River Shark made two moves early in the mile and drew off to a powerful 2 3/4-length victory in the $67,000 Robert Suslow final Saturday night at the Meadowlands.
River Shark was hard-pressed to make the lead on the opening turn and faced immediate pressure from Glad To Back in a :26.3 first split. Unwilling to sit in the two hole, driver Dan Dube and River Shark re-claimed command from Glad To Be Back and spiraled to the half in :53.2. River Shark kicked away from the field on the final turn and motored to a career-best 1:50.4 clocking. Sent off the 2-5 favorite, River Shark paid $2.80 to win. Lifesong and OK Braveheart rallied off the hot fractions for place and show, respectively. “I didn’t want to go that fast (to the quarter and half), but I had no choice,” Dube said. “I had to use him. He did it so easily. He has a good gait, (those fractions) were nothing for him. Every time you ask him, he gives you something. That’s good. He showed something special today, to deal with those fractions and keep going. I like how he sees somebody come close to him and goes again.”
Dave Sabatelli trains and co-owns River Shark with Aaron Waxman and Carmine Fusco. The son of Four Starzzz Shark-Riverview Diamond is eligible to the $225,000 Berry’s Creek on May 9. “It’s awful nice after having his dad to come back with a nice colt like this from him,” said Sabatelli, who also trained the colt’s sire, Four Starzzz Shark. “Plans are for him to have a week off and then we’ll go to the Berry’s Creek and see how we go from there. He’s got a pretty heavy stakes schedule. He’s not eligible to the Meadowlands Pace or the North America Cup, but just about everything else. I think the greatest quality about him is his grit. He’s tough. He doesn’t have a lot of quit in him. He’s pretty versatile and Danny’s (Dube) teaching him how to race. He’s raced him both ways (on the front and off the pace), and he’s been successful both ways, so I give a lot of credit to Danny.” (Meadowlands)
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