PR Harness the record of the oval

Pacer

Mr Arturo

5 charted starts at Plainridge, 2 wins, best mile 1:56.4.

The Record

Mr Arturo appears in the surviving Plainridge programs across 3 seasons, 2003 to 2005, with 5 starts for which the official chart records a finishing position. 2 of those produced wins, and the horse finished in the first three on 3 occasions altogether.

The fastest mile recorded here is 1:56.4, set on Saturday, May 1, 2004. A harness time is written in minutes, seconds and fifths, so the final digit is a fifth of a second rather than a hundredth. On a track of this size like Plainridge a horse turns four times in a mile, which costs ground against the bigger tracks and makes reading one mile against another misleading.

The winner's line in the chart gives the breeding as ARTURO out of KEYSTONE SARALEE, herself by ALBATROSS. Harness pedigrees are quoted in that order — sire, dam, then the dam's own sire — because the maternal grandsire carries much of the weight in judging a standardbred family.

The classes Mr Arturo was entered in run to QUA, NW300PS, NW200PS, NW4PMLT, STARSEARCH, 4YOS. These are condition races rather than claiming events, so eligibility rested on money already won rather than on a posted purchase price.

The drivers who sat behind Mr Arturo most often were Michael E Eaton (4), Daniel T Sumner (1). Driver changes matter more in harness racing than the bare numbers suggest, because the same horse can be driven for early speed or held for a late quarter depending on who holds the lines.

Every Start Held Here

DateRcFinPPTimeOddsDriverClass
Jul 5, 2005 3 2 Michael E Eaton QUA
May 1, 2004 9 1 6 1:56.4 18.00 Michael E Eaton NW300PS
Apr 17, 2004 10 1 2 1:57.1 2.70 Michael E Eaton NW200PS
Apr 10, 2004 10 2 7 1:59.0 4.80 Michael E Eaton NW200PS
Apr 6, 2004 1 6 6 2:02.4 17.80 Michael E Eaton NW200PS
Sep 15, 2003 12 5 Scott R Nichols
Sep 8, 2003 8 AE Joseph Alongi NW4PMLT
Sep 2, 2003 1 7 Joseph Alongi NW200PS
Jun 16, 2003 9 2 Daniel T Sumner STARSEARCH
May 26, 2003 6 7 1 1:59.4 34.70 Daniel T Sumner 4YOS

All horses in the record

Questions about this horse

What was Mr Arturo's fastest mile?

1:56.4, on 2004-05-01. Harness times are read as minutes, seconds and fifths, so 1:56.4 is 1 minute and the rest in seconds — the final fifth is the digit after the last point.

Which drivers sat behind Mr Arturo?

Michael E Eaton (4) and Daniel T Sumner (1). The figure in brackets is the number of drives.

Was Mr Arturo a trotter or a pacer?

A pacer — every charted start is at the pace. A pacer moves its legs in lateral pairs, a trotter in diagonal pairs, and a horse is normally campaigned at one gait or the other.

What class did Mr Arturo race in?

QUA, NW300PS, NW200PS and NW4PMLT, plus 2 other conditions. Each code is a set of eligibility conditions rather than a grade — the class pages explain what each one admitted.

What were the odds on Mr Arturo?

The shortest price in the recovered charts is 2.70 to one. Odds are the closing figures printed on the chart, so they reflect what the pool decided at the off, not a forecast.

How often did Mr Arturo go to the gate here?

The record shows 5 charted starts for Mr Arturo, 2003 to 2005. The name appears on 10 race days in all once entry sheets are counted, because a horse can be drawn into a race and then scratched before it is run. That is what the programmes and result sheets hold, not necessarily the horse's full career: starts made at other tracks are outside this record.

Did Mr Arturo ever win here?

Yes — 2 wins from 5 starts, a strike rate of 40%. Adding 1 second and 0 thirds, Mr Arturo finished in the first three on 3 occasions.