Anndrovette repeats, Tetrick sets Crown mark

Tim Tetrick became the first driver to win four Crown finals in one night, when he steered Anndrovette to victory in the $331,500 (US) Breeders Crown Mare Pace Saturday evening at Woodbine Racetrack.

Tetrick, who won earlier on the card with Chapter Seven (Crown Trot), American Jewel (Three-Year-Old Filly Pace) and Heston Blue Chip (Three-Year-Old Colt Pace), also joined Hall of Famers John Campbell (1985, 1993), Mike Lachance (2000) and Ron Pierce (2004, 2005) as the only four-time Crown race winners in a single year, when all 12 races were not combined into one evening.

Anndrovette, a five-year-old daughter of Riverboat King-Easy Miss, thus successfully defended her Crown title, after winning the same event last year at Woodbine.   It was her seventh win of the season in a busy 23-race campaign and the victory, worth $165,750, pushed her career bankroll to over $2 million.

After taking the field through an opening quarter in :26.1 Tetrick allowed Anndrovette to settle in third, as Rebeka Bayama cut out splits of 54 seconds for the half and 1:22.3 for three-quarters, before being challenged by Drop the Ball. 

The two favourites appeared poised for a stretch battle before Tetrick eased Anndrovette out for a late close, eventually scoring by one and one-half lengths in 1:50.1.    Drop the Ball outduked Rebeka Bayama for the place award by almost two lengths.

"It’s been an amazing ride,” said the 30-year-old Tetrick.  "I just feel very fortunate. I thank God, all the owners and trainers, my wife for standing behind me. It’s just been great.

"My mare is really tough. She likes to be forwardly placed.  She can either cut it or follow when it’s going plenty fast. Today,  (driver) Sylvain’s (Filion) mare (Rebeka Bayama) came and I let him go. I made him work at it a little bit. At the top of the lane I got lucky and squeezed out behind (driver) Yannick (Gingras) and Drop The Ball) and my mare did the rest of the work from there. She just took right off.

"She’s tough as nails. Last week she got parked and she came back with a vengeance. She’s very tough about that. She turns the page very quickly.”

Dismissed at 6-1, Anndrovette paid $14.90, $6.10 and $3.50, teaming with Drop the Ball ($3.60, $2.90) for a $55.70 (4-11) exactor.  A 4-11-9 (Rebeka Bayama, $2.80) triactor returned $152.80, while a $1 superfecta [4-11-9-3 (Camille)] came back $486.25. (Breeders Crown)

« Back