Fly High Cruiser and catch driver Trae Porter leaves the winners circle at Rosecroft Raceway last Saturday night after capturing the finale in 1:50.1 for trainer Mike Hall.
A full field of pacers lines up behind the starting gate for the penultimate race on the Saturday night card at Rosecroft Raceway. Shestillthinksicare (Russell Foster) captured that race in 1:49.4, the fastest clocking on the 10-race card that capped the winter-spring meet.
Fly High Cruiser and catch driver Trae Porter leaves the winners circle at Rosecroft Raceway last Saturday night after capturing the finale in 1:50.1 for trainer Mike Hall.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
A full field of pacers passes the grandstands the first time in the penultimate race on the Saturday night card at Rosecroft Raceway.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
A full field of pacers lines up behind the starting gate for the penultimate race on the Saturday night card at Rosecroft Raceway. Shestillthinksicare (Russell Foster) captured that race in 1:49.4, the fastest clocking on the 10-race card that capped the winter-spring meet.
Last Saturday night marked the conclusion of the Rosecroft Raceway winter-spring meet as the five-eighths mile harness oval in Prince George’s County recognized its top equine and human participants hours after the famed Preakness Stakes was contested at Laurel Park for the first time.
In the finale on the closing night card at Rosecroft last Saturday, Fly High Cruiser (Trae Porter) just lived up to his role as the 3-5 favorite in a non-winners of $6,750 last four starts class for older pacers when he rallied from well off the pace and widest of all to nail Naturalborn Leader at the wire for a determined nose score in 1:50.1.
A 4-year-old Yankee Cruiser gelding trained by Mike Hall for owner John Littleton Jr., Fly High Cruiser recorded his second win in three starts at the meet and lifted Hall to the training title for the meet, one better than Johnny Crites Jr. Driver Jonathan Roberts had secured the driving title two weeks earlier, finishing more than 20 wins in front of Russell Foster, who had the distinction of being the regular pilot for champion pacer Spring Blake and trotter College Tuition.
Spring Blake, a 4-year-old Maryland-bred son of Courtly Choice owned and trained by Johnny Crites, Jr., was tabbed as the horse of the meet after posting an 8-2-1 slate and earnings of nearly $55,000 during 11 starts at the meet. He also made two starts at Harrah’s Philadelphia where he finished second once and fourth once.
One race earlier, though, Shethinksistillcare (Foster) posted the fastest mile of the night when he just outlasted the late bid of favored Third Pillar for a nose score in 1:49.4. A 6-year-old Western Vintage gelding trained by Megan Foster, Shethinksistillcare recorded his second win in his last three local starts and fifth victory in 17 seasonal outings and lowered his lifetime mark by nearly two full seconds in the process.
Then two races earlier, Starship (Jonathan Roberts) lived up to his billing as the 1-5 favorite in a non-winners of $4,000 last four starts class for older pacers when he cleared Dancing On A Star to gain command before the opener, maintained an honest tempo to the half and three-quarters then edged clear late to a three-length score in 1:51.2 for owner-trainer William “Bib” Roberts.
Two nights earlier in the Thursday finale, Lulu Rocks (Russell Foster) lived up to her billing as the 3-5 favorite in a non-winners of $6,000 last four starts class for pacing fillies and mares when she gained command before the opener then later rebuffed the first over bid of 6-5 second choice Peace Talks (Roberts) for a two-length score while stopping the timer in 1:52.1 for her second straight local tally for trainer Eli Scott Jr.
Three races earlier, Victor Laszlo (Eric Davis) easily lived up to his billing as the 1-5 favorite in the $12,000 Open Trot Handicap when he overcame a first over bid to overhaul second choice College Tuition (Foster) in the lane for a three-length score while stopping the timer in 1:54.1 for his second straight sharp score over the strip for owner-trainer Janet Davis.
With the conclusion of the Rosecroft winter-spring meet last Saturday night, the harness racing scene in Maryland will now shift to Ocean Downs, a half-mile track in Berlin, five miles west of Ocean City. Ocean Downs will offer 44 nights of live racing and conclude just after Labor Day as the seaside oval presents four Maryland Sire Stakes finals for two-year-olds.
Rosecroft will resume live racing in September and then offer live racing two nights each week through December.
In addition to the Grade III, $125,000 Potomac Pace in November, Rosecroft will revive the Maryland Sire Stakes Showcase of Champions card on Sunday, Oct. 11, with all eight, $95,000 MDSS finals for two- and three-year-old trotters and pacers of both genders.
