The best older pacers on the planet made their way to Tioga Downs on Sunday afternoon competing in a pair of rich events, with distaffers duking it out in the Artiscape and the boys battling in the Bettors Delight
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Bettor Sweet established a world record for older pacing geldings on a five-eighths mile track when he toured Tioga’s oval in 1:48.1 for driver Dan Dube. The performance erased the former standard of 1:48.2 shared by Fake Denario N (June 8, 2008 at Harrah’s Chester) and Pilgrims Toner (May 29, 2010 at Pocono Downs).
Dube hustled the six-year-old son of Bettors Delight-Sweet Future off the wings and engaged in an early battle with We Will See and Aracache Hanover. The latter ducked in behind the other two, and shortly after that We Will See was released to the top by Bettor Sweet. The opening panel flashed up in :26.1, but it turned out to be the only fraction put up by We Will See.
Bettor Sweet was back out and on the move in front of the grandstand, and in a matter of strides he recaptured the lead. He ripped through middle panels of :54.2 and 1:21 before sealing the deal with a final quarter clocked in :27.1. Bettor Sweet won by a comfortable margin over runner-up We Will See, with Giddy Up Lucky, fresh off his win in the $200,000 Dan Patch Invitational at Hoosier Park, rounding out the top three finishers.
“Everything worked out good today, I just turned Pierce [Ron Pierce driving We Will See] loose and came back on him so I could put him on the front end where he is really good," said driver Dan Dube. "Down the backside I just let him roll and let them try to catch me. He [Bettor Sweet] is so smooth, he has such a big gait and does it so easy that it doesn’t feel like your going that fast, but that was a very fast mile today.”
“I just told Dube to keep him close today and he did a great job, I knew he could go those kind of fractions so I wasn’t worried about that at all," said trainer Tom Cancelliere. "He is a special horse."
The 18-time winner is owned by John Cancelliere of Clark, New Jersey. The victory improved the gelding’s 2011 record to 4-4-0 in 10 tries. The lion’s share of the purse lifted his lifetime bankroll to $1,667,417.
Fresh off her win in the $150,000 final of the Betsy Ross at Harrah’s Chester on May 29, Anndrovette hauled home more hardware thanks to her off-the-pace triumph in the $178,000 Artiscape for the tandem of driver George Brennan and trainer Ron Burke.
Chancey Lady rolled the field to the quarter pole in :26.3 before Anndrovette brushed to the lead and laid down middle panels of :54.4 and 1:22 while feeling pressure from the parked out Ticket To Rock. A :27.4 final frame was more than enough for Anndrovette to halt the teletimer in a track record clocking of 1:49.4. Ticket To Rock held on for the runner-up award, with stablemate and entrymate Laughandbehappy finishing third.
Dreamfair Eternal, Canada's Horse of the Year and Older Pacing Mare of the Year in 2010, got held up in heavy traffic from her second-tier starting spot and had to settle for a fourth-place finish in her quest to defend her Artiscape title.
The 1:49.4 performance erased the former track record for four-year-old pacing mares shares by Tug River Princess (2009) and All Spirit (2010).
“She is a real nice mare to drive," said driver George Brennan. "Until today I had never driven her before, but I got a text this week from Kesmodel asking if I wanted to drive her up here and I jumped at it.”
Co-owner Mark Kesmodel trains the four-year-old daughter of Riverboat King-Easy Miss for fellow New Jerseyans Jeffrey Bamond of Brick and Joseph Davino of Clarksburg. The win was the 15th of her career and her fifth of the season in nine tries. The $89,000 bumped her overall cash stash to $805,200.
(With quotes from Tioga Downs)