Continuing to prove that he is a force to be reckoned with among the older pacers in the Prairie Stake, James Gorman’s Well To Do Guru turned Friday’s $35,000 Egyptian Stake at Maywood Park into a laugher as he grabbed command from the word go and proceeded to make every call a winning one
in a brisk 1:52.
Given another confident steer by regular pilot Casey Leonard, the seven-year-old gelding shot right to the top from post position four and faced little resistance as he cruised through an opening quarter in :28.
Continuing along relatively unchallenged on the front, the altered son of Richess Hanover stepped through a half-mile in :56.1. Meanwhile, behind the pacesetter things were starting to get interesting as a three-wide Fort Silky (Marcus Miller) began a bold move around an outer flow that had stalled badly when a first over Southern Sport (Dale Hiteman) came to a crawl nearing the halfway point.
Heading down the backstretch, Well To Do Guru continued to show the way as Fort Silky moved alongside to challenge in second. A pocket-sitting Ice Man Cometh (John Roberts) was right with the leaders in third while Voomerang (Todd Warren) was gapping along the inside in fourth as the field reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:23.3.
Heading into the final turn, Leonard called on Well To Do Guru for a little more and the classy veteran responded beautifully as he effortlessly opened up a two and a half length advantage over a fading Fort Silky.
Through the stretch, the Terry Leonard trainee continued to put daylight between himself and the rest of the field as he rolled under the wire four and a quarter lengths ahead of Ice Man Cometh while Fort Silky held on for third.
Bet as though defeat was out of the question, Well To Guru returned just $2.40, $2.20 and $2.10 while winning for the seventh time in 16 starts this season. The winner’s share of $17,500 also helped push the ageless warrior’s career bankroll up to a whopping $446,208.
(Maywood Park)