Breeders Crown: Persistence pays off for Dandy Ideal in Open Pace final

Elimination winner Dandy Ideal vindicated himself from a defeat in last year's Breeders Crown and kept digging on the coals of hot fractions to seize the $662,000 Grade 1 Breeders Crown Open Pace final in a track-record-equaling 1:47 3/5 mile on Saturday night (Oct. 24) at Eldorado Scioto Downs.

Driver Tim Tetrick landed into fourth out of post three with Dandy Ideal as 49-1 shot Surreal Ideal (driven by Brett Miller) barreled out of post eight to snatch the lead into the first turn. Best Chip (Jason Bartlett) also pushed out and soon looped to the lead after a 25 4/5 first quarter while Tetrick then swung off the pylons to procure an outside lane. Women Layer (Yannick Gingras), the other elimination winner, then flushed off the cones from third and marched first-up to challenge for the lead into a 53 2/5 half.

Best Chip fought to hold his ground against Women Layer on the backstretch, but Women Layer put him away and crossed to the lead nearing three-quarters in 1:19 4/5, leaving Dandy Ideal to press uncovered. Dandy Ideal clawed toward Women Layer through the last turn and drew to equal terms in the stretch before inching by in the final strides to win by a quarter-length. Calicojack Hanover (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) flew from a ground-saving mid-pack trip for second with Women Layer taking third and Best Chip settling for fourth.

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"There was speed off the gate and they were rocking," Tetrick said. "Best Chip was doing his best work on the front. We got a good trip, and we needed all of it. It was definitely a horse race. He's just a winner. He's got a big heart, he tries hard, and the connections had him ready. Good horses, they pull through. I was super-impressed with him last week off that long layoff, and he still got the job done. Today we got the same kind of trip and he needed it, but it doesn't say that on the paycheck."

Dandy Ideal equaled the track record for 4-year-old pacing geldings with the win, a record coincidentally set by third-place finisher Women Layer when he won an Open Pace back on Aug. 9 of this year. The son of American Ideal-OK Heavenly was denied a Breeders Crown win last year by a neck at Woodbine Mohawk Park to Sippinonsearoc after winning his elimination for the 3-Year-Old Colt Pace.

Brett Pelling trains Dandy Ideal for owners Susan Oakes and Alan Johnston. The gelding, bred by Stephen Dey III and Dandy Farms Inc., won his seventh race from 12 starts this season and his 23rd race from 41 starts in his career, accruing $1.67 million in earnings. He also gave Pelling, who scored two Breeders Crown trophies this year, his third win in the Open Pace and his first since taking the 2000 edition with Western Ideal at the Meadowlands. Tim Tetrick, winning his first Breeders Crown trophy of the year, won for the second time in this division after taking the 2007 edition with Artistic Fella. Pelling and Tetrick also teamed for their first Breeders Crown win together since winning the 2023 3-Year-Old Colt Pace with Dan Patch Horse of the Year Confederate.

"They're so hard to win," Tetrick said about the Breeders Crown. "You could have the best horse and not get a check, so it's always good to not get shut out. I was hoping I didn't get skunked. I hadn't been very good up to here, a couple horses raced OK, a couple didn't. I'm just happy to be a part of the Breeders Crown. It's a great facility and I'm glad Scioto was a big sponsor for it. Hopefully we can come back soon."

Sent off as the betting favorite, Dandy Ideal paid $6.60 to win.