Clerk Magistrate took command at the three-eighths marker and waved good-bye to his peers as he trotted to a 1-1/2 length victory in the second of two C$40,000 eliminations for the Canadian Trotting Classic.
Sent off as the 8-5 second choice, Clerk Magistrate and Trevor Ritchie, and Celebrity Secret partnered with Tim Tetrick, swapped places for the lead before settling in with Celebrity Secret in front. Clerk Magistrate didn't linger long, however, before pulling out of the pocket spot and surging to the lead.
Despite an anxious moment in the far turn where he drifted to the center of the racetrack, the son of Andover Hall-Weather Bird kept command of the seven horse field and kicked away by two lengths in the stretch, to win in 1:54. John Campbell sent Napoleon after the leader in the final strides but couldn't get any closer than third, while Celebrity Secret settled for the place spot. Ritchie commented, "He was doing everything wonderful and he was nice and relaxed, maybe too relaxed. He started to drift out for a second or two, I don't really know what he was thinking. So I just hollered at him a little bit and he got back into the business. "Ever since I've driven him he's always given his best. He's learned now that he can leave out of there a little bit, but he doesn't have to -- he actually likes to come off a helmet pretty good, so he's turned into an all-around good horse. "Until a horse gets beat, you never know how much is left in the tank," Ritchie added regarding the first CTC elim, which destroyed the unbeaten streak of Deweycheatumnhowe. "Tonight (Dewey) got beat, for whatever reason, he maybe just had an off night -- but once you see that they can get beat, you go after them a little harder." Clerk Magistrate is trained and co-owned by Per Henriksen and has scored seven wins in 18 lifetime starts. The win pushed his earnings over the C$500,000 mark and earned his connections the right to select his post position for next week's C$1 million CTC final. Clerk Magistrate will start from post two, with fellow elim winner Crazed on his immediate outside and Deweycheatumnhowe suffering the further indignity of having drawn post 10. (WEG)
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