Charlene Polk

Seaford, DE — Delaware trainer Cliff Green is hoping that Da Green Curse will be something to fear in Monday night’s (Oct. 26) $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund final.

At odds of 12-1, the daughter of Badlands Hanover-Don’t Curse Me starts from post two in the DSBF final for 2-year-old pacing fillies.

“I’m hoping she gets a piece of it,” said Green, who owns the filly with his mother Edna.

Although she has had just three starts, Da Green Curse is continually improving, with a win last week in 1:59.2. The filly closed from fifth to notch her first lifetime victory for Green and driver Jim Morand.

“I’ve been satisfied with her every time she’s gone to the gate,” Green said.

Fotowon photo

Da Green Curse broke her maiden with a neck win over Fran Luck in a DSBF elimination.

While the filly certainly appears to be on track now, this time last year Green, a familiar face on the Delaware racing scene, wasn’t sure she’d even be a racehorse. As a yearling in the fall of 2008 Da Green Curse (with Da coming from the trainer’s Whodathunkit Stable and Green for the family name) was slow to take to jogging, to say the least.

“We called her ‘lay me down’ for a long time,” Green said. “She tried to lay down for three weeks. She’s very moody.”

The bay filly got over her dislike for jogging though, and training down she began to remind Green of her mother, Don’t Curse Me, a $1,500 purchase who went on to make $131,217 and become the fastest daughter of David’s Pass.

“She feels like her mother on the track,” Green said. “She tries all the time.”

In the barn, however, he says she’s “all mare.”

“She likes to do every little thing she can do to irritate you but she’s not mean,” Green said.

Although she made some breaks during her initial schooling attempts, the addition of ear plugs calmed Da Green Curse down and she officially made the races with a second place 2:04.4 finish in a Sept. 17 qualifier. The filly finished fifth in her first race and ended up fourth after interference in her first DSBF elimination. Last week’s elimination win pushed her into Monday night’s final. While she is not the fastest in the field, she has yet to be aggressively raced.

“I’ve been real cautious with her because when we schooled her she got hot,” Green said, “and if you grabbed her too much she’d make a break.”

While she’ll need some racing luck and some of her mother’s speed in Monday night’s freshman final, Green knows his filly won’t be short on effort.

“She gives 100 percent every time,” he said.

$100,000 DSBF Final-2FP
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Line
1-New Manhattan-Vince Copeland-Wayne Givens-5-1
2-Da Green Curse-Clifton Green-Clifton Green-12-1
3-Winbak Patty-David Miller-Deleston Cote-4-1
4-Fran Luck-Ross Wolfenden-Timothy Torbert-6-1
5-Naughty Indeed-Jim Morand-George Teague, Jr.-3-1
6-Top Land-George Dennis-Ben Stafford-8-1
7-Touch The Clouds-Yannick Gingras-James Wilson-10-1
8-Model Legs-Corey Callahan-George Teague, Jr.-5-2
AE1-Badlands Kate-Anthony Morgan-Taylor Gower
AE2-Cherub Hanover-Bryan Truitt-Bryan Truitt