Hawthorne Racecourse (12/12/09)
Contact: Ron Uchman (708) 780-3700
DEVIENT BEHAVIOR FINALLY BEHAVES
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| Devient Behavior wins the Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity |
Dana Waier Thoroughbreds LLC’s Devient Behavior, trained by Rusty Hellman, drew off to an impressive two-and-a-quarter length victory in Saturday’s $106,475 Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity at Hawthorne. The son of Ecton Park, out of the Minneapple mare Jabber, was a little headstrong early in the race, as he often tends to be, but rider Tim Thornton was able to get him to relax.
Devient Behavior broke on top but Thornton was able to finally get him to rate a little bit. He was third after a half, second after three quarters, and drew off to a clear lead at the top of the stretch, which he never relinquished.
“He’s a nice horse,” said Thornton. “We’ve been having some trouble getting him to relax. But, today it all worked out. He wanted to go and was fighting me early but I got him back and he really finished well. He was getting a little late down the lane, struggling a bit, and the track was a little loose but we had a clear lead in the stretch and nobody really came to us.”
Sheltowee, trained by Chris Block and owned by Virginia H. Tarra Trust, flew down the middle of the stretch to get up for second after getting away at the back of the pack. His rider Eduardo Perez was satisfied with the effort. “No problems, he ran good. There wasn't really any traffic, maybe a little in the stretch, it got a little tight. But that's all.”
Tanner Riggs, the rider of third place finisher Slew Zoom, thought their chances might have been a bit compromised by the outside post position. “He felt great in the post parade, said Riggs. “I wanted to get him in a good spot early on. He had trouble with the break and the outside post position didn’t help.”
Devient Behavior earned $63,885 for the victory, the second of his career, boosting his total earnings to $105,361. They covered the mile and a sixteenth distance in 1:42.45 on a fast track, after fractions of :24.07, :46.97, 1:10.90, and 1:35.94.
Devient Behavior paid $4.80, $3.20, $2.60. Sheltowee returned $3.80 and $2.80. Slewzoom paid $3.60.
