Atta Boy Dan was making his second start of the year after two impressive winning qualifiers and a solid performance last week. He went to post on Tuesday (May 11) in the Monticello Raceway Open Pace as the 6/5 favourite and scored in 1:55.3 over a field of seven with Brandon Parker in the bike.
Driver Cory Stratton and Carters Caper cut the mile as Chantepleure, leaving from post 5, was parked past the quarter in :27.3, and remained parked the entire mile. First to move approaching the half :56.4 was Certified Ideal. Brandon Parker, sensing that Chantepleure was starting to tire and clog the outer flow, popped out of the two-hole as Certified Ideal and Camwood were forced wide due to the tiring Chantepleure by three-quarters in 1:26.1. At this point Atta Boy Dan started to scoot away from the pack and won by four lengths in 1:55.3. Finishing second was KJ Erich and winner of last weeks Open, Camwood, was third.
Monticello Raceway
Something that you don t see very often is two dead-heats on the same day, this unique harness racing oddity occurred Tuesday afternoon at Monticello Raceway.
The first dead heat was in race 6, Blue Line (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) and Rockin In The Hills (Greg Merton) tripped the time in tandem in 1:58.3, Chip For Real (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) and See You Friday duplicated the feat five races later as they crossed the wire in unison in 1:58.4.
Also on the card James Taggart Jr. drove four winners, Greg Merton had three winners, James Devaux Michael Merton and Bruce Aldrich Jr each had two winners on the afternoon, both of Aldrich s win came in each dead heat race.
A harness racing rarity occurred Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 22) at Monticello Raceway when, not one but two dead heats happened on the same card.
The first dead heat was in Race 6, where Blue Line and Rockin In The Hills tripped the timer in tandem in 1:58.3. Chip For Real and See You Friday duplicated the feat five races later as they crossed the wire in unison in 1:58.4.
Also on the card James Taggart Jr. drove four winners, Greg Merton had three winners, James Devaux Michael Merton and Bruce Aldrich Jr each had two winners on the afternoon, both of Aldrich’s win came in each dead heat race. Trainer Dan Gill had two winners from his barn, Gill is currently in fourth place for leading trainers with 34 wins this season.