Scarborough, Maine – Likabatoutahell drew from deep down in his cauldron of tricks to post a devilishly fast victory by the scantest of margins over a stellar field of trotters in Saturday’s $50,000 renewal of the Joseph Ricci Memorial Trot at Scarborough Downs.
“He handled perfectly in the preliminaries and he did the same today” said winning driver Gordon Corey, “I’m glad for the horse and I’m just so proud to win this race named for the great benefactor of harness racing.”
Corey sat patient off the gate with Likeabatoutahell, settling in fifth at the rail and content to let others tussle for the early advantage as local entry Kerogen (Kim Ireland) set sail into the first turn to lead the field to the quarter-pole time in 28-1/5th.
 |
|
Likeabatoutahell
and driver
Gordon Corey
engage Scorpion
Moon and driver
Jonathan Roberts
in deep stretch
at Scarborough
Downs – photo by
Derek Davis |
Movement came fast and strategies devised furiously at that point as post time favorite Dink Adoo (Bobby Sumner) took command of the raceway around the paddock turn. He found little time to rest on the lead though as Scorpion Moon (Jonathan Roberts) pulled to the outside to engage the new leader with a flurry of red and green driving colors blending together on the frontend of the raceway.
Gordon Corey expertly spotted the chance for a strategic covered journey and quickly steered Likeabatoutahell into perfect position as the tandem tracked the mortally-locked pair on the lead as they matched strides all the way to the head of the lane.
Scorpion Moon’s determined challenge finally won the advantage over Dink Adoo by that point in the mile, but Likeabatoutahell held just enough in reserve to fly down the center of the Scarborough stretch to engage Scorpion Moon in a memorable strength of wills to the wire.
When the dust had settled Likeabatoutahell had won the battle of the photo-finish camera, closing to the wire fastest of all and claiming victory in the Joe Ricci Memorial by the scantest of margins as the tele-timer flashed 1:57-4/5th – just 1/5th of a second off the Scarborough track record.
“There was lots of boasting going on this week” said winning owner Michael Andrew of Gorham, Maine, “The New York camps were pretty confident of victory and were even predicting new track records. My horse was locally raised and locally owned and today came through against tough competition before the hometown fans. It’s a great day for Maine and a great race for Maine’s fans to watch.”
“Gordon Corey did a fantastic job today” Andrew continued, “He’s an all around horseman who sometimes doesn’t get all the credit he deserves but he was the best man for the job tonight.”
Likeabatoutahell, a five-year-old son of SJ’s Caviar pushed his career bankroll over the $300,000 plateau with today’s Ricci Memorial victory.
Scorpion Moon finished second with Dink Adoo holding firm for third.
Scarborough Downs proudly features live harness racing every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening at 4:15 pm (EDT). The popular Sunday matinees feature a 1:30 pm post time.
