Harvey and Nancy Vanier, who have been on the Illinois racing scene for the last two decades, scored their first major victory of the year Sunday.
The race was Arlington International Racecourse’s Grade III $100,000 Modesty Handicap for fillies and mares, and the horse was Wade For Me, a 5-year-old mare that they bred, Nancy owns and Harvey trains.
“I don’t know where I rank her on ability,” Nancy said. “I rank her very high on courage. Also, she’s very smart. Today she knew where the wire was.”
Going all out all the way down the stretch, the Illinois-bred chestnut gained a late lead and held off the closing surge of 16.50-1 long shot Candleinthedark to win the 1 3/16-mile grass race by a nose. Wild Heart Dancing was third, a neck shy of the photo-finishers.
“I thought I got beat in that last jump,” said Wade For Me’s jockey, Chris Emigh. “They were coming at us on both sides, but she kept digging in and digging in.”
The Modesty is a prep for Arlington’s Grade I $500,000 Beverly D on Aug. 19. Wade For Me wasn’t nominated, and the Vaniers would have to pay $22,000 to supplement her.
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“We’re not sure,” Harvey said. “We might.”
Harvey has been Arlington’s leading trainer seven times. He won the last five titles before the track shut down in 1998 and 1999.
High on the long list of top horses he has trained are Wade For Me’s sire, Western Playboy, and her paternal grandsire, Play Fellow.
Although Wade For Me’s record isn’t as impressive as those of her dad and grandpa, she ranks as one of the most versatile horses the Vaniers ever have had. In 23 races on the dirt, her record is seven wins, five places and five shows, and in four outings on the grass she has three wins and one second.
Eddie Read Handicap: Though the Grade I Eddie Read Handicap is considered one of the top prep races for the Arlington Million, this year’s winner, Ladies Din, will be heading even farther north and east for his next challenge.
“It’s nothing personal against Chicago,” explained co-owner Bernie Schiappa, immediately after Sunday’s $400,000 race in Del Mar, Calif. “I just don’t think my horse can go a mile and a quarter.”
Ladies Din, instead, likely will head to Toronto for the Atto Mile at Woodbine, then be supplemented into the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The 5-year-old gelding, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, took advantage of slow fractions throughout most of the 1 1/8-mile race, finally grabbing the lead from Gold Nugget in midstretch. Ladies Din, who went off second choice to Dark Moondancer, withstood a late challenge by a swiftly closing Chester House.
“We’ll see if he can go the extra distance at Arlington,” said Chester House’s trainer, Robert Frankel.
Before Sunday, Ron McAnally’s Dark Moondancer and Neil Drysdale’s Sunshine Street–the unintimidating fourth- and fifth-place finishers in the eight-horse field–were pointed toward the $2 million race, but it’s unclear if they will make the trip. It’s possible that McAnally still will attempt to enter both Dark Moondancer and onetime South American sensation Asidero, if fewer than seven foreign horses join the field.
Only one Eddie Read winner, Tight Spot, has gone to win to win at Arlington.