Pet Rock and Camille victorious in Roll With Joe and Artiscape Stakes

Sunday afternoon at Tioga Downs featured the best free for all pacers in the country in the $184,000 Roll With Joe and $156,000 Artiscape Pace.

Pet Rock wins the Roll With Joe with David Miller

When the curtain fell it left a tough argument for advocates against trailing horses in stakes races as both were captured from horses in the trailing position (post position 10).

In the $184,000 Roll With Joe pace, Golden Receiver got his typical jump off the wings and was in front by the quarter mile mark in 26. However, Sweet Lou and Yannick Gingras were parked and pressed on to the front clearing Golden Receiver by the three eighth's mile mark of the race. As the field headed by the half mile in 53.2, George Brennan and Betterthancheddar were forced first over from third by Pet Rock (David Miller).

Down the backside Sweet Lou and Betterthancheddar raced in sync through a third panel in 26.4 reaching the three quarter mark in 1:20.1. Around the final turn it looked as though Betterthancheddar had gotten the best of Sweet Lou, but looming on his back was Pet Rock and as the field reached the stretch David Miller and Pet Rock quickly grabbed control of the field. The lone threat to Pet Rock in the stretch was a fast closing Foiled Again (Matt Kakaley) who was looking for room in the stretch but had to settle for second for the second straight year. Pet Rock stopped the timer in 1:48.1 establishing a new track record for 4-year-old stallions at Tioga Downs, equaled the all age track record, and was just a fifth of a second off of the world record held by We Will See and Betterthancheddar. Rockincam (Brian Sears finished third, while Betterthancheddar (George Brennan) hung on for fourth. 

Camille celebrates her 1:48.3 world record matching win

In the $156,000 Artiscape Pace however a world record was equaled by what was probably the most overlooked horse in the four horse Burke entry, Camille. Anndrovette and Tim Tetrick left the gate and put up some serious fractions of 25.3 and 52.3 in the first half mile. Down the backside, Jody Jamieson had Big McDeal in the pocket and pulled at the five eighths mile mark trying to clear Anndrovette by three quarter in 1:19.4, but was unsuccessful. Matt Kakaley had Camille in the outer flow seventh at three quarters and was following his stablemate Rocklamation (Yannick Gingras) who was gobbling up ground around the final turn. In the stretch Kakaley tipped Camille, off of Gingras' helmet and quickly paced by her stablemate Rocklamation to win in 1:48.3.

 The mile equaled the world record for aged mare pacers held by Southwind Tempo from Chester in 2009. 

Ron Burke trains the 5-year-old daughter of Camluck – Art Of Design for Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, M1 Stable, and Jack Piatt III all of Pennsylvania. Rocklamation finished a half a length back in second, Anndrovette (Tim Tetrick) went a big mile to hang on for third, while Drop The Ball (Corey Callahan) closed late for fourth.

Camille rallies widest of all to win The Artiscape

Tioga Downs would like to thank Bluechip Farms for sponsoring the Roll With Joe pace. Roll With Joe earned more than $1.8 million on the racetrack while taking a mark of 1:48.2 and his yearlings hit the sale rings in late 2013.

Brittany Farms Management sponsored the 2013 Artiscape Pace, Artiscape earned more than $1.4 million on the racetrack and took a mark of 1:49.3 in his racing career. He is a proven stallion, who has foaled winners of more than $83 million including Maltese Artist, Escape The Wind, Rainbow Blue, and Yankee Cruiser.

Tioga Downs also held the Yannick Gingras' – Binghamton Mets jersey auction in between races on Sunday. 

All proceeds of the auctioned jerseys will go to Pancreatic Cancer Research, and when the public and silent auctions were over, $5,000 was raised. Tioga Downs would like to thank all of those who participated in the auctions on Sunday afternoon.  

Tioga Downs continues live racing action on Saturday, June 15^th with a post time of 6:50 pm, for more information on Tioga Downs please visit us online at www.tiogadowns.com.