May 28, 2018
Vernon Downs: Records galore for Atlanta in Empire Breeders Classic romp
Atlanta set a new overall track record at Vernon Downs and just missed the world record for a 3-year-old trotting filly when she captured the $238,613 Empire Breeders Classic (EBC) final on Monday afternoon in 1:50 3/5. Six Pack won the $223,673 EBC for sophomore trotting colts in 1:51 2/5, trying the track record for the division.
Starting from post four, Atlanta (Scott Zeron) passed Seven Karats (Yannick Gingras) for the lead just beyond the 26 4/5 opening quarter. Atlanta then got to the half in 55 3/5 and began to step away on second choice Plunge Blue Chip (Ake Svanstedt), who had moved from third to second on the far turn, heading to the 1:24 three-quarters.
Through the stretch Atlanta poured it on, and she would reach the finish line 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Plunge Blue Chip, with Supergirl Riley third. Golden Muscle (Drew Monti) and Repentance (Tim Tetrick) rounded out the top five.
The final time of 1:50 3/5 lowered the all-age, all-sex Vernon Downs track record from 1:51, which was set by Intimidate, and was just a fifth of a second off Cee Bee Yes's world record of 1:50 2/5 set at The Red Mile.
"Every time she steps out on the track she impresses me more and more," said Scott Zeron. "I picked the four-hole behind the gate so that we'd already be going a nice tempo out of there, and she kind of was. We let things settle the way it did. I was happy to get in front of Plunge Blue Chip so that I could be the one taking command of the lead. I just let her go a nice middle-half, and I spoke to her down the lane to see what we had and she put on a show.
"For me, I take it race by race. We'll see how things unfold, and when we meet Manchego we'll see how it goes."
A daughter of Chapter Seven, Atlanta is trained by Rick Zeron, who also co-owns her with Holland Racing Stable, Howard Taylor, and Brad Grant. Atlanta is now a seven-time winner from 13 trips behind the gate, and she has banked $255,467. She was the 1-5 favorite and paid $2.60 to win.
"I've trained great horses my whole career. I'm very fortunate to have great owners and great partners, but nothing like this. She's a creature," an emotional Rick Zeron stated. "Number one, she gets a couple weeks off, then she'll get one more race, an overnight race, then she goes to Tioga. Then she gets a couple more weeks off, then she comes back to Vernon for a sire stake. Nine or ten days later she goes to the dance at the Meadowlands. Scott and I will sit down and have a big, long chat. He knows more about what's going on down here than I do. He runs the operation here, and I run the one in Canada.
"We'll talk about whether it's going to be the Oaks or the Hambletonian. I'm not ruling out the Hambletonian, but for sure she will be in the Oaks."