A thrilling victory at Dover

Romantic Thriller, second, beaten by a nose last week, was at his best winning the $27,000 Open in 1:51.3 at Dover Downs on Monday, while Corey Callahan had a hot hand driving five winners.

 

Mike Cole rushed Todd Wise's Romantic Thriller into the lead after the half and then held off favorite Art Director (Ron Pierce) on the backstretch as a trio of rival converged on the final turn. Romantic Thrilled rolled down the late in :27.4 to hold off fast finishing Gottaservesomebodly, last week's feature race winner with Tony Morgan. Fast finishing Three Of Spades and Jon Roberts came on to finish third. The win was the 13th of the season for Romantic Thriller, a 4-year-old altered son of Mach Three-Romantic Wind, now a winner of $159,141 in 2009.

 

In the winner's circle photo were visiting Russian Justice Of the Peace Court Judges sponsored by The Open World Program. There were six judges, two interpreters and a facilitator and friends. The group was hosted by Kent County, Del. Justice of the Peace, James Murray of Dover.

 

Callahan picked up his fifth win on the card driving Aboycalledsu N to a 1:51.2 decision to win the $23,000 Jr. Open sub-feature. Larry Asher and trainer Kelly Lancaster own the New Zealand-bred son of Badlands Hanover-Sweet Suzy to his sixth win of the year. The 7-year-old gelding has now banked $118,975 this season. Western Ace (Pierce) came on strongly to finish second with Victor Vuitton N (George Dennis) the show finisher.

 

In one of three $18,000 paces, Ken Wood's Desmet scored a 5-1 victory in 1:51.3. The Other Cheek (Morgan) finished second. The show horse was Truly Chris (Dennis).

 

The biggest longshot of the meet led off the program. In a Delaware $10,000 claiming allowance pace, Brad Hanners drove Hancock, a 4-year-old Dragon's Lair gelding trained by Karen Crothers for owners Max Walton and Greg Papaleo, to a 97-1 upset paying $197 for a $2 win ticket. (Dover Downs)