Wildwild Men and driver Robert Shepherd dominated the 15th edition of the $67,500 Dream Of Glory Trot, winning in wire-to-wire fashion on a stakes-filled Saturday night (July 30) at Hanover Raceway.
Shepherd left quickly from post four with the 6-5 favoured elimination winner and controlled the tempo through fractions of :29.1, :59.4 and 1:29 on their way to the 1:58.2 victory. P C Cantore (Ross Battin) chased the winner home from the pocket, finishing two and three-quarter lengths behind in second-place, while Very Classy (Steve Byron) followed in third. Gonna Fly (Brad Forward) rallied three-wide down the backstretch off the cover of Chestnut Schofield (Keith Jones) to finish fourth, with Pukka (Bob McClure) tracking that move to earn the final paycheque in fifth.
Wildwild Men paid $4.20 to win. The 8-5 second choice in the field, elimination winner Smoke Monkey, broke stride at the start and was never a factor.
“He’s a nice horse. He’s very handy; he caught the turns really good,” said Shepherd after the race. “My girlfriend Isabelle [trainer Darveau] has done a great job with him. He’s a nice horse.”
Wildwild Men has now won four straight races, including a pair of Quebec-Bred Series legs prior to his Dream Of Glory sweep. His 1:58.2 winning time in the final matched his lifetime mark.
“We had a couple of eliminations in Quebec before he came and we timed it out that it would give hims 12 days until the eliminations,” said Shepherd of the three-year-old gelding’s schedule leading up to the signature Hanover race. “He was really good. The same routine as usual. He trained really good two days out and he loves his work.”
Wildwild Men earned his ninth career win from 17 starts and boosted his lifetime earnings over the $100,000 mark.
The Muscle Mass-Seeyouinthecircle gelding was joined in the winner’s circle for the celebrations by owners Catheline Pelletier of Mirabel, Que. and Chantal Gravel of St-Cyrille-De-Wendover, Que.
With four divisions settled by a margin of one length or less, Ontario’s talented three-year-old pacing colts did their part to warm-up the big crowd gathered for the Dream Of Glory Trot.
(Standardbred Canada)
