Meadowlands: Ageless wonder Foiled Again outclasses TVG Free For All pacing field
The $512,000 TVG Free For All Pace was billed as the race of the year. It was a meant to be a battle between three titans – Captaintreacherous, Pet Rock and Foiled Again – but only the latter came to play with a big effort.
Golden Receiver charged off the gate from post seven and easily made the front over Bolt The Duer, who started from the outside 10-hole. With the opening quarter on the board in a swift 26 seconds, Foiled Again began his move to the front from the three-hole and made the top passing the half in 53 1/5.
As Foiled Again cleared the front, the outer tier began to form and gain momentum. Pet Rock led the charge with Captaintreacherous riding his live cover ahead of Modern Legend and Sweet Lou. Three quarters went on the board in 1:22 and Foiled Again was fending off Pet Rock successfully as Captaintreacherous loomed large from second-over and appeared to be the one to beat.
Foiled Again was faced with a firing line in behind him as he came down the stretch. Captaintreacherous came up flat, but Meadowlands lover Golden Receiver paced willingly through the stretch and would battle tooth and nail with Foiled Again.
In a year when 4-year-olds seemed to dominate the older pacing division, it was the 9-year-old Foiled Again who dug down deep and found enough to fend off the 8-year-old Golden Receiver for the victory in 1:49 2/5.
Bolt The Duer held on for third.
“If he don’t get tortured, he is hard to pass. He gets a lot of hard trips but that is what he likes,” said winning driver Yannick Gingras, who admitted that the dream end to Foiled Again’s year was far from his mind back in March when the gelding started his 2013 season.
“He finished up the year really strong last year,” said Gingras “But to think he is going to get even better and beat what everyone has said is one of the greatest fields ever assembled, I’d be lying if I said I thought he would.”
For the Ron Burke trained Foiled Again, it was his 76th win in 198 career starts. He has now earned an amazing $6,030,968 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Lawrence Karr and Phillip Collura. That total ranks him as the richest standardbred in history.
Foiled Again, who will be shut down until the middle of January before commencing training for his 10-year-old season, paid $7.80 to win. With the victory he is considered one of the leading candidates for Pacer of the Year with Captaintreacherous and a possible contender for Horse of the Year along with the undefeated trotting filly Bee A Magician.
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