Market Shares Sizzles in World-Record
Performance in Maxie Lee
By Bill Finley
CHESTER, Pa.–Eight days after what may have been the
worst night of his career Market Share roared back with a
vengeance yesterday at Harrah's Chester winning the
$250,000 Maxie Lee in the world record time of 1:50.2.
"He was crazy good today," said winning driver Tim
Tetrick, who had six victories
the afternoon and also won
the $250,000 Betsy Ross with Anndrovette.
It had been
an
up-and-down
couple of
weeks for the
Market Share
team. The son
of Revenue
began his year
with an
impressive win
in the elims for
the Cutler
Memorial,
which seemed
to set him up for a memorable showdown with Sebastian K
in the final and, perhaps, a trip to Sweden for the Elitlopp.
But everything unraveled when Market Share broke early
into that race.
Afterward, trainer Linda Toscano said all the right things
and claimed she wasn't the least bit worried about her horse.
Yesterday she was more forthcoming.
"Was I worried today? I was ready to barf until the quarter,"
she said.
"When you can't explain something it's hard to fix what you
can't explain," she added. "If you know going into it you have
a problem, you do something and work on it. The truth is the
horse came into the race great and came out of the race
great. He just made a break."
After the Cutler final Toscano and owner Richard Gutnick
decided that going to the Elitlopp was not in their best
interests and focused instead on the Maxie Lee. With
Sebastian K sitting this one out and with Uncle Peter and
Maven competing in Sweden the race looked like a gimme
for Market Share, but he had to work hard for the victory.
Market Share, the 3-10 favorite, settled into fourth after
Sevruga won a scramble for the lead. On the backstretch,
Tetrick pulled and began a sustained drive, going after
Sevruga. He collared him on the final turn and got by him in
mid-stretch to win by two lengths.
The time eclipsed the previous world record set last year at
Pocono Downs when Uncle Peter went in 1:50.3
