Melrose Park, IL---Earndawg took advantage of a perfect steer to capture the $57,100 Abe Lincoln Stakes in 1:55.1 Friday night (Oct. 17) at Maywood Park.
The son of Sportsmaster-Pacific Sister K-Western Hanover notched his sixth career victory against six rivals in the evening’s fourth race.
Roger Welch trains Earndawg for owners William C DeLong of Clinton, Wis., and Pat DeLong of South Beloit, Ill., and J Miller of Mount Horeb, Wis.
Earndawg nabbed the lead easily, with Lucpark (Dave Magee) right on his heels and King Of The Swamp (Ridge Warren) sitting third.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to cross over that easily, but I got the rail pretty well,” winning driver Todd Warren said.
Positions remained unchanged to the opening panel of :28.1 and to the :57.2 half, before Dupage’s Z Tam (Casey Leonard) moved hard against the leader. However, Earndawg had plenty left in the tank, sprinting to a 1:25.4 three-quarter clocking while the hard-trying Angelo J Fra (Tim Tetrick) went three-wide around the final turn.
“I didn’t want to get run down that much on the backside, but we were racing for good money, so that was OK," said Warren. "I think this horse races best from off the pace. If I would have gotten torched a little more going to the half, they would have had a better shot to beat me.”
Earndawg still had plenty left in the tank as he brushed to a three-quarter length victory with Lucpark finishing second and Angelo J Fra nabbing third. Earndawg’s stablemate, King Of The Swamp, was fourth, followed by DuPage’s Z Tam, Shadow’s Image and JK Allnitelong.
Earndawg pushed his career earnings to $189,265. He finished second at Balmoral last Saturday night to Roland N Rock in the $86,000 American National and has also won the $186,000 Orange & Blue at Balmoral and the $43,350 Cardinal at Maywood.
Earndawg, a $35,000 yearling purchase from the 2013 Walker Standardbred Sale, is out of the Western Hanover mare Pacific Sister K p, 4, 1:54 ($107,550) and is a full brother to Mystical MJ p, 1:51.1 ($275,219) and a half-brother to Doubleshotascotch p, 4, 1:51f ($692,491).
Sayitall BB captured the first $37,600 Cinderella Stakes division for 3-year-old pacing fillies handily in 1:52.2 with Tim Tetrick at the lines for trainer Ronnie Burke.
“When she cleared and made the top, the rest was easy,” Tetrick said. “She’s a very nice mare with a lot of talent and she did everything right. I never even pulled the plugs either. She’ll go with all of the better mares I’m sure, and if I’m not driving her in the future, I’ll sure be watching out for her.”
Sayitall BB accomplished this latest triumph impressively in wire-to-wire fashion, through splits of :27.2, :56.1 and 1:24.4, with Mamas Fallen Angel (Doug McNair) second and Somethinincredible (Dave Magee) third.
Sayitall BB is owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi, and now has $186,660 in seasonal earnings from seven wins in 12 starts. She has $208,310 in career earnings from 12 wins in 17 lifetime trips postward. The daughter of Tell All is the 11th foal out of the Nobleland Sam mare Challo B B.
Lady Shadow (Gregg McNair) held on to win the second $37,600 Cinderella Division in 1:53.2 over rival Major Dancer (Brett Miller). McNair also conditions the daughter of Shadow Play-Lady Camella-Camluck for owners Lindsey and Connie Rankin of Lexington, Mich.
Lady Shadow grabbed the lead easily and never looked back through a very soft opening first quarter and half in :27.3 and :57.
“I knew there was another horse getting close to me at the wire and so did she,” said McNair. “This is her last race of the season and she deserves a break now as she’s raced tough all season.”
Lady Shadow continued to have an easy lead over her six rivals, clocked in 1:25.3 at the three-quarter marker with Kayla Grace (Todd Warren) and Rocknroll Meg (Tim Tetrick) both throwing late challenges at her, but to no avail. At the last moment, Major Dancer, who had been riding the rail in the two-hole, snuck up the rail and narrowly missed besting the winner. Rocknroll Meg held on for third, with Kayla Grace grabbing fourth.
Lady Shadow now has $259,635 in seasonal earnings from six wins in 13 starts, and $449,527 in career earnings from 11 wins in 21 starts. She is the ninth foal out of her dam and was a $19,000 yearling purchase at the 2012 Forest City Sale.