It was 10 months ago when Wake Up Peter walked through the sales ring at the January Tattersalls Mixed Sale. When the hammer fell, the sales price read $210,000, for a horse who went 0-for-19 as a three-year-old, racing against the best of his generation. The buyer was Ray Remmen.
On Saturday night at The Meadowlands, Wake Up Peter turned that $210,000 investment for Team Remmen and owner Bradley Grant into a profit.
Wake Up Peter was sent off as the 9-2 co-second choice in the featured $30,000 Free For All Hanidcap with Brett Miller. Miller settled just off the pace through a hot opening quarter with favoured Golden Receiver blazing the way through a :26.2 opening panel. Wake Up Peter was positioned second over, tracking the cover of Dapper Dude through a :54 second half as Speed Again moved to the lead and took the field past three-quarters in 1:21.3. Miller angled Wake Up Peter off cover and his horse responded, grinding away and wearing down Speed Again to nail that foe on the wire in 1:50 flat.
After a winless three-year-old season, Wake Up Peter won for the 13th time in 2014, bringing his seasonal earnings to $226,210, of which $218,710 was earned since the Remmen purchase, making that $210,000 investment literally worth every penny.
Speed Again did all the work on the lead and was a very game second, with Dapper Dude plugging away first over to be third.
John Campbell and Tim Tetrick were the driving stars of the evening, each winning three races. For Tetrick, that brought his weekend tally to seven wins.
The $.20 Cent Jackpout Super Hi-5 was hit again. It paid $15,526.90 for the single winner.
Racing returns to The Meadowlands on Friday with first post time at 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)