Ozark Dancer Challenge no challenge for veteran

Integer Skam(KY) showed the youngsters a thing or two, running a nearly flawless race to grab a victory on this week’s Ozark Dancer Challenge.  That’s the second stakes win in a row for the five year old son of Dynaformer, and the third of his career.  It is also his twelfth win overall in his thrity eight career starts.  The win moves him past the 300K mark in career earnings, and edges him up to a ranking of 102 among older turf sprinters.  It was another slow week at the betting windows in another short odds field.  The winner paid $6.60 $3.50 $2.10 across the board.  The exotics were on the low side with the exacta paying $23.70 and a disappointing $38.20 payout in the trifecta.

As expected, Wilykat jumped out to the early lead, but he didn’t get the clear cut break he was looking for, with Integer Skam all over him from the moent they left the gate.  The two ran neck and neck to the half, with Wilykat opening a scant quarter by first call, only to see it cut to just a nose as they reached the halfway mark.  When Intefger Skam stepped it up a notch at the half, it seemed too much for Wilykat, who quickly began to fade, leaving Integer Skam in full control of the second half pace.  Prado Union was parked two lengths off the pace, where he had been the entire race, hanging tough, but not managing to gain any ground on the leader, who still held the same two length lead as they moved past the third call and headed into the stretch.  He began to gain some ground as they drove down the stretch, but there just wasn’t enough room left, and Integer Skam crossed the wire first, with a length and a half still to spare over Prado Union.  Race favorite Cyberghost took the third place honors, four and a quarter out at the wire.