Balmoral Park

Contact: Tom Kelley
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LETS GETIT STARTED TAKES ISOBA STAKE

Lets Getit Started and driver Brent Holland lived up to their even-money favoritism with an easy win in Saturday's $18,860 ISOBA Stake at Balmoral Park.

State-bred pacing colts stepped into the spotlight on Saturday night at Balmoral Park as a field of 11 sophomores went postward in an $18,860 Illinois Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association Stake.

After finishing fourth in his 2008 debut Desyllas Racing, William Beck and Carol Rieken’s highly regarded youngster Lets Getit Started was hammered down to even-money by the betting public. His legion of backers never had a reason to sweat as he charged right to the front and made every call a winning one in 1:53.1.

Taking advantage of the inside starting spot in this overflow field, driver Brent Holland zipped the son of Cole Muffler away from the gate and he was comfortably in front as he led the field through an opening quarter in 28.2.

“The plan wasn’t really to cut it out with him,” explained Holland. “But when only one horse left out of there and I knew he was an outsider I decided I better just go on with my horse.”

With longshots Wesmokempeacepipe (Dean Magee) and Whiskey Bent (Mike Oosting) content to sit on the favorite's back and save ground, Holland and Lets Getit Started strolled through middle splits of 57.3 & 1:26.2.

“If any of the top contenders in the race would have come after us I probably would have been happy to turn them loose and sit on their back,” said Holland.

After going unchallenged Lets Getit Started then sped away from his rivals, sealing the deal with a 26.4 as he drew away to win by 2 ¾ lengths. Whiskey Bent, a 28-1 outsider who took advantage of a spot in the second tier, edged out the 55-1 pocket sitting Wesmokempeacepipe for the place honors.

“This horse can get a little lazy but he really wasn’t like that tonight,” said the winning reinsman. “I think I might have tapped him three or four times but he pretty much just paced away from the field on his own tonight.”

After a big freshman season in which he earned over $126,000, Lets Getit Started appears headed for another big year as he won for the fourth time in 16 lifetime starts. The heavy favorite returned $4.20, $3.20 & $2.60. Combined with the two longshots behind him the winning trifecta combination of 2-10-7 returned a healthy $2,521.80 while the 10 cent superfecta combination of 2-10-7-5 returned a whopping $861.05.

The state-bred stakes action continues on Sunday night with a field of seven sophomore pacing fillies going for $18,820 in another ISOBA Stake. The 12-race program gets underway at 6:30 pm (central).