Magee Shines In American Nationals
The 2010 American National
Stake season kicked off on Saturday, August 28 with a pair of
three-year-old trotting events bringing some of North America’s
top talent to the Crete oval. Both races attracted full fields
of 10 with the colts going for a purse of $150,000 while their
female counterparts battled for $131,500. When the smoke cleared
after these battles, it was Hall of Famer Dave Magee who found
himself with his record setting 33rd and 34th career American
National titles after guiding Wishing Stone to a four and a
quarter length triumph in the colt event and Springtime Volo to
a two-length verdict in the filly battle.

Magee produced another Hall of Fame steer in the filly
division as he worked out a perfect second trip for Kentuckiana
Racing Stable and Jorgen Jahre’s
Springtime Volo and the filly responded beautifully as she
cruised under the wire in 1:54, equaling both the track and
stakes record.
Coming into the race off a disappointing sixth place finish
in the Moni Maker Stake last week, the daughter Classic
Photo-Silver Springs came away in mid-pack as longshots Cantab
It All (Marcus Johansson) and Jesses Messenger (Ryan Stahl)
battled through an opening quarter in :27.3.
Heading down the backside, driver Trace Tetrick elected to
pull from third with the 9-5 favourite Ultimate Cameron,
starting a live outer flow as the fillies breezed by the
half-mile mark in :55.
Trotting into the final turn, Magee had moved up to fourth
while following the live cover of Glide Power (Jan Johnson), who
was just a head behind Ultimate Cameron as the field hit the
three-quarter-mile mark in 1:24.1.
“I was following the horse that I wanted to but my horse was
almost struggling to stay on the helmet of our cover,” said
Magee. “She felt strong to me at that point and I knew they were
going pretty fast so I really wasn’t that worried about it at
that point.”
After blowing right by a leg weary Ultimate Cameron, Magee
moved the Jan Johnson-trained Springtime Volo to the inside of
Glide Power. Quickly gobbling up ground, this year’s Delvin
Miller Memorial winner overtook Glide Power with a sixteenth of
a mile to go and was comfortably in front as she trotted under
the wire with her fourth win in eight starts this season. Glide
Power was a game second while last year’s two-year-old American
National champ Behindclosedoors (Mike Oosting) rallied to be
third.
After the victory Magee was quick to explain the poor showing
last week and the reason for a much better race on Saturday.
“We had a terrible trip in the Moni Maker and part of that
was my fault,” said an always humble Magee. “The one thing that
turned out perfectly from that race was that I learned a lot
about her and her tendencies, which helped me out there tonight.
She’s a pretty special filly and she showed that tonight.”
The second choice in the wagering Springtime Volo, returned
$8.60, $4.80 and $3.60 while running her career bankroll up to
$346,390. |