Meadowlands: Sweet Lou takes eighth straight in U.S. Pacing Championship
On paper it appeared as if Sweet Lou could be threatened in the $257,700 U.S. Pacing Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands. On the track it proved a rather different story as the five-year-old captured his eighth straight race in 2014 winning in dominant fashion in 1:47 2/5.
Driver Ron Pierce made no mistakes settling Sweet Lou into a tuck in fourth in the early going waiting patiently past a :25 4/5 opening quarter set by Bettors Edge. Sweet Lou followed the move of State Treasurer past the quarter towards the front and was well in command at the half in :53 1/5. From that point it was a one horse race as Thinking Out Loud lagged without cover off the leaders.
With nothing but paydirt ahead Sweet Lou cut a 1:21 1/5 three quarters and sprinted home unthreatened in a :26 1/5 final quarter.
“He’s a super horse,” said Pierce following the race. As far as any attempt at breaking the world record on this afternoon Pierce was more direct. “Ron (trainer Burke) didn’t ask me to I was just going to try to win. If I had asked him he could have gone in :45.”
State Treasurer held on to the place spot with Thinking Out Loud resilient finishing third. Two-time Pacer Of The Year Captaintreacherous never kicked in finishing fifth in the field.
Sweet Lou won for the 30th time in his career as the prohibitive 2-5 betting favorite. The five-year-old by Yankee Cruiser is undefeated since driver Ron Pierce joined forces with him earlier this season and with the 1:47 2/5 effort became the first horse in harness history to win five straight races in under 1:48.
Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, Larry Karr and Phil Collura own the career winner of over $2.9 million.
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