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Fear The Dragon overtakes Huntsville in final of Adios

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Fear The Dragon, driven by David Miller, crosses first in the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids Saturday at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

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Mackenzie Randall/Observer-Reporter The field for the Adios come down the home stretch and toward the finish line Saturday at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

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Fear The Dragon’s trainer Brian Brown, left, looks on as his horse receives the winning orchids blanket Saturday at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

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Mackenzie Randall/Observer-Reporter Fear The Dragon owner Bruce Trogdon of Emerald Highlands Farm in Mount Vernon, Ohio, hugs Jennifer Brown, wife of trainer Brian Brown, Saturday at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

MEADOW LANDS – Early in his career, when he was purchasing $3,000 claimers and wondering whether he would succeed as a horseman, Bruce Trogdon came to The Meadows, and watched Delvin Miller work out horses, from the since removed metal stands at the start of the home stretch.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, just yards away from Trogdon’s old seats, his colt, Fear The Dragon, put on a burst and passed Huntsville down that stretch to win the 51st Adios on a fast track.

The race lived up to expectations between the top two ranked 3-year-old pacers in the country. Huntsville came in as the Meadowlands Pace winner and Fear The Dragon as the North America Cup champion.

Fear The Dragon, out of the Trogdon-owned Emerald Highlands Farm in Mount Vernon, N.Y., sat fourth at the five-eighths pole before driver David Miller opened him up.

He was second on the final turn, hesitated, then turned up the heat on a laboring Huntsville and Tim Tetrick and crossed first in 1:49.1 over the one-mile race.

“I didn’t know how this race was going to go,” said Trogdon. “There was so much speed in the race and everyone wanted to sit behind Huntsville. I was a little nervous with David trying to make him do what he didn’t want to do. He’s not a leaver.”

RJP, driven by Yannick Gingras, made one last try at the top of the stretch but fell back as Fear The Dragon came up.

“I couldn’t afford to let Huntsville get to the half too cheap, because then I would have been in big trouble,” Miller said. “But it worked out good. Coming off the last turn, I thought he was beat. He’s a pretty tough horse.”

It was the ninth win in 10 starts this season for Fear The Dragon, trained by Brian Brown, and it pushed his career earnings past $1.12 million. The only loss came to Ron Burke’s Miso Fast in a Max Hempt elimination in June.

“It turned into a great race,” said Brown, who also trained Blazin’ Britches, the winner of the second division of yesterday’s Adio Volo. “I was worried we didn’t get away any better than we did. We were so far back. At the head of the stretch, I thought Huntsville was going to put us away. Down the stretch, Dragon fought back and came back. He just never gave up.”

Fear The Dragon and Huntsville each won their elimination races last weekend but Fear The Dragon looked sluggish. Postrace tests showed he was dehydrated.

“That makes a horse dull,” said Brown. “We worked on it and the horse was good. I knew he would be good in warmups. But you have to be great to win this race.”

For Trogdon, the race caps another memorial day at this track. He proposed to his wife, Sabrina, 41 years ago on the same track where Miller showed him how he trained some horses.

“Even when I had $3,000 claimers and was just starting out in the business, I always liked coming down here,” said Trogdon. “I’ve always loved the Adios. It’s a fun race.

“In the old days, Delvin Miller used to have the Adios sale. They had these bleachers in front of the Two Minute Club. I used to sit there watching them jog around with saddle bags. I was one of the few people who would break our yearlings and videotaped them when we jogged them. People used to say, ‘How did you ever think that up?’ I’d say, No. No. I’m a copycat. The first person to do that was Delvin Miller.”

Fear The Dragon is a son of the stallion Dragon Again out of the mare Armbro Cinnamon, who Trogdon purchased five months prior to Fear The Dragon’s birth in April 2014.

The Meadows-based Burke Stables had three victories on the card and earned $134,348 off 21 entries. Dave Palone and Miller each had three wins on the card.

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