by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Melissa’s Fancy might have been related to multi-millionaire Artistic Fella, but the filly did little to impress trainer Eddie Dennis when she first arrived in his stable. In fact, she did as little as possible.

“It wasn’t until I started training her for a few weeks that I started liking her at all,” Dennis said. “When I first started with her, I thought she really had a bad attitude. She didn’t like you to ask her to do anything on the track. She was a little sassy. One day I put her with a group of colts, and all of a sudden, here she comes. She started getting better and better all the time. She just caught onto what it was all about, I guess.”

Last year, Melissa’s Fancy (Blissfull Hall-Everything’s Easy) won four of seven races and earned $98,682. Her victories included a division of the Debutante at the Meadowlands Racetrack and three legs of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. She finished fourth in the sire stakes final, behind Ginger And Fred, Pedigree Snob and Sand E Fiftyfive (who recently won the Courageous Lady at Northfield Park). Last weekend, Melissa’s Fancy finished second in her elimination for Saturday’s $250,000 James M. Lynch Memorial at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. She was beaten by a nose by Dawn’s Legacy, in 1:52.3.

In addition to Dawn’s Legacy, winning eliminations were supplemental entries Yellow Diamond and Shacked Up, whose owner, Bulletproof Enterprises, paid $15,000 for each filly to enter the race. Yellow Diamond won in 1:51 while Shacked up won in 1:52.

Lisa photo

Melissa’s Fancy (#1) opened up her career with a head triumph over Nikajah in a Debutante division at The Meadowlands.

“I’m hoping for a good draw,” Dennis said. “I think it’s going to come down to positioning and where you’re sitting. It’s not a slow bunch of fillies. It’s a nice bunch and if it’s a nice day they’re going to go in (1):51 and change. (Yellow Diamond) looked like she could go another second or two faster. But I think it’s a pretty even bunch of fillies.”

Although Dennis did not care for Melissa’s Fancy’s attitude when she first arrived, he soon discovered she was a tough filly. She won her first start, a division of the Debutante, by a head with a sustained first-over move at the Meadowlands, covering the final quarter-mile in :27.1.

“She slugged it out all the way down the lane. It wasn’t like they walked home,” Dennis said. “I thought we had something. She’s turned out to be a nice filly.”

Melissa’s Fancy was bred by Larry Smith, who owns the filly with several other partners in the Melissa’s Fancy LP. In addition to being a half sister to Artistic Fella, her maternal family includes 1986 Dan Patch Award-winning 2-year-old filly champion Halcyon.

“She’s got a lot to live up to, that’s for sure,” Dennis said, laughing. “She’s still a little sassy. She’s still a little feisty. But to me, that’s what makes a good filly, or an honest filly, anyway.”