Lake Worth, FL – Harness racing driver Scott Zeron stole the show at the qualifying races Wednesday morning at Olympia of Palm Beach Training Center.
Zeron won all four of the qualifying races on the five-eighths mile oval.
The first race trot saw Zeron wire the field with Celebrity Liberty, winning by one length over Tribeca Blue (Dan Daley) in 2:02.3 with Celebrity Titan (Sam Stathis) third.
Then in the second race trot, Zeron once again cut all the fractions with Celebrity Serena, :29, :58 and 1:27.4 to the three-quarters, then pulled away from Celebrity Bianca (Sam Stathis) to win by four and one-half lengths in 1:57.3. That was the fastest mile of the four races.
The third race trot was a classic matchup between Celebrity Farms two top horses, Celebrity Miracle (Scott Zeron) and his sire (father) Celebrity Maserati. Both horses were on three-race winning streaks.
Celebrity Maserati and Stathis were first on the lead to the opening quarter mile in :30.2, but by the half mile marker in 1:02, Zeron had Celebrity Miracle on the move and they blew by Celebrity Maserati, opened up at the three-quarters in 1:30.3, coming home a five-length winner in 1:59.2. Celebrity Maserati was second with Baby Maker Hanover (Ken Holliday) an early breaker at the start.
All of the Celebrity horses are bred and owned by Sam Stathis's Celebrity Farms.
The fourth race on the program was a pace and Zeron made it a driving quadruple, wiring the field with Roll With Angel, kicking in a :28.1 last quarter mile to beat Doyoukissfirstday (Dan Daley) by one and one-quarter lengths in 1:58.1.
It was the fastest mile ever for Roll With Angel, a three-year-old filly by Roll With Joe, trained by John Mungillo, who won $43,730 last year on the New York Sire Stakes circuit. She is co-owned by Finish Line Investors and Thatsideofthefence Stables with J. Papiemik and L. Wiler.
"The track was in great shape," Scott Zeron said. "and I was able to sit behind some nice horses. For me it's nice to qualify and get back in form. It gets me excited for competitive racing when we all start back up. Celebrity Serena was pretty impressive today. 1:57:3 is a quick mile on that track. With that said hopefully sooner than later we can all get back to racing."
Qualifiers, two-year-old's behind the gate and 2:25 mile races for two-year-olds will continue at Olympia of Palm Beach next Wednesday, April 22 at 11:00 am.
Horse people interested in entering the qualifiers, please contact Kathy Breedlove at 954-654-0129 by 1:00 pm on Tuesday, April 21. There will be only three horses per race and, if possible, horses will be split into divisions by gait.
Anyone planning on shipping in with their horse(s) for the qualifiers must call Ann-Mari Daley at 315-225-4992 as special arrangements have been made for ship-ins.
By Steve Wolf, for Olympia of Palm Beach