Jul 31, 2022 4 min read

CANONSBURG – When they made the turn for the homestretch, a big smile crossed the face of Ron Burke.

His 3-year-old gelding, Bythemissal, was opening up and Burke, the horse’s trainer and part owner, knew he had the field.

Bythemissal, which sat in seventh place early, burst down the home stretch and won the Delvin Miller Adios over the one-mile track at The Meadows on a perfect Saturday afternoon.

Bythemissal paced in at 1:49.4, one second better than the place horse Beach Glass, which left the post as the 4:5 favorite. Pebble Beach and Todd McCarthy finished third.

Bythemissal paid $18.20 to win, $5.60 to place and $2.40 to show. The winners received a check for $175,000.

It was the third victory for the Burke Stables and first since Ducedora Hanover crossed first in 2018. May June Character won the 2007 Adios title for Mickey Burke.

“The horse did it,” said driver Chris Page. “I got away to be first up. And they went enough fractions and the horse did the rest.”

Dismissed at 8-1, Bythemissal settled in at the middle as Beach Glass, with Yannick Gingras in the sulky, worked to clear arch rival Pebble Beach after a :25.4 first quarter. After a red-hot :53.4 half, Page moved the Downbytheseaside gelding first-over, and charged aggressively at Beach Glass hitting three-quarters in 1:21.4.

The fast early fractions took their toll on the Meadowlands Pace winner, as Bythemissal took control from his rival, and was driven out to win by just over a length. Beach Glass narrowly held second from Pebble Beach, who stayed on up the Lightning Lane.

“I really wasn’t nervous,” said Burke. “I had a great deal of confidence in this horse. … Last week I was disappointed. I thought we should have raced harder. But in the long run, it worked out.”

Bythemissal was a ho-hum second in the Adios eliminations but Page said it was all part of the plan.

“That was by design,” he said. “I wanted to make sure he came into the race fresh. I wanted him to finish with a late pace so I was very happy with what happened last week.”

So was Mark Weaver, who is part owner with Mike Bruscemi and Burke.

“Typically, these horses race once a week but (Bythemissal) hadn’t raced for a month and a half,” he said. “Last week was sort of like an acclimating mile. Then (in this race), he was up against some pretty good horses but he brought his A-game today.”

“We knew the horse was fast and had it in him,” said Bruscemi. “We just weren’t sure where we stood with the other two (Adios elimination winners) in this race. Obviously, we’re very happy with the outcome.”

In other action, Sweet Kisses, driven by Yannick Gringas, rallied from seventh place to win the Quinton Patterson Adioo Volo for 3-year-old pacer fillies.

A 34-1 longshot, Sweet Kisses crossed in a career-best 1:50. Sweet Kisses is a Ron Burke horse.

Tim Tetrick, who drove Hellabalu to the 2021 Adios title, had his choice of the 4 horse, Sweet Chilli Heat or Lyons Stealth, who was leaving from Post No. 5, after the draw.

Tetrick chose Lyons Stealth, trained by Jim King Jr., which went off as the 2-5 favorite for the second division of the Roy Davis Arden Downs 2-year-old pacers. Lyons Stealth won the second division in 1:54.0. Sweet Chilli was second. For the Adios, Tetrick drove Nautical Hanover, which finished eighth.

Racing notes

Attendance was 1,064. … Dave Palone, who recently surpassed 20,000 wins and is the winningest driver in North America, was held to one victory, driving Whos Better to a win in then seventh race. … The handle was a whopping $1.294 million.