Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Oosting Wins Both Series Dashes Wednesday

Driver Mike Oosting

December 7, 2005

Driver Mike Oosting had a banner night, capturing both $5,500 divisions of the Incredible Finale Series for sophomore pacing colts and geldings. Oosting steered the winning Sidecar to a 2:00.1 victory in the first dash (Race 2) and then returned in the second dash (Race 5) to pilot Tommys King to victory in 1:58.3.

Sidecar, a son of Sportsmaster, used the rail to his advantage, leaving quickly from the rail and snapping off fractions of :29.4, 1:01 and 1:30.2 before sprinting home in :29.4 under frigid Chicago conditions.

"This horse raced really well tonight and is very handy," Oosting noted. "I really didn’t think there was any horse that would catch him. He left well and just did everything right. He could have gone a little faster but I didn’t really push him given the weather conditions."

Sidecare is owned by the Oat Burner Stable and William Seatsema of Illinois and is trained by John Butenshoen—the same connections that own and train the second dash winner Tommys King. The victory, Sidecar’s second of the year in 25 starts, pushed his seasonal earnings to $13,898.

Tommys King used a perfect two-hole journey to nail his third win of the year in 18 tries. The altered son of Kingston sat patiently through fractions of :28.1, :57.4 and 1:28 set by rival Master Of Fools (Brent Holland) before using a :30.1 final brush to nab the victory.

"This colt is pretty similar to his stablemate," Oosting said. "John (trainer Butenschoen) has both of these colts in great shape. This horse is a little bigger and just a little faster than the other colt (Sidecar) right now. He bolted by the leader on the end of the mile all on his own tonight."

Tommys King pushed his seasonal earnings to $16,996 with the win. Master Of Fools (Brent Holland) held on for second, while Triggerfish (Shawn Christner) nailed third.