by Charlene Polk, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Polk

Seaford, DE — She may be a Gamblers Dream, but AJ’s Lilgamblngal has not been providing bettors with any big payoffs lately.

While she is 6-1 in the program, AJ’s Lilgamblngal, a daughter of Gamblers Dream and A J’s Kathy, is sure to go off as one of the top choices in Monday’s (April 6) $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund Final after coming off wins in both of her preliminary legs.

“She drew the four hole and she looks like she’ll be competitive,” said trainer Wayne Givens, who also owns the filly with neighbors Charles and Diane Coursey.

Her recent success comes as no surprise to her connections, who have always thought a lot of the 3-year-old.

“She always trained like a nice filly,” Givens said. “She started off good and she’s racing good.”

Fotowon photo

AJ’s Lilgamblngal lowered her mark to 1:55 in winning a DSBF preliminary leg on March 29 at Dover Downs.

From 13 starts last year, AJ’s Lilgamblngal had three wins and five seconds with earnings of $38,835. This year she has three wins from just four starts, with earnings of $25,275 and a new lifetime mark of 1:55 that she took at Dover Downs March 29.

Givens said the bay filly, a member of Gamblers Dream’s second crop, wears no unusual equipment and is easy to work with. The Courseys agree.

“She’s a nice quiet filly,” Diane Coursey said.

And she would know. Coursey and her husband, newcomers to the sport of harness racing, first started getting AJ’s Lilgamblngal ready for the races by working her in their underwater treadmill.

While the Courseys did not have much experience with Standardbreds when they began with the filly, they already had an extensive rehabilitation facility set up for their paints and quarter horses.

They have an underwater treadmill for the horses as well as a cold saltwater spa.

“We started it for the Quarter Horses and the paints,” she said, “but all along we thought Standardbred people might be interested.”

Naturally they were, and that is how the Courseys came to purchase AJ’s Lilgamblngal. The filly’s breeder, Marcia Waller, sent one of her horses, Up Front Boy, to the Courseys’ farm to use the rehab facilities. Once they started working with the pacer, the Courseys fell in love with the breed.

“They’re fun to be around,” Diane Coursey said. “They just want to please you.”

She and her husband proceeded to purchase not only Up Front Boy but also the just turned-2-year-old AJ’s Lilgamblngal and her mother, who was in foal again to Gamblers Dream.

“It was an excellent purchase,” she said. “Our first purchase.”

Although Up Front Boy was claimed, the Courseys still have the mother and full brother to AJ’s Lilgamblngal. Diane said she and her husband are looking forward to having another member of the family, as the mare is in foal to Funny Bones, another of the Courseys’ recent Standardbred purchases.

“It’ll be interesting to see how those crosses work,” she said. “And my husband loves the foaling and messing with the babies. It’s good for his blood pressure.”

And after that the Courseys will start AJ’s Lilgamblngal’s little brother, Anointed Dream, on the treadmill, in hopes that he will turn into another standout in the first state stakes.

“We enjoy the racing,” Coursey said. “This year we’re concentrating totally on Standardbreds.”