Major Surprise in $100,000 Maywood Pace (06/26/10)

Posted Saturday, June 26, 2010

                                                                 By Mike Paradise
  
   There is no absolutely “sure things” in horse racing as the many supporters Delco Willobee learned the hard way when their overwhelming 1-9 favorite went off stride coming out of the last turn and ended up the track in Friday night’s $100,000 Maywood Pace.

  It was the front-stepping Southern Sport, driven by the track’s leading driver Todd warren, who pulled off the huge upset at 20-1, pacing a quick 1:52.2 mile and finishing almost three lengths ahead of Indescribable.

  Would Delco Willobee and driver John De Long gone past Southern Sport if he didn’t break?

  “I don’t know if we would have won if John’s horse hadn’t run but I thought his horse was pretty well done parked out through a tough (:27.4) third quarter and I knew my horse still had something left,” answered winning driver Todd Warren.

  “When I got the second quarter breather (:29.3) I knew I was going to get a real good third quarter from Southern Sport. The draw helped us tremendously,” continued Warren. “Delco Willobee doesn’t get off the gate real well. Obviously John was going to race him like he’s the best and just sit out there. 

  “Southern Sport gets around Maywood better than he does at Balmoral. This surface here is a little different. My horse just doesn’t have that quick burst down the lane that you need to go a 1:50 mile there. He’s more of a grinder and grinding out a 52 mile at Maywood is awfully good. Chris (trainer Reynolds) had him sharp and ready.”

  Southern Sport returned $44.20 on a winning $2 ticket, keying the 3-6 Exacta that paid $220.80, the .50 cent Trifecta (3-6-4) of $437.80 and the 10 cent Superfecta (3-6-4-7) of $238.14.

   ICF Mare Stake Split: An abundance of entries necessitated a split of two $12,500 divisions of the Sue Fee stake for ICF fillies and mares, aged three and upward. Both look like wide-open events.

   The sixth race first division seven-horse field has a pair of Nelson Willis trainees returning to the local scene, Native Spur (programmed 7-2, Todd Warren) and Towne’s party Girl (6-1, Casey Leonard). Now four, Native Hotspur was last season’s Maywood Filly Pace and Violet stake champion. The mare spent her first 11 starts this year on the east coast while stable-mate Townes Party Girl, the 2008 Grandma Ann Super Night champion, had been campaigning at Hoosier Park.

  The second seventh race split with six distaffers is headed up by Joinusinsomefun (5-2, Leroy Miller), My Heart Was True (7-2, Jamaica Patton) and Bob’s Minute Maid (7-2, Mike Oosting). The Wilfong’s Joinusforsomefun is a three-time season winner in Indiana invites. The four-year-old home-bred finished third last Super Night in the Lorna Propes and second in the Fox Valley Memory stakes at Balmoral.

  Small in Numbers Only: The Saturday Free For All has a compact field of five in the second race. The early favorites are Thisbigdogwilfight (3-2, John De Long) who is 4-for-4 in the Balmoral FFA ranks and the last week’s Broadway Preview stake runner-up Big Daddy Woo Woo (5-2, Mike Oosting), a 1:50.2 FFA winner two weeks ago.

  Broadway Preview champion Well To Do Guru is taking the week off for the Terry Leonard Stable and will make his next start in Friday’s $30,000 Cook County Stake at Maywood. Trainer Roger Welch confirms that My Boy Luke is also Cook County bound.

  No Cheap Consolation: Illinois champion Power Of A Moment is at Mohawk Saturday night in the $100,000 North America Cup Consolation. Marcus Miller is there to handle the three-year-old colt after missing last week’s fourth place elimination finish due to some passport problems.

  “The family all got their passports a number of years ago at the same time and I was under 16 years old then,” explained the 21-year-old Marcus. “I didn’t realize that a passport is good for 10 years only if you’re over 16 but for just five years if you’re under. So I was left at the (airport) gate when the plane took off and was crushed that I missed going.”

   To view Archived Notes and Quotes click here.      

                                                                                                                         Maywood Park Photo

                        Southern Sport (Todd Warren) surprises in Friday's $100,000 Maywood Pace.