Kj Chico gives, goes, crushes

Kj Chico set a second lifetime mark in two weeks as he made a quarter pole move to the front and left his opponents behind in the Monticello Raceway feature on Thursday.

He accelerated to a brief lead from the inside post before Uncle Qwackers (Braxten Boyd) pressed on from the outside and overtook him on the backstretch. Driver Jim Taggart Jr. immediately sent Kj Chico off the cones and back to the top spot going by the quarter in :28.4.

Kj Chico finished the first half mile in :58 and edged out a two-length gap at three-quarters in 1:27.2. He paced further away from his seven opponents throughout the final quarter with minimal intervention from Taggart Jr. and illuminated the timer in 1:56, a new lifetime mark.

Beach Blogger (Greg Merton) took second after out-finishing Uncle Qwackers, who held third.

KJ CHICO REPLAY

Gary Messenger trains the gelded sophomore son of So Surreal. The horse, who paid $2.30, has won eight of 17 career tries and earned $19,075. Brenda Messenger of Monticello, Scott Woogen of North Chesterfield, and Philip Shapiro of Haworth own their homebred. The horse began racing on the New York fair circuit, where he won four of seven starts and finished second in his other three.

Also on the card, Ys Sunshine (Cory Stratton), a five-year-old Sunshine Beach gelding, broke a 33-start losing streak which began on Jul. 28, 2019. The horse persevered on the outside to take the lead from post five, then held it through :28.2, :57.2, and 1:26.1 fractions before exploding away from the field to win by seven and a half in 1:54.4. Ashley Eldred trains for My Buddy Stables of Bronxville.

YS SUNSHINE REPLAY

The horse started his career with four wins in six starts, but he was trounced in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event to finish his two-year-old year. He won one race at three – a Coupe Des Eleveurs elimination – on Jul. 14, 2019, then went cold for 33 straight starts, earning just $6,702 in that time. The gelding is six-for-43 lifetime with $61,993 earned after his Thursday win.

Billy “Zeke” Parker won in his first driving appearance since Oct. 6, 2020. Parker owns and trains Ideal Rowan, an 11-year-old American Ideal gelding, whom he drove to a wire-to-wire 1:57.2 victory in the opener. Parker is ninth in all-time driving wins in North America with 11,215. With the Thursday win, he created a very extended two-race winning streak, as he scored in his most recent start with Excelant Chance. His son and regular Monticello teamster, Brandon Parker, joined him in the winner’s circle.

Driver Jim Dexaux tallied a hat trick on the day.

Monticello Raceway will be back on Monday, Jun. 28, with eight dashes on a card starting at 12:10 p.m. EDT.

For full race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink