Dover, DE — Two-time Delaware Standardbred Breeders’ Fund (DSBF) series champion Misty Coast began her quest for a First State hat trick with a commanding 1:53.1 win in her $20,000 first-round preliminary event for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Wednesday (Nov. 29) at Bally’s Dover.
Art Stafford Jr. kept the Powerful Mist-Cruisinthecoast filly reserved in fourth as Hold My Wine (driven by Montrell Teague) worked to clear 66-1 outsider She Is Risen (Corey Callahan) for the lead just past a :27.3 first quarter. Misty Coast began her ascent out of midfield with nine-sixteenths to go, advancing uncovered as Hold My Wine controlled a :57.2 half and forging to the lead with three-eighths to go. Midway up the backstretch, Misty Coast sped clear of Hold My Wine, and she immediately gained two lengths of clearance at three-quarters in 1:25.1 before using a :28 final split to equal her lifetime mark and defeat Hold My Wine by 2-3/4 lengths. She Is Risen finished third, 8-3/4 lengths farther behind.
Les Givens trains the Stephen Messick homebred, who now has won 13 times and earned $232,550 in her career. She paid $2.10 to win.
The second division saw Stafford and Chatty Kathleen ($26.60) mount a grandstand-side rally to finish just short of 8-5 favorite Lulu Mist but ultimately be elevated to victory after being deprived of her lane in deep stretch.
Lulu Mist (Trae Porter) launched her first-over attack from third as early pacesetter Spoiled Rotn Girl (Allan Davis) rated a :59 first half and dueled into the lead past three-quarters in 1:27.4. Meanwhile, Chatty Kathleen stalked the top flight from third-over before Stafford angled her three-wide into the final turn. Lulu Mist drew two lengths clear just inside the eighth pole and had ample pace to evade Chatty Kathleen’s late charge by a head in 1:57.2, but she drifted into her rival’s path and was disqualified to second. No Gel Nikki (Pat Berry), who rode the pocket throughout the mile, finished third, 2-1/2 lengths behind.
Dorothy Ann Conner owns and trains Chatty Kathleen, a Roddy’s Bags Again-Chatty Kathy filly who has won three times and earned $63,117 in her career.
Sophomore male pacers will square off in a pair of $20,000 first-round DSBF series divisions to begin Thursday’s (Nov. 30) 15-race card at Bally’s Dover. First post is 4:30 p.m. (EST).