by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association

Delaware, OH — Richard and Joanne Young’s I Luv The Nitelife might as well be named “I Luv The Lead” after having swept both heats of the $257,750 Jugette for 3-year-old filly pacers on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 18) at the Delaware County Fair.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

I Luv The Nitelife swept both heats of the Jugette for 3-year-old filly pacers on Wednesday at the Delaware County Fair.

Driver Tim Tetrick drove aggressively through splits of :28, :56.1 and 1:23 on the way to a 1:51.2 mile in the $154,650 final heat. Earlier in the day, I Luv The Nitelife won the first heat in similar fashion, scoring in a time of 1:51. The combined time of 3:42.2 is a North American race record for 3-year-old filly pacers for two heats on a half-mile track.

I Luv The Nitelife (Rocknroll Hanover-Lisjune, by Camluck) won for the 12th time in 13 starts this year and has now won $1,657,867 lifetime.

Carols Desire (Matt Kakaley) finished second and Jerseylicious (Corey Callahan) was third. The winning margin was 3-1/2 lengths.

“She has made believers out of all of us,” said I Luv The Nitelife’s trainer Chris Ryder. “I was a little concerned about bringing her here because in the beginning of the year she was struggling around the turns. (Earlier this year) she had a little foot problem, but she bounced right out of it.

“She really is a tremendous horse. You can ship her anywhere and do anything with her. She just takes everything in stride and is such a good horse.

“She is not eligible to any races until the Breeders Crown.”

“When I was staking her over the winter I purposefully did not stake her to anything before the Breeders Crown,” said owner Richard Young. “I wanted to give her some time off before that race because it’s a tough group of fillies that have been knocking heads with each other all year. So we decided to come here and then go to the Breeders Crown.”

I Luv The Nitelife rolls in 1:51 in Jugette opener

I Luv The Nitelife won the speed battle going into the first turn and led all the way from there and won the $103,100 first heat of the Jugette for 3-year-old filly pacers.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

I Luv The Nitelife won the $103,100 first heat of the Jugette for 3-year-old filly pacers on Wednesday at the Delaware County Fair in 1:51, a national season’s mark.

Driver Tim Tetrick drove aggressively through splits of :26.2, :54.3 and 1:22.1 on the way to a national season’s record 1:51 mile.

I Luv The Nitelife (Rocknroll Hanover-Lisjune, by Camluck) won for the 11th time in 12 starts and her first trip on a half-mile track, obviously, presented no problems and earned her the inner-most post position in the second and final heat (posts in the second heat were earned by finish positions in the first heat).

Jerseylicious (Corey Callahan) finished second, 1-1/4 lengths behind the winner, and UF Dragon’s Queen (Ron Pierce) was third. Social Scene (Brian Sears), who came first-over at the three-quarter pole and challenged the winner on the final turn, faded to fourth.

“She’s never raced on a half (-mile track) before so we were a little concerned,” said owner Richard Young. “But we tried her at Freehold. The turns are tighter there and she did well.

“It’s great to win this one and it keeps her streak alive and gives us a good post position, which is important, but the next one is the one we really want to win.”

“Earlier in the year she wasn’t getting around the turns very well,” said trainer Chris Ryder, “but she has improved throughout the year and she looked like she was handling them well today.”

— Kimberly French also contributed to this report