Freshman trotting colts grabbed the spotlight on Wednesday night at Balmoral Park as a field of 10 diagonally gaited two-year-olds battled in an American National Stake elimination.
The top seven finishers in the race will join Powerful Poe, Super Classic and Show Ticket in next week’s final, which goes for $76,500.
Making it look like nothing more than a stroll in the park, Connie Hochstetler and Robert Buddig’s Semper Fit cruised to an easy two and a half length wire-to-wire victory in 1:57.3 for driver-trainer Homer Hochstetler.
Hustled away from post position two, the homebred son of American Native-Colors Of The Wind rolled through splits of :28.4, :56.4, and 1:27.4 while increasing his margin at every call.
On cruise control through the lane, the long-striding bay looked like he’ll have plenty left for next week’s showdown as he reported home with his fourth win in seven starts.
Crazed N Lindy (Frank Antonacci), used a ground-saving trip to get the place money while Dreams Of Thunder (Dave Magee) finished third. Also gaining spots in the final were the fourth through seventh place finishers, Longwell, Held In Balance, Odds On Windy City and The Art Of Lindy.
(Balmoral Park)