Post Position: 9
Standardbred Canada TrackIT Link: Click Here
Bay gelding by Western Hanover – Annie Your A Card – Cams Card Shark
BREEDERS: James Jesk, Lemont, Ledford Racing Inc., Crete & Clucas Trading Co., Galva, IL
OWNERS: Sawgrass Farms LLC, Lockport, IL
STATISTICS:
2009 5 1 1 0 $134,500
2008 13 6 1 3 $224,060
Totals 18 7 2 3 $358,560
LIFETIME MARK: 2, 1:50.3, Indiana Downs
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS & NOTES:
Owner Sawgrass Farms raced Art Official last year, seventh place finisher in Pepsi North America Cup but only horse to defeat Somebeachsomewhere in Meadowlands Pace
At two:
• Began his career at Balmoral Park on June 21, finishing third
• Proceeded to win two of his next three starts at Hawthorne
• Won $76,000 Elevation at Indiana Downs on August 2 in career best 1:50.3
• Won $40,000 Metro elimination at Mohawk on August 23 in 1:50.4
• Finished third to Major In Art, two lengths behind, in $1 million Metro final, August 30
• Finished third to Schoolkids in $84,350 Bluegrass division at Lexington on September 27
• Won American National elim at Balmoral Park on October 25, but finished sixth in $170,000 final
• Failed to qualify for Breeders Crown final after finishing sixth in his elim on November 21 at the Meadowlands
At three:
• Opened his three-year-old season impressively, with a fourth place finish in his Berrys Creek elim on May 2, followed by a three-quarter length victory over Drop Red in the $230,000 Berrys Creek final, May 9 at the Meadowlands in 1:51.1
• Finished 10th, five lengths behind winner Mr Wiggles, in $500,000 Hoosier Cup at Hoosier Park on May 30
• Finished fifth to OK Boromir in a $100,000 division of Burlington on June 13 at Mohawk
• Finished second, two and one-half lengths behind If I Can Dream, in his Cup elim, June 20 at Mohawk
ELIMINATION QUOTES:
Terry Deters, Trainer
“We’re pleased to make the final. We’ll follow through with the same plans as last week.
We’re stabled at Ideal Training Centre.”
“Joe Seekman (who trained the horse up until the Burlington) and I have joked about this over the years – people turn down the rail here for whatever reason. If we get the rail, we’ll go right down the road. But it’s a horse race and things happen. He’s tough, though.”
“All the winners are serious competitors, it’s pretty obvious. (Our horse) was disregarded at 50-1 tonight. Joe (Seekman) has done a really good job pointing him towards this race specifically.”
“He’s a little squirrelly on the racetrack, but he’s a hard trier. He raced hard last year and apparently has come back into his form.”
Trainer – Terry Deters
Age: 55
Career wins through June 21, 2009: 190
Career earnings through June 21, 2009: $927,300
Native Ohioan Terry Deters was, like so many other successful trainers, born into the business. His father and brother, now both deceased, were accomplished horsemen, and Deters has been in the harness racing game “longer than he can remember”.
He attended Ohio State University in the 1970s, but his ambition was always to train. Based in his home state for many years, he has enjoyed a successful relationship with Joe Seekman of Centreville, Michigan; it was the Seekman Stables which recently sent him Annieswesterncard, who is Deters’s first entry into the Pepsi North America Cup final.
With racing in Ohio (and neighbouring states Michigan and Illinois) “in trouble” according to Deters, he recently decided to pull up stakes and relocate to Ontario. He now has six horses at the Ideal Training Centre near Acton, Ontario, and says, “It’s pretty good here in Ontario. You’ve got half a dozen tracks you can get to in an hour so you can race seven nights a week if you want. Woodbine and Mohawk are just beautiful, beautiful facilities. But you need to have the right kind of horse to be up here and be successful. I’m hoping I will continue to have that kind of horse.”
Drive - Tim Tetrick
Age: 27
Career wins through June 21, 2009: 4,953
Career earnings through June 21, 2009: $63,162,168
The Illinois native has been nothing short of a phenom, experiencing a meteoric rise to the top in the last three seasons.
His breakthrough year came in 2007 when he set new single-season records for both victories and purses. Tetrick made 1,187 visits to the winner’s circle, breaking the old mark of 1,077 set in 1998 by Walter Case, Jr. His purse earnings of $18,341,732 bettered the standard of $15,085,992 recorded in 2005 by Brian Sears. Tetrick’s season allowed him to garner much post-season hardware as he was named Driver of the Year by both the Harness Tracks of America (HTA) and the United States Harness Writers’ Association (USHWA). He was also voted as USHWA’s Rising Star Award winner.
During his record-breaking season in 2007, Tetrick sat behind some of the best horses in the sport including Southwind Tempo, Southwind Lynx, Artistic Fella and Danae.
Last year, he outdid himself, earning over $19.7 million in purses and winning 900 races. This year, he's in a familiar spot, on top with over $5.4 million and 333 wins.
Born into a family that was always heavily involved in Standardbred racing, the 27-year-old is the son of driver-trainer Tom Tetrick, who has campaigned horses throughout the Midwest for many years. “Dad was racing down at Fairmount Park quite a bit so me and my two brothers (Tom Jr., 29 and Trace, 21) would always go out there on weekends to visit him,” recalled Tetrick. “Right away catch-driving became a dream of mine because competing on a nightly basis always appealed to me.”
Embarking on his driving career in 1998 at the age of 16, Tim handled the driving duties for his father’s horses on the Illinois county fair circuit. He recorded his first win with Travel N Legacy on July 20 of that year while racing at the Paris County Fair.
After winning back-to-back driver titles in Chicago in 2004 and 2005, Tetrick made a career-changing decision the following year when he relocated in the fall to Dover Downs in Delaware and promptly became the leader in wins (123) during the fall meet.
Established himself as one of the premier rookie colt pacers on the continent in 2008 and was, in fact, the favourite for the $1 million Metro Pace after winning the fastest elimination in 1:50.4. His fastest victory was a 1:50.3 clocking in the $76,000 Elevation Stake at Indiana Downs. He is conditioned by Joe Seekman who also handled Meadowlands Pace champion Art Official.
Won the $230,000 Berry's Creek Final on May 9 at The Meadowlands. Finished 10th in the $500,000 Hoosier Cup at Hoosier Park.