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MAYWOOD
PARK Contact:
Tom Kelley
Friday, Oct. 23rd, 2009 WELL
TO DO GURU PULLS OFF THE UPSET Adhering to the old
adage that “the show must go on” Maywood Park presented a 14-race program
despite starting the night without electricity throughout most of the plant do
to a downed power line caused by high winds earlier in the day. The power
outage did not affect the tracks outdoor lighting system thus Friday’s program
went off as scheduled despite both the clubhouse and grandstand areas being
closed to patrons until just before the start of the third race (8 p.m.
central). The
electrical problems and sloppy going did nothing to short circuit the chances
of James Gorman’s Well To Do Guru as he rallied in the final strides to win the
$40,000 Associates-Lester McKeever Stake
in 1:54.4 at odds of 22-1. Given
a heady steer by Casey Leonard the bay gelding was kept well off an early speed
duel that was being waged by Booze Cruzin (Dale Hiteman) and Mucho Sleazy (Mike
Oosting). With
those two speeding through suicidal splits of 26.4 & 54.4 Leonard finally
got Well To Guru underway from seventh as the field hit the halfway point. “I
knew they were smoking along up on the front end so I wasn’t in a big hurry to
get him going up to that point,” explained Leonard. “The only thing that did
concern me was the fact the horse in front of us (Doubletrouble) was gapping
pretty badly so I had to use my horse a little harder than I wanted to in order
to catch up to our cover.” Quickly
latching onto the back of the hard charging Thisbigdogwillfight (Dave Magee)
Well to Guru was well positioned in fifth as Mucho Sleazy led the way by the
three-quarter-mile mark in 1:24.3. “Once
we caught up to Thisbigdogwillfight my horse just swelled right up for me,”
said Leonard. “At that point I didn’t want to take a chance at trying to grind
them down so I just let him continue on since he felt so good.” Tipping
three wide off his cover as the field turned for home, the Terry Leonard
trained son of Richess Hanover started to reel in Thisbogdogwillfight who went right
by a tiring Mucho Sleazy. Gaining
ground with each stride as the field moved through the lane a determined Well
To Do Guru finally managed to stick a nose in front of Thisbigdogwillfight just
as the two hit the wire in a thrilling finish. Booze Cruzin battled back to
finish third, 3 ¼ lengths behind the top pair. The
win was the fifth of the season for this homebred five-year-old who also has
six seconds and five thirds to his credit this year while enjoying his biggest
season to date with more than $110,000 in earnings for his proud
connections. “He’s
really matured into a very nice racehorse,” said a beaming Leonard. “Originally
I had mapped out about 20 starts for him this year but he’s at 24 now and he
still feels very good so I’m sure I’ll keep going with him for at least a
couple more starts.” Overlooked
from post position seven Well To Do Guru returned $47.40, $13.20 & $4.60 to
those lucky enough to back him. Driver
Brandon Simpson reached a career milestone as well guiding the Bruce Pacitti
trained Another Judy to an easy victory in race three to notch his 1,000th
career victory. The
28-year-old Crete, Illinois resident sent the three-year-old pacing filly right
to the top from post position eight and the issue was never in doubt as the two
cruised under the wire in 1:58.3 over the sloppy track. The
always humble Simpson who is fourth in the driver standings at Maywood and sits
atop the driving colony at Balmoral Park said afterwards that he really wasn’t
thinking about reaching the milestone. “Sure
I’m happy to get to 1,000 wins but in all honesty I haven’t been thinking about
it that much,” said a smiling Simpson. “I’m just happy to have the chance to
come out here night after night and all I really concentrate on is doing my job
to the best of my abilities.”
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