by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Picking the best possible time to win her first race of the year, 15-1 shot OK To Play won her way into the Hambletonian Oaks with a win in the first of four $35,000 eliminations for the August 8 final at The Meadowlands.

OK To Play won her Oaks elimination for Daniel Dube in 1:53.3.

Driven by Daniel Dube, just a few hours removed from his upset win with Vintage Master in the Adios, OK To Play trotted right to the lead from post six, hitting the quarter in :28. She was trailed by Seaside (Mike Lachance) and Gabby’s Dream (Andy Miller). By the :55.4 half, OK To Play was still OK on the lead and putting lengths between her and the field at the 1:24 three-quarters. By the head of the stretch, she had about six lengths on the field, though she let up a bit before hitting the wire in a career best 1:53.3 for a 4-3/4 length victory.

OK To Play is owned by Daniel Plouffe and Jean Dessureault and trained by Marcus Johansson.

“She’s been real good, she just got no luck,” said Dube of his filly’s first seasonal win. “She’s not easy to go to the gate, but tonight I didn’t need anyone for cover and she made her own way. I didn’t even pop the earplugs.”

Asked about the decision to drop a 1 for 19 filly into the entry box for the Oaks, trainer Marcus Johansson noted, “I asked Daniel last week if he thought she’d be good enough and he said, ‘Yes, go ahead and drop her in.’ The owners wanted to try, so here we are. She’s had a lot of bad luck and a lot of traffic and everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Today, he (Dube) cut her loose on the front end.”

Also qualifying for the Oaks was second place finisher Jersey As (Tim Tetrick), who is trained by Annette Lorentzon. The third place finisher was I Wanted Wings (Brian Sears).

It was the fifth win in a row for Elusive Desire, winning the second Hambletonian Oaks elimination with a 3-1/2 length victory for driver John Campbell and trainer Mike Keeling. She’s co-owned by Keeling’s wife, Paula Wellwood, who owns the filly with her mother, Jean, Charles Armstrong and Robert Fasken.

Those two took the most direct path to the winner’s circle, taking the lead off the gate and hitting the quarter in :27.4, with Rapsong (Ron Pierce) trailing her. Elusive Dream led the field to the :56.3 half and by the five-eighths the Swedish import Moonlight Kronos (Tim Tetrick) was off the rail from fourth to challenge on the outside, where she remained at the 1:25.1 three-quarters. Elusive Desire trotted away from the field in the stretch to win by 3-1/2 lengths in a career best 1:53.2. Moonlight Kronos trotted strong at the end to get second and a spot in the Oaks. Celebrity Athena was third.

“I got a briefing from Mike (Keeling) before and I got a chance to look at the program,” said Campbell. “I could see she could trot pretty good and that told me a lot right there. I didn’t care if she was on the lead, I just wanted to be up near the front with her. When everybody got settled going to the quarter, she relaxed. In the second quarter, we were uncontested and she basically did the rest on her own. She was trotting comfortably and every time I asked her, she just trotted a bit more.”

Trainer Mike Keeling was pleased with his filly’s progress. “She’s become a real professional. The last five or six starts, she’s been on her own out there, comfortable, everything the driver asks of her, she does, and she’s a real pleasure. She wasn’t a natural right away, she’s got her idiosyncracies.”

Lisa photos

Raising Rachel scored in a personal best clocking of 1:54.

Raising Rachel (Jack Moiseyev) snuck out at the head of stretch to wear down Honorable Daughter to win the third elimination in a career best time of 1:54 by three lengths. She is trained by John Kopas for the estate of George Hempt Trust, Hartman, KR Stable and Millard.

All Star Hanover (David Miller) was first to the lead at the :29 quarter, but Raising Rachel was up to challenge and take the lead away. She held that lead briefly, but was soon overtaken by Honorable Daughter (John Campbell), who had the lead at the :56.4 half. She trotted on to the 1:25.4 three-quarters when Raising Rachel tipped out to challenge through the turn. Those two trotted together for several strides, before Raising Rachel trotted away from the field for the win.

“This has been a really nice filly from day one,” said trainer John Kopas. “I can’t take much responsibility, she was just a natural right from the day we threw a harness on her.”

Kopas spoke emotionally of the filly’s late co-owner, George Hempt, “There isn’t a day goes by I don’t miss him.”

He noted that Raising Rachel doesn’t require any complex training to stay sharp. “She’s good enough that my brother trained her this week and she won. We probably won’t go as much with her (this week), just jog her.”

Broadway Schooner (Brian Sears) won the fourth and final Oaks elimination by 6-1/4 lengths in 1:53.3, a career best time for her. She took the lead away from Margarita Mary, who’d hit the lead at the :28.3 quarter. Broadway Schooner and Sears led the field to the :56.4 half, while Margarita Mary (Tim Tetrick) gave chase. Broadway Schooner had a nearly three length lead just past the half and held it to the 1:24.4 three-quarters. By the head of the stretch, she was off by herself, with Margarita Momma (Ron Pierce) taking the show spot and Timelesswinner Two (Andy Miller) third.

“Not only did we breed Broadway Schooner, but we bred three of the Broadway Halls that are in this race,” said owner/breeder Jules Siegel.

I Wanted Wings and Timelesswinner Two were the third place finishers that advanced to the final by virtue of being the third place finishers with the highest career earnings.