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Deweycheatumnhowe Wins World Trot in 1:50.4

Posted August 30, 2008 11:00 pm

Staff reports

Deweycheatumnhowe ran his win streak to 17 races with a three quarter length victory in the $565,000 World Trotting Derby for 3-year-old trotting colts on Saturday afternoon at the DuQuoin (Illinois) State Fair. His time for the mile was 1:50.4, the fastest mile trotted by any Standardbred in 2008.

Driven by his trainer and co-owner Ray Schnitttker, Deweycheatumnhowe went right out to the lead but was soon overtaken by Clerk Magistrate (Trevor Ritchie), who was in front of the field at the :27.2 first quarter.

Schnittker re-took the lead at about the three-eighths marker, and the field followed him to the :55 half. Deweycheatumnhowe was still on the lead at the 1:23.3 three quarters, followed by Clerk Magistrate and then Celebrity Secret (Tim Tetrick).

When the field turned for home, Celebrity Secret had moved off the rail to challenge an unyielding Deweycheatumnhowe on the outside, while Clerk Magistrate was trying to trot up along the rail to challenge. But the finish line came in time for Deweycheatumnhowe to win by three quarters of a length over Celebrity Secret. Clerk Magistrate was another three quarters of a length back in third on the inside.

"I took a shot out of there. My horse is real game, when you come down the lane, you just sit there with him and he puts them away. I got fractions pretty nice but probably if we had gone faster [in early fractions] we'd have broken the world record, but there's no money for records."

Asked if he was conscious that he had a horse bearing down on both the inside and outside, Schnittker said, "Kind of, but I drive a lot, and you just know when you're a winner. He's the best by far; he's probably the top five of all time right now, I'd think. There can't be too many better than him. He's just unbelievable, a nice horse to be around. When you get in a race, coming down the lane, you just know he could put them away."

In addition to Schnittker, Deweycheatumnhowe is owned by Ted Gewertz, Charles Iannnazzo and the Deweycheatumnhowe Stable.

Schnittker noted the racing surface at DuQuoin is deceptively fast, "First time I warmed up, Jimmy Takter said, 'What do you think you went in?' I said, 'Around 2:20.' "He said, 'You went in 2:10.'" This is the best piece of dirt I've ever been on, unbelievable. If they ever raced at The Meadowlands [on a surface like this], it'd be scary, they'd go so fast. It's just the clay and there's no wind and the turns are banked for a mile track more than most."

Schnittker said that Dewey's next start will be eliminations and final of the Canadian Trotting Classic on September 6 and 13 and then to Lexington's Red Mile for the Kentucky Futurity on October 4.

The Trotting Derby was only the second race since winning the August 2 Hambletonian for Dewey and his first stakes event since that time.

Schnittker admits to some mild anxiety on that issue for the colt. "That's the only thing I was concerned about, he raced once in two weeks. He had two weeks off after the Hambo, never raced him, only trained him. I think that in the next couple weeks, when he hits Lexington, he should be getting really tight again. I'm going to try to keep him fresh, keep him going. It seems like that's working."

Schnittker says the horse's mental attitude, well past the mid point of the year, is as good as ever. "I think that is why he'll hopefully make a good stallion," he noted.

"He's a good horse to be around, not a pain at all."

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