Harness Trainer Movin On Up

[randallscott35]

Wow is all I have to say.

FULL STORY: http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=80857


For the track and the sport, the timing couldn't have been worse. Meadowlands officials and New Jersey regulators ought to be mortified this week after allowing Saturday night's feature race-the much-heralded, eagerly-watched, North American debut of Down Under superstar Auckland Reactor-to degenerate into what one long-time horseman called "one of the most blatant and extreme examples" of suspicious racing seen on the Big Stage in quite some time.

With the whole Standardbred world watching the Open, a horse named Real Joke dominated the field, winning the contest in 1.47.3, a mark tied for the fourth fastest mile in the history of the track. Only two weeks earlier, the 4-year-old Real Desire gelding had been claimed out of trainer Julie Miller's barn for $50,000 (with allowances) by Lou Pena, a trainer with a long, USTA-documented history of racing-related suspensions. Pena came back out of obscurity (and Sacramento) last fall to dominate trainer statistics at the Big M. He is reportedly on pace to break the dash record for a single meet at the Meadowlands, dominates as well at Mohegan Sun at Pocono, and is near the top at Freehold Raceway and Harrah's Chester in Pennsylvania.