Stablemates Timesareachanging & Western Terror Dead-Heat In $334.975 Cane "Triple Crown" Pace

By Tom White
9/06/04

Stablemates Timesareachanging and Western Terror finished in a dead-heat in Monday's $334,875 Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. Owned by Perfect World Enterprises of Old Westbury, NY and trained by Brett Pelling, the pair finished in 1:52.3 in the first leg of Pacing's Triple Crown.

Timesareachanging, driven by newly elected Hall of Famer Ron Pierce, took over the lead just before the opening quarter (:27) and never trailed, setting fractions of :56, 1:24.4 and a final quarter of :27.4. Western Terror, driven by John Campbell, got up in the final stride to dead-heat for first place.

"I changed my strategy today," said Pierce. "I raced him (Timesareachanging) behind Camelot Hall in the (Cane) elimination last week, but I saw that Camelot Hall wasn't looking good today, so I decided to move to the lead early." Camelot Hall, who raced second through the first half, faded to seventh at the end.

Western Terror, who picked up only his fourth career victory, dropped in behind Camelot Hall early on and moved to a challenging position just before the three-quarters. Western Terror just missed catching his stablemate at the wire.

The $400,000 Messenger Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, will be raced September 14 at Harrington Raceway in Delaware. The $650,000-est. Little Brown Jug, the final jewel in the series, will be contested Thursday afternoon, September 23 at Delaware, Ohio.

"This was great," said Pelling. "We've got two still alive in the Triple Crown." The win was Timesareachanging's seventh in 13 starts this season and pushed the Cam's Card Shark gelding's career bankroll to more than $750,000. Western Terror, a colt by Western Hanover, has lifetime winnings of more than $300,000.

Mantacular finished third followed by Holborn Hanover, Harry Hornet, Brandon's Cowboy, Camelot Hall and Droppin'thehammer.