Northfield: None Bettor matches track record in Battle Of Lake Erie triumph

There's no stopping Australian import None Bettor right now as he got a late invitation to the $200,000 Battle Of Lake Erie for aged male pacers on Saturday night at Northfield Park and took advantage, winning his sixth straight race and tying the all-age track record of 1:49 flat.

Driven by Joe Bongiorno, None Bettor hustled right to the lead from post six, with post seven starter Jimmy Freight (Jason Bartlett) tucking in right behind him. Those two were first and second at the 26 4/5 opening quarter, and then on the second turn Rodeo Rock (Eric Goodell) came first-over from the third spot, moving to within half a length of None Bettor at the 55 second half-mile mark.

None Bettor dispatched Rodeo Rock quite easily, with that one backpedaling before the 1:22 three-quarters, and that set the stage for a match race between None Bettor and Jimmy Freight through the final quarter. The pace-setter had no intention of letting Jimmy Freight have any chance to go by, though, holding serve to win by a length and a quarter. Southwind Amazon (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) was the third-place finisher, followed by The Wall (Brett Miller) and Filibuster Hanover (Chris Page).

"It's hard to say at this point how good he is," remarked Bongiono. "I think he's just going to keep getting better the longer he's here, and to handle the ship the way he did tonight was pretty impressive. He acts like a good foreign horse because the second he crosses over to the front you're on a loose line and he's having fun. As you could see, he wants to drop his head as the mile's going, and he just feels good and he does everything on his own.

"He's not staked at all. I don't know how many invite races there are for these aged pacers, but hopefully he's proven himself enough now, and I think he'll get invited to other races."

Jenn Bongiorno trains None Bettor, a 6-year-old gelding by Bettor's Delight, for owners Joe P Racing LLC. and Oldford Racing LLC. This was None Bettor's 22nd career victory, and he has now earned $229,245. The 2-1 favorite, he paid $6.60 to win.

The undercard features were a pair of $50,000 Ohio Sires Stakes splits for 3-year-old trotting fillies, and they were won by Pure Chance (Jason Thompson/Chris Beaver) in 1:54 2/5 and Only Take Cash (Aaron Merriman/Bob McIntosh) in 1:54 1/5.