Yonkers: Zacon Gio dominates field in International Trot

Italy's Zacon Gio brought an 11-race win streak into Saturday's $1 million International Trot on Saturday afternoon at Yonkers Raceway, and he would make it 12 straight after an authoritative, convincing, and impressive 2:24 1/5 victory over the one and a quarter miles.

Driven by Roberto Vecchione, Zacon Gio, who was hammered down to even-money in the wagering, settled into the fifth position while Atlanta (Yannick Gingras) strode to the lead and left out Switzerland's Uza Josselyn (Erik Adielsson). Atlanta crawled through opening-half fractions of 28 1/5 and 59, with Zacon Gio vacating the cones to get into a second-over position past the half.

Atlanta and Uza Josselyn stayed first and second at the 1:28 three-quarters, but going to the 1:55 4/5 mile mark, Vecchione squeezed out three-wide ahead of a third-over Guardian Angel AS (Tim Tetrick) with Zacon Gio, and once he had clear sailing, Zacon Gio stepped around Atlanta on the far turn and began to open up. Zacon Gio continued to pour it on through the lane, opening up at will and winning by open lengths over Denmark's Slide So Easy (Ake Svanstedt). Marion Marauder (Scott Zeron), representing Canada, finished third, with Guardian Angel AS fourth. Defending champion Cruzado Dela Noche (Brian Sears), the Swedish representative, finished fifth.

There was an inquiry after the race into the three-wide move Vecchione made with Zacon Gio going to the mile mark, seeing if he had committted interference against Guardian Angel AS, but there was no change to the order.

"He didn't notice that one, and he didn't understand why because for him everything was normal," Vecchione said about the inquiry via interpreter.

As for the race itself, Vecchione said that things went according to plan, though the early slow pace was a bit of a concern.

"He noticed right away Uza Josselyn was not going to pass Atlanta, so then he held his horse on the inside, and everything came perfectly," he stated through the interpreter. "He is a champion. He always playing. He's always like a young horse, but when he's racing there he knows what to do. He is the best horse which he has ever driven in his life, and he has a lot of confidence. He believes in this horse, even in the future.

"He was not worried about (the pace) after the first quarter. When it was a little bit slower the horse was getting a little bit angry because he was like what are we going to do here, are we going to race or are we going to jog here? He knew in the end he would be the strongest."

Zacon Gio, who cost just 3,000 euros as a yearling, is a 4-year-old son of Ruty Grif and is out of the Yankee Glide mare May Glade Font SM. Trained by Holger Ehlert for owner Franco Giuseppe, Zacon Gio now has a record of 21-2-2 from 29 career starts, and he has earned $996,834 in US dollars. He paid $4.30 to win.

"He knew that he could win because he had just raced on a half-mile track in Italy, and he has faced Face Time Bourbon, who he thinks at the moment is the best horse in Europe. He beat him, and he was very convinced that he could do it today," Ehlert said through an interpreter. "He was happy about the position. He was a little bit worried because they went quite slow in the first kilometer, but then in the last 600 meters he knew that he would come."

Zacon Gio's connections were considering a possible supplement to the Breeders Crown, but decided he will be shut down for the year, with an eye on big races again next year.

"We want to do what's right by the horse," Ehlert said.

The goal of the connections is next May's Gran Premio Lotteria, and they would love to plan a schedule to come back to the International Trot and Breeders Crown after that.

As for Atlanta, she stopped despite the slow pace after being passed, and Gingras remarked after the race that he "knew with a lap to go she was done."

--additional reporting and quotes by Derick Giwner--