Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

$160,000 American National Two-Year-Old Filly Trot
Arcola: Bred to Make Her Hometown Proud
November 3, 2004
By Kimberly A. Rinker

Arcola, Illinois is home to the Prairie State’s largest Old Order Amish settlement, and is primarily a rural area lined with the "plain peoples" schools, business and of course, horse farms. It was here on one early March morning in 2002 that a small bay filly entered the world alongside horse-drawn buggies in a town known as the "Broom Corn Capital of the World."

Christened Arcola by her California co-owner and breeder Morton Turndorf, who owns the filly in partnership with Michael Turndorf, the young trotter played and slept alongside her mother—the tough race mare Oprah, a winner of $295,650 lifetime with a six-year-old mark of 1:53.4. Arcola’s sire is Valley Victor, the unraced son of the mighty Valley Victory, considered to be one of North America’s best sires of the 1990s.

In the fall of 2003 she was handed over to trainer Roger Welch for her introduction to the racing world. Since that time, Arcola has done nothing short then become one of the top freshman fillies in Illinois, winning $163,282 to date and scoring a 8-4-1 record from just 14 career starts. Saturday at Balmoral she’ll face a group six rivals in the $160,000 American National Two-Year-Old Filly Trot.

"From the first day I trained her I knew she was a class filly," Welch noted. "She's never disappointed me. She’s been consistently good all year 'round."

Cared for by Roger’s wife Amy and piloted in all of her starts save one by reinsman Tim Tetrick, Arcola appears to be the consummate professional both on and off the racetrack.

"Arcola is easy to work with," Welch said. "Amy takes care of her every day. She spends her days out at the farm in the pasture with Giggles The Clown for at least five hours a day. We’re planning on quitting with her after this race."

Arcola’s career got off to a quick start early in 2004, as she scored a pair of winning qualifiers at Balmoral in mid June, trotting in 2:05.3 and 2:05.1 with Dave Magee at the lines. She finished third for Magee in her Hanover elimination on July 1, then was a strong second by a neck to Minnesota Chelsea on July 11 in the $44,400 Hanover Final with Tetrick in the sulky for the first time.

After the Hanover, Arcola rattled off a pair of victories in both legs of the Star Slinger series (on July 21 & 28), before finishing second to Silhouette Star in the $31,250 final on August 6. She then won the $55,000 State Fair Championship at Springfield, trotting in 1:58.1 on August 19, and captured the $120,000 Lady Lincoln Land at Balmoral, trotting in a lifetime best of 1:57.4 on September 23.

Arcola then scored back-to-back wins in the $53,000 Violet elim and Final on October 6 and 13 at Maywood, trotting in 2:01 in the final.

"This filly really gets around a half well," Tetrick noted. "Roger (Welch) has done a great job of getting her to relax throughout these last couple of starts. When a horse comes alongside of her she's very game and doesn't want to let them get by her."

Her most recent outing saw her finish second to Silhouette Star by half a length on October 19, when she trotted in 2:00.3. She’s only finished off the board once in her career, when she finished fourth at DuQuoin in the final of the Shawnee Cup on September 4. She had won the elim easily in 2:00.3 on August 30.

Currently this rangy filly is 11th among all freshman trotters nationally in earnings, and 13th in terms of wins. In fact, Arcola has more money on her card than another freshman standout—Touch Of Moni ($80,375), a daughter of the great Moni Maker, who is by Arcola’s grandsire, Valley Victory. Arcola is the first and only horse racing from Oprah, who also has two foals to her credit to date.

One filly who will be looking to dash Arcola’s hopes for her ninth victory of the year is the Doug McIntosh trainee Strong Tea. This filly is the fifth leading money winner ($238,554) nationally among all two-year-old trotters, with a record of 4-2-2 from just eight career starts.

The daughter of Muscles Yankee, out of the Super Bowl mare China Tea comes into tonight’s American National fresh off a third-place finish in the $558,900 Breeders Crown on October 23 at Woodbine Raceway. After scoring a pair of winning qualifiers for driver Trevor Ritchie at Mohawk in early July, Strong Tea rattled off wins in her first two pari-mutuel starts with her trainer at the lines, at Hiawatha Horse Park. She finished second in the Review Stakes at Springfield, and then scored back-to-back wins in 1:58.4 in both the $80,093 Champlain Stakes and a $19,250 Oakville elimination at Mohawk. She finished second in the $381,381 Oakville Final, then was a strong third in the $86,750 International Stallion Stakes at the Red Mile before the Breeders Crown.

Strong Tea is the seventh foal out of China Tea, an unraced daughter out of the Super Bowl mare Tearose Lobell. Strong Tea has two tough half-siblings, the $744,086 winning mare Oolong, 3, 1:54.4 by Armbro Goal and Dockworker, a Muscles Yankee gelding with a 3, 1:56.3 record.

The Field for the $160,000 American National Two-Year-Old Filly Trot
Post/Horse                    Driver                Trainer
1-Miss Milwaukee          Andy Miller          Erv Miller
2-Pandora                    Dale Hiteman       Jim Eaton
3-Arcola                       Tim Tetrick          Roger Welch
4-Classic Toy                 Walter Haynes     Danny Collins
5-Strong Tea                Trevor Ritchie      Doug McIntosh
6-Pernanda Oaks          H. Hochstetler      Homer Hochstetler
7-Maple Grove Smoky   John Campbell     Jim Mullins

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