Dover: Why Not Now impresses in Progress Pace triumph

Why Not Now, who was a fast-closing second in his elimination last week, was an impressive 1:48 2/5 winner from first-over in Wednesday night's $260,000 Progress Pace final for sophomore colts and geldings at Bally's Dover.

Driven by Andy McCarthy, Why Not Now landed in the fourth spot from post two while El Rey (Dexter Dunn), Moment Is Here (Tim Tetrick) and Cannibal (Yannick Gingras) left fast to his outside. El Rey had the most early speed and was able to get to the point in a rapid 25 4/5 quarter, forcing Cannibal to take up position in the pocket and Moment Is Here to relent and tuck into the third spot.

El Rey would maintain command through a quick 53 3/5 half, and Why Not Now would get going without cover heading to that marker. Stockade Seelster (David Miller) had a chance to track McCarthy's helmet but gapped out, leaving Ervin Hanover (Joe Bongiorno) in a tough spot third-over. The tempo would remain hot to three-quarters in 1:20 1/5, but El Rey couldn't blunt Why Not Now's first-over advance, and Moment Is Here had space to tip out two-wide and then three-wide midway through the final bend, too.

In the stretch Why Not Now was able to get by El Rey for good, and while Moment Is Here had a chance, he wasn't able to get to Why Not Now, as Why Not Now held sway by a length. El Rey ended up third and Cannibal, who was making his final career start, had to settle for fourth after lacking a rally from the two-hole. Stockade Seelster collected the fifth-place check.

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"We had a bit more of a fortunate draw tonight. We had the inside, so we could kind of pick and choose where we wanted to get away. I kind of had it in my head if it looked like there were going to be big fractions I wanted to be first-over," McCarthy said post-race. "The way that he felt last week, it felt like he's just got really long speed, this horse. I had it in my head I'd like to get away fourth, but I was just going to see who left and who didn't.

"Last week he felt really, really good. I know he didn't get the 'W,' but he felt amazing doing it the way he did. He was a little green getting up the inside. Going left, I don't think he'd ever done that before. It kind of gave me a pretty good insight into how good he is."

Trainer Dylan Davis also co-owns Why Not Now, an Always A Virgin colt bred by Dustin Miller, with partners Howard Taylor and Jeffrey Billings. Why Not Now has a record of 9-9-4 from 27 career starts, has now pocketed $706,880 and returned $7.80 to win as the 5-2 second choice.

"He's as tough as they are. I'm not saying that he's better than any of them, but he's as good as them," remarked Davis. "There's a lot to be said not being worse than third all year long. We've had a lot of the family, and the family has all been fast and gritty. Virgo is a full brother to him, and he was very good in Indiana also.

"(His future plans) are something we're going to have to figure out. Obviously he's done for the year, and we'll see where it goes from there."