'Dewey' dominates Dancer elim, Celebrity Secret takes 2nd

Deweycheatumnhowe has proved once again how well he handles The Meadowlands mile track when he won the first $35,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial Trot Elimination Friday in 1:52.2.  Celebrity Secret and Tim Tetrick took the second elimination in 1:54.

Taking the lead before the quarter, Deweycheatumnhowe set soft fractions of :28, :56.1 and 1:25 before sprinting away down the stretch to remain undefeated in his Meadowlands starts.  Many horses had the pocket trip behind Deweycheatumnhowe and trainer-driver Ray Schnittker, including Intimidator (Andy Miller) and Blue York Yankee (David Miller), but went off stride.  Clerk Magistrate and Trevor Ritchie tipped out from the three hole before the three-quarters to challenge, but Deweycheatumnhowe strode away to a four and a half length victory with Schnittker never lifting his whip.

“He can just do anything; he can leave, he can come from behind, he’s real easy to drive, just a really nice horse,” Schnittker said.  “At the head of the lane I just asked him, he opened up three or four (lengths).  He’s got tremendous speed.”

Clerk Magistrate gamely finished second with Big Boy Lloyd (Ron Pierce) coming on for third.

Fresh off his win in the Dickerson Cup on June 27^th, Deweycheatumnhowe is now less than $7,000 away from being harness racing’s newest millionaire.  Tonight’s elimination win was only his second start on the year for owners Ray Schnittker, Ted Gewertz, Charles Iannazzo and Deweycheatumnhowe Stable.

Celebrity Secret, like a sling shot, came with a late rally in the stretch to win the second elimination in 1:54.  Tim Tetrick guided the New Jersey Sire Stakes Champion for trainer Staffan Lind.

Ace High Hall (Dan Dube) and NF Rivertown (Yannick Gingras) left well and hit the opening quarter in :28.2.  The lead then went to Helens Colt (Andy Miller) at the :56.1 half with Guida Muscle (John Campbell) coming up on the outside to take over at the top of the stretch.  Celebrity Secret was sitting third over around the last turn and pulled three wide make the front near the sixteenth pole.

“He’s coming into himself.  Not that his last couple of races were bad, but this colt keeps improving,” Tetrick said.  “That’s the right time to do that, going into the Hambo.  I was following Fuel My Muscles and he wasn’t keeping up with is cover very well.  My horse was real comfortable doing whatever I wanted; he’s a push button to drive, makes my job a lot easier.  I just moved him top of the lane and he gobbled up ground. 

“Dewey’s a great animal, we got our hands full to tackle Dewey, he’s a great horse, he’s proved a lot.  Our horse is in the dance and you gotta be in the dance to win it.”

Ace High Hall came up to finish second while Guida Muscle, even while being off stride at the finish, was third.

Celebrity Secret is owned by Celebrity Farms of New York, NY and Celebrity Secret Stable of Lexington, KY.  The Yankee Glide colt has now won his last four starts in a row, including the New Jersey Sire Stakes Final, on his way to earning just over $400,000 lifetime.  Celebrity Secret was winless in eight starts during his freshman campaign but finished second to Deweycheatumnhowe in last year’s Breeders Crown elimination and final.

Order By Lincoln (John Campbell) & Muscle Mass (Brian Sears) from the first elim and Atomic Hall (Eric Goodell) & Keystone Blitz (Ron Pierce) from the second elim rounded out the top ten finishers now eligible to the $350,000 final, to be held July 11.

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