by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Balmoral Park

Crete, IL — Continuing her quest to lock up divisional honors among the ICF 2-year-old trotting filly set, Dr. Patrick Graham’s Fox Valley Yoko took another step towards securing those honors on Sunday night (Oct. 26) at Balmoral Park as she came charging through the lane to record a 1-1/4 length victory over five rivals in the $40,050 Violet Stake. The final time of 1:58.2 was a new career mark for the good looking youngster.

REB photo

Fox Valley Yoko and driver John De Long cruised to an impressive win in Sunday’s Violet Stake at Balmoral Park.

Masterfully handled by driver John De Long, the pair was content to save ground near the back in the compact field of five while Bi Polar Rose (Travis Seekman) strolled through splits of :29.4, 1:00.4 and 1:30.

After watching their chief rival, Persuasive Look (Casey Leonard) overtake the pacesetter as the field moved into the lane, De Long quickly maneuvered the Curt Grummel trained miss into position with a sixteenth of a mile to go. The daughter of Pizzazzed-Yankee Victory Om responded beautifully, finding her top stride in the blink of an eye as she roared home in :27.4 to blow right by her opponents for her fifth win of the year. Persuasive Look was forced to settle for the bridesmaid role for the second straight week while Bi Polar Rose held on for third.

With the win Fox Valley Yoko, who was the second choice in the wagering, returned $4.40, $2.20 and $2.10 while running her record to 5-3-2 in 11 starts with earnings of nearly $95,000.

Also on Sunday night, the $1 Pick-4 went unclaimed so a carryover of $23,792 will be added to Wednesday’s (Oct. 29) pool. Because of the large carryover, there will be a $50,000 guaranteed Pick-4 pool on Wednesday’s card. The Pick-4 will be contested on races six through nine on Wednesday night.

Handicappers across North America can get a head start on their competition with free 12 line program pages for the guaranteed pools courtesy of the USTA Strategic Wagering Program and TrackMaster on the handicapping section at www.ustrotting.com.