Foiled Again Reunited with Gingras in Quest of Win No. 100 Thurs.

By John Cirillo

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The 14-year-old "Wonder Horse" Foiled Again takes another crack at the elusive 100-win career milestone on Thursday night, March 8th at Yonkers Raceway.

The robust gelding will be reunited with Yannick Gingras, who drives from the coveted rail in the evening's eighth race, his fifth try at the rare century mark. Gingras has been Foiled Again's “go-to” pilot at Empire City Casino's historic half mile oval. Check this out: in 42 Yonkers starts with Gingras in the sulky, Foiled Again has been to the winner’s circle on 19 occasions, with six second place finishes and six-times in the show column, good for $1,129,640 in earnings. To say that the two get along is an understatement of giant proportions.

Harness racing’s richest-ever horse has a $7,572,178 career bankroll. Win no. 99 came on January 13 in Foiled Again’s season debut, a half-length score with George Brennan driving. The triumph was timed in 1:55 at the same non-winners $20,000 in last five starts level. Since then, Foiled Again has been foiled in four attempts at his 100th career win.

He came close on February 1, carving out all the fractions but coming up a nose and a head short to just miss in a blanket photo in a typical fight-to-the-finish effort.

“I came here to win with him,” Gingras said after the race. “I wanted to leave. I wasn’t going to race him from third–over.”

Talk about a "horse for course!" Foiled Again, dubbed “The Gremlin” by caretaker Sarah Murphy, has 34 wins, 12 seconds, and seven third places in 74 starts at Yonkers. That's a plus-.480 "batting average" (win percentage), more than 1/3rd of his career victories, and 74 percent "in the money" finishes! Wow!

According to the United States Trotting Association, Foiled Again would become the 18th standardbred (in what might be described as modern era mid-seventies through today) to reach the coveted 100-win milestone, joining most notably the revered Rambling Willie, who paced to 111 victories during a storied career from 1976 through 1983. Heisman (134 wins/1978-89) is another familiar name in the “100 Win Club).

For the full list visit: http://www.ustrotting.com/trackside/top_performers/all_time_stats.cfm?type=pace&sort=wins&q=c.

The wily veteran is co-owned by trainer Ron Burke, Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Stables.

Foiled Again, who’s been winning races at Yonkers since 2006, includes a pair of George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series titles (2009-10) on his robust resume. The $500,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace at Pocono Downs in 2013 is another stakes victory on his resume.

CBS2 Sports anchor Steve Overmyer and cameraman Brad Yurcisin were at Yonkers on February 22 for a full evening with Foiled Again, and produced an epic feature on the pacing legend which aired last Wednesday and Sunday on Channel 2. Take a look at the end result from the Emmy Award-nominated TV tandem: https://youtu.be/iryUASK3Dq0