For Cash (Ben McNeil) wasting no time securing the pacesetting role in the initial stages. After sprinting clear of Team Edward (Truman Gale) and Majo Just Do It (Claude Huckabone, III), I Scoot For Cash backed down the tempo through a reasonable :56.4 first half mile while proven veterans Veal Marsala and My Fella kicked into gear from the back of the pack. Jimmy Whittemore angled Veal Marsala off the pegs on the backstretch to flush the cover of King of Kings (Frank Davis), while Fern Paquet, Jr. tipped My Fella third-over on approach to the far turn. As King of Kings worked to the lead a :29 third quarter, Veal Marsala kicked cover, striking the front in mid-stretch–but he wasn't home free. The 11-year-old Real Artist gelding subsequently staved off the late charge of 14-year-old My Fella, holding sway by a neck in 1:54.4 over fast going.
Dennis Whittemore owns and trains Veal Marsala, whose fourth consecutive victory brought him to 54 career wins and over $570,000 in career earnings. Runner-up My Fella remains a 63-time winner, having earned in excess of $660,000. Veal Marsala returned his backers $4.30 to win.
The younger Whittemore also prevailed in the evening's featured trot, establishing a second-over trip with Big Chocolate on the backstretch, tracking the cover of Yankee Manny (Chris Lems) in pursuit of Grey Ice (Dan Daley) through the far turn. Despite a loss of cover when Yankee Manny broke stride, Big Chocolate continued to make inroads, taking over from a beleaguered Grey Ice in upper stretch. Much like Veal Marsala would do just twenty minutes later, Big Chocolate dug in to stave off the beneficiary of his cover, Drinksforthehouse (Truman Gale), by three-quarters of a length, prevailing in 1:55.1.
Homer Hochstetler trains the 6-year-old Chocolatier entire who returned his backers $5.60 to win.
J A T O dominates again
Earlier in the evening's 10-race program, Margaret and Amy Butler's J A T O scored his third open-length win in as many starts, capturing a $5,600 conditioned trot in 1:54.4 by 9-1/2 lengths over Proud Flag and Lucky Ten K. Fern Paquet, Jr. drove the 3-year-old Big Apple Deli colt, who tallied 19 wins on the New York fair circuit before making a remarkable transition to pari-mutuel racing. William Okusko handles the training duties of the 22-time winner.
Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on Saturday (October 3) evening, with the first of 11 races due off at 6:45 p.m. Eastern time.
by James Witherite, Vernon Downs