That'll Be Me - Open Pace
bay horse, 4, by On the Road Again
Owner
Robert Young
Each of the six pacers entered in the $300,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace at Northfield Park was the particular pride and joy of their owner. Many were a testament to their trainers, as their longevity on the racetrack and earning power remained undiminished by age or the passing seasons.
One such horse was Pacific Rocket, a four-year-old son of Albert Albert, responsible for $2.2 million in earnings. Of that amount, $1.4 million was earned at three as, unbelievably, the third-best sophomore pacing colt in the Bill Robinson stable. At four Pacific Rocket shone. Peter Heffering, one of Pacific Rocket’s owners, applied baseball’s Cal Ripken’s nickname “Iron Horse” to “The Rocket” as testament to never missing a week in his racing career. Pacific Rocket was the runner-up in the 1994 sophomore Crown contest, so adding a Crown victory to his already impressive roster of wins was the main objective of his connections.
Majority owner and breeder Ed Lohmeyer was the real key to the success of Pacific Rocket. Lohmeyer laid the foundation for Pacific Rocket, and, early as a 2-year-old, the colt caught the eye of cattle baron Peter Heffering. Heffering quickly made an offer for the colt, and partners Lohmeyer and Johns Stoddard and Van Kirk agreed to sell him an interest. Lohmeyer also turned the colt over to Bill Robinson, Heffering's trainer, to campaign on the premise that the stable was best equipped to handle a freshman staked to mega-dollars. The decision was the right one, and Pacific Rocket continued to churn out wins week after week against the toughest competition.
Wellwood Stable’s Village Jiffy was a two-time Breeders Crown winner, who like Artsplace, won both his two-year-old and four-year-old event. No pacer had ever won three Crown titles, and Village Jiffy had designs on becoming the first to do so. He was considered the main threat to Pacific Rocket's certain lock on divisional honors.
Trainer | Driver
Robert Young | Roger Mayotte
Other contenders included: native son Bob Glazer’s Broadway Jate, Bob Grand's Historic and Ted Parker and his daughter Tonia’s Lusty Leader. The remaining contestant was That'll Be Me, a product of Keith Clark's stable from western Alberta. So proficient as a sophomore was Clark's protégé that he was named Horse of the Year in that province. The son of On The Road Again performed well for Robert Young at Mohawk, quickly moving up to the Free-For-All class. Still, That'll Be Me was considered a rank outsider, no matter how formful his last few starts and the fact that he was coming off a new lifetime mark, a seven-length 1:51.4 victory.
The one and only start OJC regular Roger Mayotte had had in the Breeders Crown program was a devastating defeat of Western Hanover, driving Kingsbridge over the very same racetrack in 1992. Mayotte piloted Fern Stable’s Kingsbridge through a text book example of heads-up driving to spark a win payoff of $72.40, lighting up a national Twin Trifecta payoff of $19,622.40 for three lucky people.
Mayotte accelerated That'll Be Me from the gate, arcing sharply across the track, and by the middle of the first turn was snugly in the three hole behind pace-setting Pacific Rocket and pocket-sitting Broadway Jate. Paul MacDonell, driving Village Jiffy, was left woefully out of position by Mayotte’s sudden move, and it would cost him. He was forced to yo-yo to the front, then drop back to try to secure a non-existent rail spot, then was forced to advance on the leaders again.
Jack Moiseyev, driving Pacific Rocket, felt safe in scripting a 1:24.4 three-quarters, confident that he could leave the field behind given his length advantage.
In shock, he saw That'll Be Me pace up beside him on the turn, acting like the move was no impediment at all. As they straightened for the short Northfield stretch, Mayotte said the word and That’ll Be Me did the deed. The king of upsets got by Pacific Rocket and was the winner in 1:52.4. It was 1992
Purse $300,000
Northfield Park, Northfield, OH - Friday, September 22
Extras
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