Shake That House upsets in Progress Pace

Dover, DE — After working to catch cover up the far side, Shake That House ($20.20) vaulted three-wide off the final turn to collar Captain Crunch in the $335,000 Hap Hansen Progress Pace final for 3-year-old colts and geldings on Wednesday night (Nov. 27) at Dover Downs.

The sophomore son of American Ideal landed in sixth early while 3-5 favorite Captain Crunch (Yannick Gingras) worked to clear American Mercury (Tyler Buter) through a :26 first quarter. As Captain Crunch, who won last week’s elimination heat, sped along through a :53.4 half, Tim Tetrick angled Shake That House third-over — but the pair lost their cover upon reaching the backstretch.

While the first-over Dancin Lou (Andy McCarthy) sustained gradual headway up the far side, the second-over Semi Tough (David Miller) angled back to the pegs upon straightening, forcing Shake That House to close a three-length gap in the outer tier into a 1:21 third split.

Despite the extra work he endured, Shake That House had ample energy to swing three-wide around a stalled Dancin Lou well above the eighth pole and tracked down Captain Crunch to prevail by a widening neck in 1:50.1. U S Captain (Dexter Dunn), who was locked in from mid-division, rallied up the open stretch to take third.

Shake That House, who also won the Max Hempt Memorial at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in June, eclipsed the $500,000 mark in seasonal earnings with the 10th victory of his career. Chris Oakes trains Shake That House for Crawford Farms Racing, Alan Johnston and the Northfork Racing Stable.