Woodbine Mohawk Park: Remarkable recovery by T C I in Mohawk Million

The fact T C I won Saturday night's C$1 million Mohawk Million for 2-year-old trotters wasn't particularly surprising given he was the favorite and had a laundry list of other stakes victories coming into the event. The way he did it, though, was one for the books, as he made a lengthy break at the start, got back into contention, and rallied widest from fourth-over to score over fellow Ron Burke trainee Tennessee Tom in 1:54 3/5.

T C I, driven by David Miller, started from post eight but was off-stride as the gate pulled away and would be joined on a break by second choice Drawn Impression (Louis-Philippe Roy), who miscued while two-wide and near the front of the pack on the first turn. Miller got T C I to get back on-stride but was 15 lengths behind surprise leader Tactical Strike (Gino Toscani), a 171-1 shot trained by Desiree Jones, who got to the quarter in 27 2/5. The pace-setter was followed in the pocket by another Jones trainee in Top Mast (Travis Cullen), the second-longest shot on the board at 163-1.

"We added a mini-bit to him, and scoring down he was fussing with it and hanging on a line," Miller said about T C I's miscue. "I just think that made him mad and he did that."

Tactical Strike continued on the lead to the half in just 57 1/5 as Security Protected (Tim Tetrick) wound up two-wide and first-over after floating out from post nine and didn't advance quickly towards the leader. While that was going on ahead, T C I was now about 11 lengths behind and swung out into the outer flow that also contained Allegiant (Scott Zeron) and Tennessee Tom (Chris Page). The tempo did increase on the final bend and to the 1:26 1/5 three-quarters as Security Protected moved forward to within three-quarters of a length of Tactical Strike. The horses behind Secruity Protected began to fan out late on the turn, with T C I stacking up widest to the outside of Tennessee Tom.

In the lane Tactical Strike was still game and held sway until mid-stretch when she gave way as the closers took center stage. T C I still had the best kick despite all that had transpired and powered by Tennessee Tom into the lead inside the final eighth. When they crossed the wire, after the most adventurous of trips, T C I was the victor by a length and a quarter. Allegiant wound up third, followed by Top Mast and Griff (James MacDonald).

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"At the quarter I was like 'we got the Breeders Crown still,' and then I got him out in the flow, but he was running in so much around the last turn he really wasn't making any ground up," Miller offered. "As soon as he got in the straightaway I said 'he's going to win.'"

A Cantab Hall colt bred by Concord Stud Farm, T C I is trained by Burke for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Hatfield Stables, Knox Services Inc. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. He has nine wins and a second from ten appearances, has banked C$1,261,970 and paid $3.80 to win.

"My heart stopped. This colt's so flawless normally that you just don't expect it and when it happened you're like 'oh no,' and that's all you can do," remarked assistant trainer Mickey Burke Jr. "Then you just watch the race and see what happens. He just put in a phenomenal effort. Fortunately the race set up for someone coming from behind. With his talent he was able to do it. Give the colt a lot of credit.

"I was still watching both of them because I just wanted to see where the other colt is going to be. When the half time came up, I'm going this works for us because now he didn't have to trot a whole lot to catch the field. It wasn't like he was chasing a fast half. He just kept going and just kept working along. I was watching Tom, too, because I've had that colt all year, and I was like he can be in this thing. When they started coming home, I'm like 'just go colts, just go colts.' I wasn't rooting for either one."

Through the season, there has been a lot written and said about the connections wanting to see T C I raced from off-the-pace, despite his success racing on the front-end, and Miller joked during his post-race interview that they finally got him to do it. Burke Jr. also commented on that, saying, "We just want to win. On the front-end has been the way to go, but like he said today, he was able to come off the helmet, so now we'll see what happens."

The same ownership group co-owns Tennessee Tom, so it was a banner night for them according to Bud Hatfield of Hatfield Stables.

"It's unbelievable. That race should be history-making because that was just wonderful. It was really exciting," he offered. "I thought it was over quite honestly, but that horse is special. That horse is really special. Dave did a great job, and you've got to give Ronnie Burke credit. This horse has been at the Meadowlands, Pocono, Hoosier Park and here and still he gets him ready every week. It's amazing."

Hatfield also cleared up something that has been speculated on as the horse has been winning: what does T C I stand for?

"Turks and Caicos Islands - my wife, we were visiting there and she saw a hat - it said T C I on it," Hatfield said. "So she came back and called Mark Weaver and said 'Mark, can we change that name?' because he had another really good name. He said 'I'll talk to Ronnie' and they said 'okay.'"