Vernon: Dame Good Time downs favorites in Zweig Memorial for male trotters

Dame Good Time, sent off at 17-1, rallied out of the pocket in the stretch and was a 1:52 3/5 victor of the $300,000 Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters on Thursday night at Vernon Downs.

The complexion of the Zweig changed before it even began as 1-4 favorite T C I (David Miller) broke before the start. He did get back on-stride rather quickly, but was positioned last. Meanwhile, Dame Good Time (Scott Zeron) set sail for the lead from the outside post nine and reached the quarter in 25 4/5. Daiquiri Hanover (Ake Svanstedt) would then pull the trigger out of the third spot and moved around Dame Good Time for the lead.

Daiquiri Hanover put up in the half in a rated 55 1/5, and Amazing Catch (Dexter Dunn) got the outer tier going approaching that point. He was tracked on the outside by MGM Yonkers Trot winner Sir Pinocchio (Jason Bartlett) and T C I was third-over. Amazing Catch trotted up nicely on the final bend and was side-by-side with his Svanstedt stablemate at the 1:25 1/5 three-quarters as Sir Pinocchio went three-wide but broke and T C I was fanned out four-wide. Dame Good Time remained in contention as well as he was just biding his time in the two-hole.

Amazing Catch and Daiquiri Hanover continued their tussle through the stretch drive, but Zeron had ample room to put Dame Good Time into a three-wide path, and once he was shown the clear racetrack, Dame Good Time had plenty of trot to go with it, defeating a game Amazing Catch by a length and a half. Daiquiri Hanover had to settle for third and T C I wound up fourth. Bargain (Yannick Gingras) was fifth after getting shuffled back on the far turn.

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

Travis Alexander trains the winner, a Chapter Seven gelding, for owner John Cummins. Dame Good Time won for the fourth time in his career, has banked $336,240 and paid $36.60 to win.

"The changes we made between the Empire Breeders (where Dame Good Time broke late while leading and was second-placed third) and tonight made a difference," said Alexander. "Even with post nine we were confident in our colt, and Scott drove him accordingly."

A $50,000 consolation saw Private Access (Louis-Philippe Roy) take charge past the 26 3/5 quarter and trot on to a 1:52 1/5 win, defeating Life On The Bluf (Tim Tetrick) by four lengths. Thinker Monkey (Miller) was the third-place finisher.

Trained by Luc Blais, Private Access is a Muscle Hill colt owned by Determination. Bred by Fair Winds Farm, Private Access has a record of 3-3-2 from 14 outings, has put away $145,481 and returned $4.60 to win as the favorite.