Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Artbitration Invades for the $100,000 Cinderella Stake at Maywood
November 15, 2004
By Kimberly A. Rinker

Norm Parker and Thomas Klosky’s Arbitration invades the Windy City on Friday, seeking first prize in the $100,000 Cinderella Stake for sophomore pacing distaffs. The daughter of Artiscape, out of the Die Laughing mare Serious Smile, has racked up $313,671 in career earnings to date, and bring an impressive resume to the Cinderella lineup. Trained by Norm Parker and driven by Chicago regular Pat Berry, Arbitration has ten career wins, four seconds and two thirds from 21 lifetime outings.

Berry’s partnership with Artbitration began in 2003, when he was competing regularly at the Meadows and formed a friendship with Parker, whose stable is based there.

"I was driving a lot of Norm’s horses and when I first drove her, it was just like we clicked," Pat remembered. "I never lost a race with her until we went to Canada. We won four-in-a-row and then finished second at Woodbine going for big money."

The race Pat is referring to was the $568,172 Great Lady on August 29, 2003. Artbitration followed Kikikatie throughout most of the mile and was only beaten a nose at the wire, pacing in 1:51.3 for her young reinsman.

As a freshman, this filly rattled off four straight victories, including a win in $18,500 Great Lady elimination on August 2, a 1:54.4 win at the Indiana State Fair by nearly five lengths, and a win in the $19,995 Arden Downs at the Meadows. She ended her freshman campaign with a 4-1-2 record from just eight starts, with $171,040 in earnings.

"Pat developed a confidence with our filly and she responded well to his style of driving," trainer Norm Parker explained. "His style just fits her style. When we went to Canada last fall for the Great Lady a lot of people asked me why I was using Pat, and my answer was always the same—he and the filly were a team. We’ve been rewarded because of the confidence he instilled in her. He is completely on top of his game in regards to her."

Artbitration 2004 campaign began in a leg of the Blossom series at the Meadowlands on April 8, where she made an uncharacteristic break for Pat.

"In the first part of April she had some female problems, some hormonal changes, and I think that she might have got a little virus that kept her from being at the top of her game," Parker noted. "We probably should have forgotten the Blossom; she never seemed right. But since then, she's turned around."

Artbitration came back the following week to finish fifth in the next leg of the Blossom, pacing in 1:53.2 for Berry, eight lengths behind the winning Rainbow Blue, before finishing a disappointing sixth in the final on April 24. She then returned to the Meadows and rattled off a seventh length, 1:54.1 clocking on May 7, following that up with a 1:52.4 New Jersey Sire Stakes victory at the Meadowlands seven days later.

The speedy miss then scored victories in both the Lynch elim and $114,176 final, pacing in 1:52.4 at Pocono on June 12. In her next start she finished a strong second to Kikikatie in the American National at Balmoral, and then second again in the Reynolds Stake at the Poconos on July 11. Her next start came at Scioto Downs, where she blasted her rivals with a 1:53.4 clocking with Pat at the controls.

"She was second in the Adio Volo to Ice Sculpture in mid-August," Pat recalled. "And then she got pretty sick for a while, a respiratory problem and she carried a temperature for a while too. It took her a while to beat that."

The sophomore filly was scratched sick from the Fan Hanover on August 21 and then given nearly a two month break before she qualified twice at the Meadows in late October. The rest obviously agreed with Artbitration, who then stepped up and cruised to a three-length, 1:53 victory for Pat in the Filly & Mare Open at the Meadows.

"When she won that night at the Meadows she felt like she did when she was a two-year-old," Pat said. "She was just awesome, and she was beating all aged mares, and she beat them up pretty good. That’s usually not easy for a young horse to do, but she did it, and she did it right, too. This filly is just an awesome, push-button horse who never does anything wrong. She’s the type of horse that you can leave with in :26 and then back her right down, and start her back up again. She's simply amazing in that regard."