Sent off at 20 cents on the dollar off a 16-length qualifying romp in 1:54.1, the four-year-old son of Allamerican Native waltzed home by six lengths in last Saturday’s ninth race. He went his first half in a leisurely :59 flat, then turning on the afterburners to cover the second part of the race in :55.3 without breaking a sweat.
“Wins as easy as that one are few and far between,” Svendsen related after the impressive once-around. “He looks like a nice prospect, and I think Bob found a real diamond in the rough at the Meadowlands sale.”
Mooney had hopped behind Natives Revenge only once before his March 15 qualifier and was already pretty sure the dark-hued pacer had a lot of class. “He trained super that morning, and then in his qualifier I was tearing his face off to keep him from going faster than 1:54 and a piece.”
Mooney informed that Johnson had hoped Native’s Revenge would only have to truly pace a half-mile in his evening debut, and Svendsen obliged with that modest :59 clip before turning him loose. “It worked out perfectly and he just had way too much for those horses. You have to realize he was meeting some awfully tough ones at the Meadowlands.”
Natives Revenge looks to keep the momentum going in Saturday night’s 10th race and it will be interesting to see if he adds another sizzling local mile to his increasingly impressive resume.