by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — Runover Feeling, a bargain-basement yearling, outperformed his sales price Saturday, establishing track and stake records in the fastest division of the $126,230 Arden Downs Stake for two-year-old colt and gelding pacers at The Meadows. The event was the companion feature to the $500,500 Coors Delvin Miller Adios.

USTA Photo.

Runover Feeling set track and stake records in the fastest division of the $126,230 Arden Downs Stake.

Other split winners in the stake, known as The Governor Lawrence, were Dolce And Gapanna, Western Saloon, With Anticipation and P-Forty-Seven. Four of the five winners are Pennsylvania-bred.

Trainer Roland Mallar picked up Runover Feeling for his partners, Patrick Leavitt and Craig Rancourt, for $5,000 at the 2003 yearling auction in Harrisburg, a virtual song by modern standards.

“I’m not really sure why he didn’t bring more,” Mallar said. “He’s a little on the small side, and one leg was off a little bit. I was actually interested in the next horse that sold. When the price was hanging around $4,000, I just threw my hand up, and they knocked him down.”

In the Governor Lawrence, the son of Western Hanover fired out for the early lead, was shuffled back to third, and came first over for driver George Brennan. He grabbed a narrow lead at the three-quarter pole but widened it to six and a quarter lengths over Kublai Pan at the finish. Kansas City was third. The time of 1:52 was a tick better than the previous mark set last year by Metropolitan, who endured a troubled trip in an Adios elimination later in the card and failed to qualify for the final.

“He’d been off almost a month, but he trained well coming back and he raced great today,” Mallar said. “When they got to the three-quarters so quickly and he was off three lengths, I was a little concerned about what he would have left. But there’s no quit in him.”

Dolce And Gapanna, a home-bred son of The Panderosa owned by Bob Glazer’s Peter Pan Stable, had trouble getting through the first turn flat, an adventure that persuaded driver Luc Ouellette to choose a conservative trip.

“He was rough going through the first turn. He put in a few steps,” Ouellette said. “He might interfere because it looked like he marked himself up a little bit. I’m sure they’ll figure out how to get him cleaned up. I didn’t want to have to rush him, he hadn’t seen that kind of speed, so I figured, sit in, take a chance in the stretch.”

Still five lengths off at the top of the lane, Dolce And Gapanna paced home in :28³, a neck better than Roddy’s Bags Again, who was disqualified and placed back to third for interference in the stretch. The victim of the foul, Up Front Tornado, was elevated from third to second. Final winning time was 1:55².

Trainer Virgil Morgan expects bigger and better things from Dolce And Gapanna.

“We wanted to race him out of a hole,” Morgan said. “If we’d let him have his head, he probably would have been all right. He’s immature. I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of him. He loves to pass horses. He likes to do his work. And Bob’s letting me manage him the right way, take our time with him as opposed to racing him every week. He’s a big, growthy, strong colt, and I think that will come into play.”

Sequestered in the two hole past the half, Western Saloon pulled the pocket at David Miller’s urging to attack the leader, Real Pro K. The son of Western Hanover, trained by Brian Brown, got on even terms but seemed unwilling to go by.

“He’s a little green still,” Miller said. “We got halfway by, and then he let up. He kind of sashayed around a little bit. Brian said he wouldn’t be quite as sharp as he could be because he hadn’t raced in a couple weeks and didn’t have to be on the front to win. He’s a very nice horse. There’s nothing wrong with him at all.”

Western Saloon regained his momentum and scored in 1:53³, a half length better than the closing Answer Me This. Real Pro K saved show.

Lightning 5 Stable, Shoot The Moon Stable and Irving Bork own Western Saloon.