Electric Slide - 2FP
It's become a familiar refrain from Florida to New York as the two-year-olds pacers put on their game faces and begin competing in morning matinees and the first stakes events for the freshman class. "Have you seen that filly Nickells trains?" railbirds and owners scouting the competition murmur. "Does she have a motor or what?"
It started in 1985, with a filly named Follow My Star. If Bruce Nick.ells believes in destiny, he followed that star to a decade of riches and fame, brought on by one fleet filly after another. Nickells has won the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Pace an astonishing four times, displaying dominance over a particular division no other trainer can claim. Herein lies the twist of the 1993 edition of the filly pace. In 1985, Nickells trained Follow My Star for Allen Wilk, the prohibitive favorite for the event. Follow My Star was a late scratch after suffering a foot injury. The race instead was won by Caressable, owned by the Lou Guida-assembled Wall Street Stable II. Subsequently, Guida bought Follow My Star, and left her with Nickells to train. That was the beginning of a very profitable partnership, featuring Miss Easy, Hazleton Kay and Immortality as Crown tltllsts. Nlckells also won the 1988 Filly Pace with Perretti and North Woodland's Central Park West.
It was business as usual when Nlckells debuted another superstar filly in 1993. This one, however, was not owned by Guida, but instead by Canadian Bob Hamather, also the owner of older pacing juggernaut Staying Together, on his way to Horse of the Year honors. After a fifth-place finish in a baby race, Freedom's Friend was never worse than second, racking up six important wins that included the Sweetheart, Debutante, New Jersey Sire Stake Final and a triumph in the Three Diamonds two weeks prior to the Crown. She boasted the fastest mark and the most money, more than $600,000, in the field. John Campbell, all-time leader in Crown competition, was in the bike. Freedom's Friend was a daughter of Matt's Scooter, triumphant on his Breeders Crown event at Freehold in 1989. The only fly in the ointment, as pointed out by students of the past performance, was that Freedom's Friend had yet to race over a half-mile track, choosing instead the spacious surfaces of The Meadowlands and Garden State Park. A successful training session midweek assuaged some, but not all the skeptics.
The connections of ten additional fillies were willing to test Freedom's Friend agility over the half-mile; ten in all lined up in two tiers behind the starting gate after the judges scratched Lisheen.
Destiny caught up with Bruce Nickells on the first turn, as indeed Freedom's Friend was flustered by the half-mile, and galloped almost immediately. That sparked a cavalry charge by the remaining drivers, astounded at their luck to have a prohibitive favorite out of contention so quicl<ly.
lotus Spur, driven by Dick Stillings, emerged the leader at the quarter in :27.4. Go Jme Go, the other half of the Nickells-trained entry raced at her flank, pressing lotus Spur to accelerate past the half-mile pole, the two leaders creating a two-tier flow for the rest of the field. Still pushed at the three-quarter pole, lotus Spur had had enough and as they emerged from the lastturn broke stride in protest. Ladyotra, who had taken over challenging Lotus Spur when Go Jme Go faded at the half, also tired and ran.
Mike Lachance driving a daughter of 1984 Freshman Crown Pace winner Dragon's Lair named Electric Slide, must have felt like Moses when the Red Sea parted. Atthe three-quarter pole he was seventh, and with the breakers was pushed five wide around the last turn. But as he came out of the turn, suddenly Electric Slide had a neck in front and just the short Freehold Stretch between her and a Breeders Crown. Dawn Q also burst off the last turn loaded with pace. )t seemed she would overtake Electric Slide in the last steps, but Lachance's urging persuaded the filly to continue her momentum. and she was able to make her last quarter her best, keeping a half length on Dawn Q and tripping the timer in 1 :57.4.
Electric Slide, racing for the Guida Racing Stable and bred by Wilshire Racing Stable, another Guida-managed syndicate, gave those interests an incredible fifth Breeders Crown title in that division. By the close of the 1993 series, Guida's trophy rack groaned under the weight of no fewer than 18 crystal trophies won over the ten-year span of the series. Electric Slide also became the third horse to win a Breeders Crown tromthe second tier, joining Follow My Star and Baltic Striker in that distinction. Coincidentally, both those winners were owned by Guida-managed syndicates. Bob McIntosh picked up his second Crown credit of the day, albeit this one was a bit of a surprise at 25-1. Immortality had won the Crown event prior, so he was able to hustle right back to the winner circle. With the collapse of the favorites, Dawn Q paid an attractive place price of $7.40, with show honors taken by Miss Nadia, returning a healthy $16.80 for a $2.00 wager.
Freedom's Friend did not race again in 1993, but her stellar accomplishments through-out the season carried her to year-end honors by a landslide.
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