by Adam Packard, for the Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — The remnants of Hurricane Katrina couldn’t dampen the spirits of stake horse owners at The Meadows on Tuesday night (August 30), as four divisions of the Delmonica Hanover Pennsylvania Sires Stake for two-year-old filly trotters were contested.

Jimmy Takter captured two splits on the night, taking advantage of another’s misfortune in the first division.

B L Hoypop, driven by Bill Fahy, went to the front just past the :29.4 opening quarter on the sloppy track. Takter tipped Bye Bye Kerry to the outside to follow, not expecting Fahy to clear to the lead so easily.

“I thought I would get a second over trip,” commented Takter, “but they let the other filly go and I was out there without cover.”

Bye Bye Kerry was second at the half, reached in 1:00.4, and still battling with B L Hoypop by the three-quarter pole in 1:31. In the stretch it appeared as though the frontrunner would hold on, but the filly broke stride inside the final sixteenth of the mile and Bye Bye Kerry swept past to claim the win in 2:01.3, ahead of longshot Tori Ann (Bob Harper) and ENS Curious (Evan Coblentz).

“She did it the hard way,” said Takter of Bye Bye Kerry. “I thought it was a very good race for a two-year-old on a track like this in this type of weather.”

Bye Bye Kerry, an S J’s Photo filly, is owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding and the Anderberg Stable and is trained by Jimmy Takter.

In the second division, Tucson Yankee and Dave Palone took a perfect pocket trip to the three-quarter pole and then roared home for an easy victory.

Clareen, the 3-5 favorite for driver Ray Paver, sat second behind frontrunning Dark Mystery through fractions of :30.4, 1:01.4 and 1:32.3, but the pair gave escort service to Tucson Yankee, who trotted home in :29.1 to earn her second career victory, in 2:01.4. Clareen settled for second, ahead of Dark Mystery (Brian Zendt).

Adelaide Skoglund and the Arden Homestead Stable own the daughter of Lindy Lane, who is trained by Jan Johnson.

In the third grouping, Macaria Hanover scored a convincing victory in the night’s fastest split.

Keystone Carla, driven by Joe Offutt, was looking for her ninth win on the season and opted to take the early lead. She took the field through quarters of :29.1, 1:01 and 1:31.2 before Macaria Hanover, who had been sitting second, exploded out of the pocket. The two battled briefly until mid-stretch, but Macaria Hanover, who was making the first start of her career, drew clear with a :28.2 final quarter to win in 2:00 for driver Dave Palone. Keystone Carla finished second, ahead of Kosmopolitan (Doug Snyder).

Doug Miller, who trains Macaria Hanover, was quite happy with her belated seasonal debut.

“She had some problems over the winter. She had a chip in her ankle and missed a chunk of time. We got her ready late, then wanted to start her in a Sires Stake at Pocono Downs earlier in the month,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, she had some aches and pains and didn’t train up to snuff, so I gave her some time off and got her ready for this one.”

She was definitely ready for her Meadows debut.

“That was impressive, wasn’t it?” said Miller, in a rhetorical fashion.

William Weaver owns the winner, a daughter of Lindy Lane.

The final division brought Jimmy Takter back to the winner’s circle, as Flamingo Bingo went wire-to-wire in 2:01.1.

The daughter of SJ’s Caviar, owned by Christina Takter and John Fielding, cut fractions of :29.3, 1:00.2 and 1:31.4 on her way to an easy victory. Keystone Bianca (Wade Ross) finished second, ahead of Panolta (Paver).