by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Maywood Park

Melrose Park, IL — Fans of the half-mile oval at Maywood Park may have had to do a double take on Thursday night (Oct. 20) as trotters took center stage with a field of eight 3-year-old fillies grabbing the headlines in the $14,300 Speed N The Tunnel Stake.

Maywood Park photo

Brian Carpenter and Powerful Connection trotted to a wire-to-wire victory in Thursday’s Speed N The Tunnel Stake.

Taking home top honors in this state-bred affair was Dixie Sue Graham and Steve Poore’s Powerful Connection as she grabbed command from the word go and made every call a winning one in 2:02.3 over a sloppy track for driver Brian Carpenter.

Zipped away from post position two by Carpenter, the daughter of Powerful Emotion-Alpine Queen grabbed command of the proceedings heading into the first turn, forcing a hard leaving Make It Rain (Mike Oosting) to take a seat in second as the field trotted by an opening quarter in :28.3.

From that point on the issue was never really in doubt as the Gerald Hansen trained sophomore rolled through splits of :58.3 and 1:30.1.

With that slow third quarter under her belt, Powerful Connection had plenty in reserve as she rebuffed a bid from the pocket sitting Make It Rain to notch her sixth win in 18 starts this season. Make It Rain was forced to settle for the bridesmaid role while My Funky Farkle (Dale Hiteman) turned a ground saving trip into a third place finish.

A 10-time winner in her career, Powerful Connection boasts more than $60,000 in career earnings. Sent off as the 6-5 favorite in the field of eight, Powerful Connection returned $4.60, $2.80 and $2.20.