Dover: Swingforthefences struts his stuff in Matron victory

Swingforthefences, the Indiana Sires Stakes and Carl Erskine Memorial champion, ended his winning streak to six with a front-stepping 1:52 1/5 victory in the $156,300 Matron final for sophomore colt and gelding trotters on Thursday night at Dover Downs.

Driven by Peter Wrenn, Swingforthefences marched to the point from post six and was in the lead through panels of 27, 56 3/5, and 1:24 1/5. Capstone (Ake Svanstedt) tried to attack first-over from third before three-quarters, but he immediately stalled out, forcing a second-over and favored In Range (Tim Tetrick) three-wide on the final bend.

In the lane Incommunicado (Yannick Gingras) attempted to collar the pace-setter after a pocket trip, but Swingforthefences was game and kept him at bay, winning by three-quarters of a length. In Range wound up taking third.

"I thought he'd handle [racing on a five-eighths] real well. We raced him on a really bad track in Delaware [Ohio] during Jug Day. That's the only he ever shipped before that. He got around there fine," said Wrenn. "I didn't think he'd have any problems here, and it was probably to our advantage that he hadn't had to ship. These poor guys have been shipping every week long distances, and I'm sure a lot of them are tired.

"Naturally I wasn't going to be too stupid about things. I didn't have to have the lead, but it worked out well for us. He's handy, and it's a speed track. There's a short stretch, and he's used to a quarter-mile long stretch. He wasn't sure if we were done or not."

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Wrenn also noted that the victorious Swan For All gelding still has more races left in 2021 back at Harrah's Hoosier Park.

"At this moment he's got to go back. He's got a couple more stakes at Hoosier, and then we're going to talk it over and see what we're going to do with him," Wrenn stated.

Melanie Wrenn trains Swingforthefences, who was bred by Concord Stud Farm, for owners David McDuffee and L&L Devisser LLC. Swingforthefences is now a 14-time winner in his career, and he has now earned $644,040. He was the 2-1 second choice and paid $6.40 to win.