by Steve Terjanian, for Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — With autumn temperatures having finally arrived in The Catskills, Monticello set stage for four eliminations of The Phillip Tully Memorial Trot on Monday, October 15.

With 27 sophomore trotters answering the marshall’s call, among them some outstanding Grand Circuit campaigners as well as top New York Sires Stakes performers, the afternoon figured to be an exciting one. By afternoon’s end, the eight berths had been filled for the final and Monticello’s record book had been rewritten.

Elimination one saw three of the six combatants unfortunately make breaks, turning the race into basically a three-horse affair, but it still managed to provide a game battle to the wire nonetheless.

Exotic Destination rallied to collar Ms Virginia in the first Tully Memorial elim for George Brennan.

Exotic Destination, the only $20,000 supplementary entrant in the original field of 30, set a relaxed pace for driver George Brennan and was able to accelerate with a :29 final quarter to hold off pocket sitting Ms Virginia by a neck in a mile that went in 2:00.1.

The “Buzzy” Sholty trained daughter of Dream Vacation was scoring for the eighth time in 12 career starts, all this year as a sophomore, and will bring career earnings of over $145,000 to the table for next week’s final. Ms Virginia, who has been off the board only twice in her 21-race career, was game in defeat, clocking an individual :28.3 kicker for Tony Morgan.

Elimination two proved to be a jog for Victoria Volo. The 2-5 betting favorite, another daughter of Dream Vacation, cruised home in a scratch shortened six-horse field. Hall Of Fame driver John Campbell was able to relax the filly early, moving out before the half to battle second choice Just Dandy down the backstretch. Trotting a :28 third quarter, Campbell wrestled the lead away and left little doubt she was the best in this elimination, scoring by 2-1/2 lengths in a final time of 2:00.1. Second place finisher Just Dandy will also return for the final.

Jim Campbell trains this winner of five of 14 starts in 2007 and 13 of 25 lifetime tries. The victory lifted her career earnings over the $200,000 mark and she stamped herself as a major player in next week’s final.

Gerri’s Joy went down the road in the third elimination with a strong 1:58.3 mile. Once again it was John Campbell who would visit the winner’s circle after sending the daughter of Enjoy Lavec to the top from the seven hole in a quick :28.4 opening quarter, never to look back.

Campbell would get no breather as favorite Aiken For Clay would range first-over, cutting into the lead by the five-eighths marker and applying more pressure nearing the three-quarters, but Campbell asked his filly for more and got it to put away the 8-5 favorite, who wound up going off-stride past the three-quarters. Also going off stride at this time, making a three-wide move, was second choice Oh Oh Its Magic, a top trotter on the NYSS trail in 2007 and one who had to be feared in this elimination. Rosy Perfect, the longest shot on the board, rallied for place and thus will go into the final.

The victory was only the second of the year in nine starts for the Noel Daley trainee. Interestingly, her other score this year was also with Campbell at the controls in a lifetime best 1:54 mile at Lexington on September 9.

Racehorsephoto.com photos

Likeavirgin Lindy and George Brennan equal the track mark of 1:58 in their $20,000 split.

The top performance of the afternoon would come in the fourth and final elimination when Likeavirgin Lindy would rewrite the Catskill record book. Once again it was George Brennan, returning to The Catskills where his career was launched, taking the wire-to-wire route to victory.

Brennan was able to rate a :59.3 opening half before pressure would come from favored Pippiwhitestockngs down the backstretch. Brennan then put the pedal down and the daughter of Like A Prayer sped up with a :28.4 third quarter, shaking off the Canadian invader. A final panel of :29.3 ensured the two-length victory and equaled the sophomore filly trot mark of 1:58 at The Mighty M set by Masterpiece T just a little over a month ago on September 4. Pippiwhitestockngs was 14 lengths better than the third place finisher to earn the final spot for next week’s showdown.

The win also gave Noel Daley a second participant in next week’s final. The winner has now banked close to $120,000 on the year with a 4-3-2 record from 12 starts.

Now the stage is set; the first two finishers in each of the four elimination events will come back next Monday, October 22, to compete in the $340,000 Tully Memorial Final, which will be the last of Monticello Raceway’s “Magnificent Seven” stakes events for 2007.

Multi-time Catskill driving champ “Zeke” Parker continues to have “hot” hands, having his picture taken four times on the Monday card. Parker’s wins came behind Preyingondaylite and Woodmere BJ, both from his stable, as well as Ball Of Muscle N and Miss Pro Bono. Parker is currently third in the driver’s standings with 177 wins, trailing just Jim Devaux and Stephane Bouchard in that category.