Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Maltese Artist Wins Four Leaf Clover in 1:49.3

Fourleafcloverwin05

Maltese Artist wins the $122,000 Four Leaf Clover
Final in a new stakes record of 1:49.3 on March 26, 2005.

March 26, 2005

Maltese Artist drew off for a three-quarter-length victory in the $122,000 Four Leaf Clover Final on Saturday night at the Meadowlands. The four-year-old son of Artiscape paced the mile in 1:49.3, a stakes record and a second faster than the previous mark of 1:50.3 set by Sagebrush in 2004. Town Champion was second, and JK Royal Flush was third by a length and three-quarters in the fifth race feature.

Luck broke Maltese Artist’s way when Fox Valley Gallant broke stride, opening up a spot on the pylons behind Gallant’s entrymate, the pacesetter Town Champion. After a breather into the stretch, driver Ron Pierce pulled Maltese Artist off the rail. The pacer went on to pick up his third win with three seconds in seven starts this year. Lifetime, Maltese Artist has seven wins, 11 seconds and seven thirds in 38 starts.

Since owners George Leon of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; John Howard of Morgantown, West Virginia and James Koran of Macedonia, Ohio, acquired him for $146,000 last fall, Maltese Artist has banked $137,300.

“I was lucky Fox Valley Gallant made a break and I got to rest my horse,” said Pierce, who picked up his fifth Four Leaf Clover Final victory. “He’s a real nice horse and tough.”

“I thought he raced real good,” said Ron Burke, assistant to his father, Mickey. “We got lucky because the other half of the entry made a break. We were able to get into the two-hole. But he [Maltese Artist] was used twice in the race and still raced well.”

Maltese Artist will have some time off before a stakes at Dover Downs on April 18 and will spend the balance of the spring and summer at the Meadowlands, according to Burke.