Balmoral Park (4/10/11)
Contact: Tom Kelley
(708) 672-1414
FORT SILKY UPSETS IN SONG CYCLE STAKE
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| Fort Silky and driver Marcus Miller rallied in the final strides to take Saturday's $14,000 Song Cycle Stake. |
A compact but classy field of five Illinois conceived and foaled pacers gathered for the $14,000 Song Cycle Stake on Saturday night at Balmoral Park. As is often the case in these short field events, Fort Silky, the second longest shot in the field, wound up taking home top honors as he scored by a nose after a thrilling stretch drive. The final time was 1:52.1.
Content to sit last for driver Marcus Miller, Fort Silky was never really that far off the pace which was being set by My Boy David (Sam Widger).
With that veteran strolling along unchallenged through splits of 27.2, 55.0 and 1:24.0, Thisbigdogwillfight (Dale Hiteman) finally took the first shot at the leader, pulling from third as the field neared the top of the stretch.
Following cover from Thisbigdogwillfight, Miller had Fort Silky right on the helmet of Thisbigdogwillfight as the field moved through the lane. With just three lengths separating the field in the lane, Fort Silky determinedly put a nose in front of My Boy David in the last stride to post his third win in seven starts this year. My Boy David was a game second while Well To Do Guru (Art Gregory Jr.), who enjoyed a perfect pocket-sitting trip, finished a length back in third.
Sent off at odds of 5-1 by the betting public, Fort Silky returned $13.60, $5.80 and $2.80 while winning for the 17th time in 81 career starts.
Once again the Pick 4 was a big hit at Balmoral Park thanks to a carryover and the $15,000 guarantee with more than $50,000 being bet on the 15 percent take out wager. Lucky winners of the Pick 4 received a healthy $4,308. Balmoral Park will guarantee $25,000 in Sunday’s Pick 4 pool, which takes place on the final four races of the night. Post time for Sunday’s card is 7:10 pm.
For the night Balmoral handled $1,103,538 for the 11-race card, giving each race an average of $100,321 as fans continue to support the Balmoral Park signal.
For more information visit www.balmoralpark.com or call (708) 672-1414.
