Track record tied at Northville Downs

Friday (Aug. 25) night at Northville Downs saw the four-year-old harness racing trotting gelding Rose Run Xander (Triumphant Caviar – Loconotion) and driver Drew Neill equal the trotting track record for four-year-old trotting geldings set by The Land Shark and Wally McIlmurray, Jr in 2017 in 1:57 flat in race three. Cruisin Thru Time (Yankee Cruiser) and trainer/driver Kody Massey captured the featured Mares Open Pace in front-running style in 1:55 flat.

Rose Run Xander, who is owned by Gary Wilmoth and trained by Becky Zubkoff, took over the lead and never looked back, winning by an impressively widening eight and a quarter lengths. The trotter set fractions of 29, 59.3, 1:28.4 and stopped the timer in the track record equaling time of 1:57 (a 28.1 final quarter) as Hail Caesar settled for second and Calm As Can Bee got the show dough. It was the eighth career win for the son of Triumphant Caviar.

ROSE RUN XANDER REPLAY

In the Mares Open, Kody Massey fired Cruisin Thru Time to the front from post position one to set fractions of 28, 56.2, 1:25.1 and a final clocking of 1:55 to win easily by a one and a half-length margin over runner-up Shes Cruising Home and third place finisher Coqui Coqui. The win was the 22nd for the mare who is owned by Brook Daniel.

CRUISIN THRU TIME REPLAY

Earlier in the week, driver Bart “The Bartman” Stimer earned his 1,000th career driving win aboard his own trotter Stoneborough (Air Zoom Lindy – Ceana) at Hicksville and followed that win with number 1001 aboard Catera Gun (Gunthatwonthewest – Calera Hanover) the very next race.

On Friday night at Northville Downs, Stoneborough and Stimer won again, taking race seven wire-to-wire in 1:59, earning Stimer his 1002nd driving win. Northville Downs Operations Manager Mike Carlo greeted Bart Stimer in the winner’s circle to congratulate him on reaching the career milestone.

Drivers Drew Neill and Art McIlmurray had driving doubles on the night.

Racing at The Ville resumes Saturday (Aug 26) at 7 p.m. and features a 10-race program.  Northville Downs races every Friday and Saturday night until Sept. 30 with a 7 p.m. post time. For live racing dining reservations, be sure to call Northville Downs in advance at 248.924.2073.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Kenneth Terpenning, for Northville Downs