Dewey aims for 18th straight win in CTC elims

It’s an impressive array of 3-year-old trotting colts, but the star of the show on Saturday night will definitely be Deweycheatumnhowe, who’ll be seeking an 18th straight victory in the $40,000 eliminations for the upcoming $1 million(C) Canadian Trotting Classic at Mohawk.

The unbeaten superstar will be stepping onto a WEG track for the first time since last October, when he captured the Valley Victory elim and final in straight sets. In his last outing, he triumphed in the $565,000 World Trotting Derby in Du Quoin, Ill., and set a new lifetime mark of 1:50.4 on the Illinois State Fair’s one-mile track in the process. Fans should be prepared not only to witness another dominating performance on Saturday, but perhaps a new speed mark as well from this muscular son of Muscles Yankee.

Ray Schnittker co-owns, trains, and drives Deweycheatumnhowe, who’ll be leaving from post position two in the first of two Canadian Trotting Classic elims (race #3, post time 8:10 p.m.). He’s listed in the morning line at 2-5, odds which will likely become even shorter by post time. A short field of six other colts will be there to challenge him, but the only horse who has shown some ability to keep up with Dewey is the entry of Frank Antonacci, Crazed, who finished half a length behind his luminary rival in the 2008 edition of the Hambletonian. He’s rated at 2-1 and will have Tim Tetrick in the bike to guide him.

Seven colts have been lucky enough to dodge Dewey by drawing into the second of the two eliminations this Saturday (race #6, post time 9:15 p.m.). Of these, the most impressive is perhaps the Canadian-owned and trained Clerk Magistrate, who finished a creditable third to Dewey in the World Trotting Derby and, in his last effort at Mohawk, captured the $279,786 Goodtimes Stakes in June. Per Henriksen of Norwood, Ont. conditions and co-owns Clerk Magistrate, a winner of $481,946, and has tapped "Trotting Trevor" Ritchie to drive.

World Trotting Derby runner-up, Celebrity Secret, will also be going postward in the second elim for trainer Staffan Lind of Middletown, N.Y., with Tetrick in the bike. The son of Yankee Glide has drawn post five in the short field.

The top five finishers from each of the eliminations will advance to the $1 million final of the Canadian Trotting Classic, on Saturday, Sept. 13. (WEG)

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