Fairmount Park track report
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Glit gained his 24th win from 48 starts Saturday afternoon and set a track record for two furlongs in the process. Ridden by Jesse Wheat Jr., he beat Don't Hesitate Boy by a nose in 20.80 seconds, returning $5.60.
Glit, an 8-year-old gelding trained by Ralph Martinez, started his career in Florida and was 1 for 10 when he came to the Martinez barn in 1999. Since then he has won 23 of 37 starts, all at Fairmount save for one win at Hoosier Park last fall.
* Trainer Thomas Trione Jr. was off to a slow start this meet, winning with just one of his first 23 runners. Last Friday, however, was breakout night for Trione, a 38-year-old Collinsville native, as he sent out three winners on the card. They were Diamond Leap ($10) in the first, Veiled Danger ($56.60) in the fourth, and David's Melody ($9.80) in the eighth. Jose Mendez rode the first two and Nelson Medina the third.
* The 2003 season is a new beginning for Medina. He had struggled for years with his weight, and at the end of the 2001 season traded in his tack for a job with the United States Postal Service. Medina now has his hours with the post office arranged so he can ride races as well, but he has a different approach now.
"I am riding now strictly because I enjoy the competition," Medina said. "I tack 118 or 119 comfortably, don't worry about getting lighter, and feel no pressure at all to make money. I had gotten burned out before, now it is all a pleasure."
* Jockey Ramsey Zimmerman, who began his career here in 1998 as a 16-year-old apprentice, recently returned at the urging of agent Mark Cooper. Zimmerman got his first win of the meet Tuesday aboard Elite Spirit for leading trainer Martinez.
* Friday night's $15,000 Blunt Man Handicap matches the top sprinters on the grounds, with Living a Dream, Junket, Tic N Tin, and Silver Bid all figuring to be well-bet. The 8-year-old Tic N Tin would normally be the heavy favorite, but he ran poorly in both his starts this year, leaving the local sprint division wide open. Junket and Living a Dream both are in sharp form.