For the second time in less than a month Tony Verruso and Slated To Win scored a victory in the American Harness Drivers Club Trot at Freehold Raceway.
Today (March 6) they were victorious in 2:00.1. Three weeks ago, Verruso guided the five-year-old Uncle Peter gelding to a victory in an earlier leg of the trotting series also at the New Jersey half-miler.
When the gate sprung in today's contest Verruso gunned his trotter to the lead from the six-hole and they looped Always A Good Time and driver Joe Faraldo, who had started from post four.
“My horse leaves good and I fired him up when the gate sprung and he trotted to right around Faraldo's horse and we had command before the quarter,” Verruso said via phone after the race. “Once on the lead he was on the bit so I let him ramble.
Trainer Tom Fanning had a big day at Freehold Raceway on Saturday (February 27), winning three races on the 13-race card.
Fanning won with all three of his starters. He scored his first win in race 6, as Tisadream N just got up for the victory as the 2/5 favourite over Dreamfair Charro. Austin Siegelman had the winning drive. In the seventh race, he scored an upset, as 31/1 mare Ashtini defeated the boys in a gate-to-wire score with driver Eric Abbatiello. Two races later, Fanning completed the hat trick as Betting Exchange went gate-to-wire as the favourite. Siegelman once again had the drive.
Many of Freehold Raceway's regulars were in the spotlight this Saturday (January 9), as Freehold kicked off the Harold Kelly Memorial Pacing Series.
Local horsemen flooded the box for the first leg of this series, which is restricted to horses and geldings owned, sired, or foaled in New Jersey. The first division, restricted to horses with a TrackMaster Horse Rating between 68.00 and 71.50, attracted 23 entries, and was split up into three races.
Reuben Tune Ups took his division of the first leg at 9-1, taking charge after the three-quarter point and holding on. He went the mile in 1:58, for owner/trainer Ann DePietro and driver Jim Marohn Jr. Officer Blue Chip prevailed in his split, winning a stretch battle with Our Art and Heaven for the 7/1 win. Jack Pelling had the winning drive for owner/trainer John Urbanski., stopping the clock in 1:58.3.
A two-hole journey and a late rally was just what Marianna Monaco needed to guide 13-1 shot SB Fine And Dandy to a nose win over another long shot, 29-1 Broadway Bruiser, in the $9,000 American Harness Drivers Club Trot at Freehold Raceway on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 2).
Monaco played hardball and parked out all comers. Though she did, her trotter had enough in the tank to hold off a late charge from Broadway Bruiser and driver Tony Beltrami for a 2:02 win in the first amateur driving event of 2021.
Starting from post two, Monaco kept Wygant Prince and Paul Minore on the limb. After Minore found a hole along the pylons, Monaco braced for a challenge from 10-1 Always A Good Time, driven by Joe Faraldo. Headed to the halfway point, SB Fine And Dandy and Always A Good Time hooked up in a duel with Monaco's trotter still holding command all the way to the top of the stretch. As the two leaders headed for home just heads apart, Beltrami came from far back with Broadway Bruiser. SB Fine And Dandy was a scant nose better than Broadway Bruiser, with Always A Good Time just three-quarters of a length back in third place.