Balmoral Park (11/10/12)
Contact: Tom Kelley
(708) 672-1414
Our Dragon King upsets in $157,000 American National Freshman Colt and Gelding Pace
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| Our Dragon King |
Our Dragon King, given a confident steer by driver Brian Carpenter, paced to a winning 1:52.2 career best clocking in the $157,000 American National Pace for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers Saturday night, Nov. 10 at Balmoral Park.
Trained by Dirk Simpson for Desyllas Racing, LLC, William B. Beck and Carol Rieken of Illinois, the son of Dragon Again-Fox Valley Monika pushed his career earnings to $224,148.
“Brian did a terrific job with this colt tonight and raced him the way he likes to race,” said Simpson.
Carpenter sent the 22-1 shot right to the lead at the start and never looked back, as Our Dragon King paced through panels of :27.2, :54, and 1:22 before posting a very modest :30.2 last quarter brush to nail down his fifth career win.
“I just let this colt peddle down the backside and the wind (on our backs) really didn’t hurt us,” Carpenter noted. “I had driven him in his first or second start out here and had won a Hanover with him, so I was familiar with his style of racing.
“This colt has good gate speed and I took advantage of it tonight from the eight-hole,” Carpenter added. “I liked that he picked up the bit and wanted to race that other horse (Blatantly Best) down the stretch.”
Blatantly Best (Marcus Miller) held on for second, a length and a half behind the winner, while track record holder Big Brad closed well for driver Bobby Smolin to be third.
“This colt showed a lot of class early on,” said Simpson. “He got a little sick down at Lexington, but has come back out of that well.”
For more information visit www.balmoralpark.com or call (708) 672-1414.
About Balmoral Park: Located in Crete, IL just 12 miles south of 80/94; Balmoral Park has been one of the nation's premier horse racing facilities since 1926. Balmoral Park features live racing every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Admission and parking is always free.
