Photo of Swan Man and Marcus Miller by Dean Gillette
It was a battle between trotters Thursday, September 24 with Swan Man and Marcus Miller getting the last call at the wire, scoring the win in the $10,000 conditioned trot. With four across the track at the wire, Swan Man was a winner in 1:57.0, a new career best.
Swan Man began from post two and only used a small amount of speed to secure the three hole as Montebello and Trace Tetrick rallied out and took over the top spot heading into he first turn. Dojea Carter and Kevin Lambright were in second through the quarter in :28.0. The field was evenly spaced out heading to the half in :58.1 as Don’t Keep Secrets and Logan Loney began the first over journey.
Swan Man was quickly shuffled back to fifth around the final turn and seemed buried among horses, but Miller scooted the trotter out into the two path, still covered up but still advancing. Midway through the stretch, he moved out one more path and Swan Man was determined to get to the wire first, winning by a neck in the last stride over Always at Harry’s and Jared Finn, who were part of the outer flow around the final turn. Don’t Keep Secrets was another half length back in third with Dojea Carter sneaking up the rail to finish another neck back in fourth.
Swan Man paid $23.00 for the win. The four-year-old son of Swan for All is owned by Beentheredonethat Racing and Rockridge Racing. Kim Roth trains the gelding, who was bred by Michigan’s Mary Smith.
It was the second win of the year for Swan Man, who had a handful of starts at two before missing the entire season last year. It was only his second start back after a break since May. He now has three career wins and more than $27,000 on his card.
Later in the card, two-year-old pacer Seek Perfection and Trace Tetrick took over after the quarter and led the field of freshmen to the wire for a win in 1:56.1. Breezy Knoll and Anthony Miller finished second over Classicobservation and Brandon Bates.
Seek Perfection was the favorite of the field, paying $4.80 for the win. The Capt Midnight filly is owned by Marvin Schwartz, Zach Miller and Dessa Miller. Zach trains the filly, who was bred and raised by Lyndar Stables and Doug Overhiser. The filly was an $8,000 purchase from the Midwest Standardbred Horse Sale last fall.
The racing program was on the heels of the Little Brown Jug from the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio. Redland Rocket Man and Jody Jamison scored the victory by open lengths in the $550,000 final of the Jug. Also on the card was the $79,350 Buckette, won by Pony Chrome, who hails from the LeWayne Miller barn. Lamar Wingard drove the Southwind Chrome three-year-old trotter, who paid $14.40 for the win. She is owned by Equine Spa and Tom Carey of Iowa and was bred by Jonas Borntreger also of Iowa.
