by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — When it came to purchasing Lady Broadway, trainer Chris Oakes wasn’t about to play games. It wasn’t going to come down to offers and counter offers, and let’s see who blinks first.

“I watch all the races, saw a lot of them she ran last year and she was just very athletic traveling,” Oakes said. “I just liked the way the horse was gaited. I called the owner (John McMullen, Jr.) and asked him if the horse was for sale.

“He gave me the number and I bought her the next day. There was no haggling, I just liked her and he told me not less than 100 (thousand) and I bought her. It was a good buy in hindsight. It turned out to be good for both guys.”

Indeed, the original owner made a $94,000 profit when you factor in he only paid $6,000 for her as a yearling, but it is turning into one of the best $100,000 the trainer has spent for owners Susan Oakes, Hauser Bros Racing and Conrad Zurich.

Mike Lizzi photo

Lady Broadway was a 1:55.3 winner for Eric Goodell in the Hudson Filly Trot elimination.

The 3-year-old filly trotter has won 18 of 28 career races and earned $159,836. She has finished in the money in all 10 of her races this year and has won five heading into Saturday’s $155,624 Hudson Filly Trot at Yonkers Raceway.

Lady Broadway was supplemented into the race by Oakes for a price of $15,000.

“She’s just a natural,” he said. “The reason I supplemented her to that race is because as a 2-year-old she ran around all the horse tracks in Pennsylvania like a hoop around a barrel. I kind of counted on her being very good on a half-mile track.”

Lady Broadway comes from a pretty good family, which includes the 1972 Trotting Triple Crown winner Super Bowl. Oakes liked what he saw of her on the Pennsylvania fair circuit.

“I watched her race at Pocono a couple times, you could see she had obvious talent,” he said. “She races a lot and did a lot of fairs and what you call bull rings — tough tracks. She won like 75, 80 percent of her races as a 2-year-old.

“Once we brought her to the big track she just stepped her game right up. She was just a good horse right off the bat. We didn’t do a whole lot other than put her in my program but she was a good horse before we got her.”

Lady Broadway enters the Hudson Filly Trot on a roll, having won four straight and drawing the No. 2 post.

“I think she’s got a big shot to win it,” Oakes said. “The biggest thing is the draw with Yonkers. If you draw inside you have an advantage. If you draw six, seven or eight you’ve got your work cut out.

“The two other fillies (to worry about) are Ray Schnittker’s filly (Royal Assets) and Robbie Harmon’s filly (Andie Sophia). Robbie drew the seven, Schnittker drew the five, so we’re inside both horses we have to beat.”

Lady Broadway has the ability to race off the pace, close to the pace or in the lead. Oakes expects to see her “racing either on the front or very close to it,” on Saturday.

As for what makes her successful, the trainer feels it’s gait and attitude.

“She’s got a natural gait to her,” he said. “She’s an athletic horse, she tries hard. She wants to do it.”

In the barn, she’s nice around people, but not so nice with her roommates.

“She’s really a pretty good horse to be around,” Oakes said. “She’s a little nasty around other horses, she’s got a way about her. She’s got a good attitude, but you gotta be careful when other horses are around her. She doesn’t like other horses a lot.”

This weekend may tell a lot about Lady Broadway’s future, as she is only staked in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes, where she has already reached the final.

“Basically that’s what she’s got left unless I want to supplement her into a couple others,” Oakes said. “We’ll see how it goes. Let’s see how this week goes.

“But that’s why the price was 100 instead of 200. The more they’re eligible for the more you can get for them. She wasn’t staked real heavily. They staked her very lightly because they didn’t think they had what they had.”

Oakes knew what they had, however. It’s what made his negotiations so easy.

Here is the field for the Hudson Filly Trot on Saturday at Yonkers Raceway.

$155,624 Hudson Filly Trot Final
HN-PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
2-1-Cha Cha Magic-Jason Bartlett-Staffan Lind-12-1
3-2-Lady Broadway-Eric Goodell-Chris Oakes-8-5
4-3-Southwind Cocoa-Daniel Dube-Linda Toscano-10-1
1-4-Caneel Hall-Jordan Stratton-Ray Schnittker-4-1
1A-5-Royal Assets-Ray Schnittker-Ray Schnittker-4-1
5-6-Time To Kill-Jim Pantaleano-Ross Croghan-8-1
6-7-Andie Sophia-Larry Stalbaum-Rob Harmon-5-1
7-8-Global Beauty-Jeff Gregory-Noel Daley-15-1