Will Sportsfancy dominate on Super Night?

September 13, 2007

While one �chalk� after another went down to defeat in most Super Night eliminations last weekend at Balmoral Park, a dominating performance by Sportsfancy reestablished her as the likely heavy fan favorite in Saturday�s Grandma Ann championship, and perhaps one of the more solid plays on the card.

�I look for Sportsfancy to be a major force on Super Night. In fact, the way she raced she might be the �Lock of the Night�,� said winning driver Ryan Anderson after guiding her to seven-plus length victory in 1:50.2, a new Balmoral Park track record for a 3-year-old filly.

The powerful performance followed a disappointing fourth place finish in a Hayes stake at DuQuoin and the bridesmaid role in the Springfield State Fair Final for Sportsfancy, who had won 9 of her first 13 season starts including the Maywood Filly Pace, the Violet and Hanover (Balmoral) and the Determination Plus (Hawthorne) championships.

�I just don�t think she liked the footing at Springfield or DuQuoin,� said Anderson. �She was back on her home track and she won very easily. She really likes Balmoral. I think she could have gone in �49� if I asked her.�

�She�s glad to be home,� said trainer Homer Hochstetler, who shares ownership of Sportsfancy with Bonnie and Joy Hutchinson of Warren, IL. �She wasn�t real comfortable downstate but she was her old self tonight.�

The Missing Fearsome Foursome

At the start of the year many of us thought the Pete Langley Super Night Championship would see arguably the best quartet of Illinois-bred freshman pacers in a single year all come back to the prairie state for the three-year-old colt mid-September showdown. The 2006 ICF Freshman Colt of the Year Home Bed Advantage (1:50.1), Woodrow Wilson champion Fox Valley Barzgar (1:50.2) and Glass Pack (1:50.4) were the first, second and fourth fastest first season pacers in all of North America, while American National and Abe Lincoln champ The Quiet Mon was the seventh quickest with a 1:51.2 mile.

However, only Glass Pack�who sold for $200,000 to east coast connections earlier this year�will make a Super Night appearance and his will be in the Langley consolation after getting knocked off stride by Booze Cruzin while on the lead at the top of the lane in the second elimination won by former Illinois multi-stake champion Incredible Tillie�s little brother Gotta Go Mo. The first Langley elim went to trainer Jim Eaton�s King Road (1:51.2, Dale Hiteman).

�Gotta Go Moe had �go�� said winning driver Brent Holland. �I think he was going to pass those horses even if they didn�t all tangle up. He tripped-out real well at Springfield. Last week he raced well but we started from inside and we got pushed back and weren�t in a real good spot. He deserved this win. He was better than he has been all year. When we raced him at Hawthorne we might have cost him a couple of wins trying to teach him to finish up. He isn�t a very big horse.�

Various physical woes have kept Fox Valley Bargzar on the sidelines all year. The Quiet Mon broke a splint bone when he finished second in his North America Cup elimination in early June and after successful surgery suffered a near fatal attack of diarrhea, losing between 300 to 400 pounds.

Meanwhile, Home Bed Advantage, a notorious poor �shipper,� came back to his Maywood Park based trainer Dave McCaffrey after failing to advance in his July Meadowlands Pace elimination all �skin and bones.�

�Home Bed Advantage has put back on about 100 pounds and I couldn�t be more pleased,� said McCaffrey. �He�s only a couple of weeks away from starting. We�re still eying the Windy City (October 12) at Maywood. He�s very good on a small track.�

Gotta Go Moe (1:51.2) will join four other Erv Miller trained sophomores in the Langley final: All Is Saidanddone, Fox Valley Curahee, Mahdi and Saratoga John.

Balmoral Park will have a special early 7 o�clock first post Saturday on Super Night.(By Mike Paradise)

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