Walley holding off St. Thomas' Seattle Chief, during Sunday's race in Sea Cows Bay

Actspectation pulls off another victory over St. Thomas’ Winners Share

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Actspectation improved to 2-0 on home turf with his third straight victory over St. Thomas Winners Share, in their 1-1/8-mile showdown on Sunday at the Little A. Race Track in Sea Cows Bay. He was also victorious in the August Festival Chief Minister’s Cup over a 1-1/16-mile match-up.

“I told the jockey to go to the lead and whoever comes, just don’t let them pass,” Actspectation’s owner Bob Hodge said afterwards. “I wanted him to take the lead, set the pace and make sure he had something left to finish with.”

Act withstood Winners Share’s late challenge in the final furlong to complete a wire to wire victory in a time of 1 minute 57 flat, with Classic Heilo placing a distant third.

“Coming down to where we started from on the last lap, I saw Winners Share was closing hard and I was a bit concerned,” Hodge admitted. “But,” he added. “I wasn’t worried.”

Preceding the Act vs Winners Share feature, the second of two 7 Furlong races produced the most excitement and the closest finish. In the race for Class B and C horses, Purple Ruckass and J.R. Belongs of St. Thomas showed the way before the serious racing began on the back stretch. Livermore Run took over the lead with Supremacy on his heels and Fantastic boy in tow. Supremacy came of the final turn clearly in the lead, then went to a narrow victory in 1:31 flat, leaving Livermore Run and Fantastic Boy to battle for second place. Fantastic Boy who made a later charge nosed out Livermore Run in a photo finish. J.R. Belongs was fourth followed by Purple Ruckass.

“This race was strictly about instructions in I knew we could have pulled it off today,” Supremacy’s Eli “Boogie” Hodge said. “We told the jockey to let them go because they have more speed, then come and catch them and we knew we could catch them. They got caught in the web today.” Hodge said he also knew Fantastic Boy would also pose a challenge. “He showed in his debut that he can come off the pace with a good amount of speed and he showed it today, but I had enough left in the tank to pull it off.”

Walley ran a smart race by staying off the early pace set by Rushing Away and then Seattle Chief for a thrilling victory in 1:31-1/5, in the first 7 Furlong race for Class C horses. St. Thomas’ Seattle chief controlled the early race pace before Rushing Away challenged for the lead. Walley who was in fourth place behind Batch One-another St. Thomas horse—made his move on the back stretch heading into the final turn. Walley came off the final bend to victory as Seattle Chief, Rushing Away, Batch One and Finnly followed.

In the card’s lone one-mile race comprised of Class D and E horses, St. Thomas’ Bay Ivan ran neck and neck with Sunday F over the first lap before pulling away and cruising to an easy three and a half lengths victory in 1:48 flat. Running on the inside, Bay Ivan held a slim lead over Sunday F before breaking away heading into the back stretch as he widened his lead. Fabulous Cherokee and Smooth Legend and Mountain Man all passed fast fading Sunday F, who ran out of gas.

The card opened with Arabian Dinner posting a victory over St. Thomas’ Black Berry Sting, Carnelo Twist and Miss Rea. Arabian Dinner had a time of 1:19.0 over the six furlongs for Class E and F horses. Ladie Bigge nosed out Quaker Rat in their four furlong race in a time of 1:06 flat, to close out the day’s racing.