Ron Burke: "Lou trained well" at Meadowlands

Trainer Ron Burke had the 3-year-old colt pacer Sweet Lou out on the track at the Meadowlands Saturday morning and afterward he tweeted: "Lou trained well still tinkering with equipment." Railbirds at the Big M for the training mile told harnessracing.com that stopwatches clocked Sweet Lou's mile unofficially at 1:49.3.

 

With the $800,000 Meadowlands Pace eliminations one week away on July 7, this was the first appearance for Sweet Lou since he finished fourth as the beaten favorite in the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup June 16 at Mohawk Racetrack. Following that effort, Sweet Lou's first loss after three straight wins to open up his sophomore season--including a career-best 1:47.4 effort in his NA Cup elim--Burke announced he was going to make some equipment changes. Included among the chances was a switch from steel shoes to aluminum shoes.

 

"They may help hm be more aggressive," Burke said at the time of the shoeing switch. He also said he was going to let the hobbles out for the son of Yankee Cruiser and although he tried an open bridle, he remained with a closed bridle.

 

"I tried an open bridle, but he was too busy with it," Burke added. "He just wanted to play with me.”