Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Passionate Glide Wins The 2006 Hambletonian Oaks

Passionate Glide wins the Hambo Oaks in 1:54.3

Passionate Glide Takes All The Cash!
Passionate Glide extended her winning streak to eighth and maintained a perfect seven-for-seven record for 2006 when she won the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks, the co-featured seventh race on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands. Passionate Glide, sent off as the 2-5 favorite, proved that she was, as track announcer Sam McKee called it, the “dominantdamsel” among the three-year-old trotting fillies.

The daughter of Yankee Glide – Miss Marita finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Emantee .It was three and half lengths to Celebrity Sweedie in third. The time of the mile was 1:54.3. Although she had reached the winner’s circle in every start since her streak began in the $516,800 Breeders Crown on November 25 at the Meadowlands, Passionate Glide has been battling an injury the last three weeks.

“Last week she was a little shaky but Jimmy [trainer Jimmy Takter] did a great job of getting the kink out of her,” said winning driver Ron Pierce. “I’m just very, very happy right now. I’m honored to win this race for Mr. Segal [owner George Segal]. He’s one of the greatest owners in the sport and one of the greatest guys I know. There was so much pressure on us to get the job done. I feel like kissing Jimmy but I’m not going to. It’s really an honor to win with this filly today. There were no anxious moments. I got a real good breather at the third quarter and I knew that I had to chase her around in the lane to get rid of her [Emantee].”

Owned and bred by George Segal’s Brittany Farms of Versailles, Kentucky, Passionate Glide now has 12 wins and five seconds in 18 lifetime starts, banking $1,350,447. She was honored as the Dan Patch Award winner as Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year in 2005. This was the third Hambletonian Oaks winner trained by Jimmy Takter. He also won in 1994 with Gleam and 2003 with Southwind Allaire, who was driven by Ron Pierce. Pierce won the 2002 edition with Windylane Hanover.

“First of all, I want to thank my staff and everybody to be able pull her out of an injury she did three weeks ago,” noted Takter. “I have to say this filly, people question me if I can compare her to Moni Maker, I definitely can. This is quite an important week. For us as trainers, to get these horses ready, it’s not an easy job. When you know you have a filly in her category, it would have been a shame if we wouldn’t be able to win this race. To pull it off, it’s one of my greatest feelings in harness racing.”

$750,000 Hambletonian Oaks The Meadowlands Saturday, August 5, 2006
PP Horse                     Driver
1 Passionate Glide         Ron Pierce
3 Emantee                    Brian Sears
9 Celebrity Sweedie      Cat Manzi
4 Quick Credit              Tony Morgan
7 Miss Wisconsin           Mike Lachance
8 Velma K                    David Miller
5 Mai Tai                     Geo Brennan
2 KD Girl                     Jeff Gregory
10 Workout Doll           John Campbell
1 Simple Task              Jimmy Takter
:28      :56.2      1:27      1:54.3