Andover America, with Tom Sells handling the lines, rallied in the lane to get up for a dead-heat with Illusionsndreams for second with Lugar and Celebrity Legacy completing the quintette.
The victory by the eight-year-old son of CR Commando extended his winner's streak to three for owner/trainer Bob Dutilly and pushed his seasonal bounty to $33,315, just a shade off of "Dylan's" earnings for all of 2013. He's banked $131,771 lifetime.
It was Illusionsndreams cutting all of the panels in this one -- stopping the timer at :29 for the opener with subsequent panels of :58.1 and 1:27 -- with Celebrity Legacy in the garden spot halfway through the mile andTug River Dylan next, but on the move three-eighths out to put pressure on the leader at station number three. In the lane, Tug River Dylan forged to the lead with the issue never in doubt from the eighth pole on home.
In a post race interview, Ingraham said, "...he's such a handy thing. You can send him...you can rate him...he can brush hard and quickly and Bob [Dutilly] has him very sharp right now. With Sells' horse [Andover America] and Simard's horse [Lugar] not leaving, it left me in a great, close-up spot. Heck, if those two had left, I would have been that much further out of it early, so it worked out great!"
As second choice in the betting, Tug River Dylan paid $7.20 to win.
Kevin Wallis scored a grand slam on the card, including the $7,500 final of Isle Casino Racing's Late Closing Final for claiming pacers with Knight Of My Life.
This six-year-old son of Life Sign, owned and trained by Linda Wallis, wired his foes on fractions of :27.2, :57.2 and 1:26.1 before sealing the issue with a :28 second final quarter. His margin of victory two lengths over stablemate Your My Boy Blue, driven by Mickey McNichol. Dynamic Rayzer and Ingraham rallied for third while Black Magic Racing's duo of Wake and Kennairemachmagic finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the field of six.
For Knight of My Life, it was his six win in 14 starts this year, good for earnings of $16,180 -- this after earning the grand sum of $78 during his five start campaign last year.
As the overwhelming 1-20 favourite, Knight Of My Life paid $2.10 to win.
Wallis' other winners on the program were Take Heart ($4.80) in the $6,000 Open 3 Trot for owner/trainer Linda Wallis, Undercover Bro ($3.80) in the $7,000 Open 2 Trot trainer Gaston Lareau and the JP Houle Stable and Scirocco Sarah ($9.40), who broke her maiden for trainer Peter Blood, who co-owns with Lew Whitaker.
(Pompano Park)