Three straight for trotter

A Rod, driven by George Brennan, held off stablemate Frank The Hands down the stretch Saturday to win the $166,500 Dexter Cup by a length in 1:58.1 at Freehold Raceway.

A Rod sat third for much of the race before going three wide on the final turn to move past fraction-setters Wildwood Days and Ira K. Frank The Hands, driven by Jeff Gregory, followed A Rod through the stretch. Wildwood Days was third, five lengths behind the winner

It was the third consecutive triumph for A Rod, who with Ira K was one of two Dexter Cup elimination race winners last week. For the year, the 3-year-old trotter has four victories in nine races and $106,285 in purse earnings.

A Rod is trained by Paul Doherty for Ray Schnittker, Stephen Demeter, Kelk’s Inc., and Earl Scheelar. It’s the second straight year the Doherty-Schnittker stable teamed with Brennan to win the Dexter Cup. In 2005, Brennan guided Lindy Five Hundred to victory.

“This is a great win,” Demeter said. “This horse has just been super the last three weeks. We knew we had a good shot at it today. He’s really coming along. We’ll just take it one step at a time from here.” (HRC)

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