Correia plays down ‘Super’ performance
Harness driver Phillip Correia stood out amongst the crowd during last weekend’s racing at Vesey Street, taking full advantage of a watered down field to claim three wins on two different horses.For added measure Correia’s six-year-old colt Cherokee Superman lived up to its name to post the night’s fastest time of one minute, 5.1 seconds, in the second heat of the Free for All ‘B’ Division after edging Jason Lopes’ Captain Progress at the wire by a nose.Earlier, the boat trailing company owner picked up two wins on Nite Dreamer in the 1:07/3 - 1:09/3 time bar to set the stage for bigger and better things to come.But rather than put himself on a pedestal after all was said and done, Correia opted instead to keep things in perspective.“It’s still the beginning of the year so not everyone is out racing and so obviously this makes a good night look great,” he told The Royal Gazette. “The horses generally start producing faster times as they become fitter as the season goes on.”Last weekend marked Cherokee Superman’s first appearance at the racetrack after missing the opening race day of the season due to a cold.Correia’s colt is the half-brother of Big Red Machine (Colin Mello) who currently owns the track record of 1:02/2 that was set last year.Cherokee Superman ran a personal best 1:03/3 towards the end of last season and if all goes accordingly Correia hopes to go even faster during the 2011/12 campaign.“Ideally I’d prefer to better my fastest time on the track,” he said. “And hopefully we will be able to achieve that.”Also running a 1:05/1 last weekend in the Free for All ‘B’ Division was Lopes’ Captain Progress while Inwood Stables’ Track Patrol, with Cameron Harris in the sulky, posted an identical time in the Junior Free for All where he picked up two wins.Abbey’s Dream, driven by EJ Carreiro, won the first heat in the Free for All ‘B’ Division in a time of 1:06 flat, while Mike’s Shadow (Dylan DeSilva) and Brona’s Mike (Kirista Rabain) won the two heats in the Free for All ‘A’ Division in a time of 1:06 and 1:06/3 respectively.Carreiro also had two wins on Hott Gossip in the 1:14/1 and Slower ‘B’ time bar.Other double heat winners included Darico Clarke, Andy Stoneham, Samantha Hayward, Isaiah Tavares and the evergreen David Lopes.Clarke picked up two wins on Time After Time in the 1:05 - 1:06 time bar, Stoneham had two wins on What-A-Sensation in the 1:12-1:14 time bar while Hayward’s two wins arrived on Red Grand in the 1:09/4-1:1¼ time bar.Lopes had two wins on Paster Paul in the 1:06/2-1:07/2 time bar while Tavares picked up two wins on Mercedes Spence in the 1:14/1 and Slower ‘C’ time bar.