from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The beaten favorite in the recent Miss Pennsylvania final at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Darlinonthebeach got some measure of revenge by winning one of three $30,000 Pennsylvania All-Stars divisions for 3-year-old pacing fillies at The Downs Monday (May 16), not letting an unusually-patterned race keep her from a 1:51.3 victory.

The other two divisions saw I Said Diamonds and Shesasmokinlady both take new lifetime marks of 1:50.4 in capturing their sections.

Curtis Salonick photo

Darlinonthebeach was a 1:51.3 winner for driver David Miller.

Princess Fabulosa outgunned everybody out of the gate in the first division, with 4-5 favorite Darlinonthebeach second but having an early problem. Newborn Sassy, the 11-10 second choice, and Sail To The Beach were biding their time two-wide just to Darlinonthebeach’s right until the early fireworks settled. Newborn Sassy made the lead at the :27.3 quarter and here’s where the sulky wheels were joined by the drivers’ wheels starting to turn.

Sail To The Beach and John Campbell proceeded up towards the lead, but Darlinonthebeach and driver David Miller pulled out right behind them. Tim Tetrick, behind Newborn Sassy, urged his filly on to keep the lead, leaving Sail To The Beach stuck two-wide and Darlinonthebeach temporarily three-wide as Miller did not want to lose momentum, thinking Sail To The Beach would go to the top.

Newborn Sassy retained the top at the half in :55 (:27.2 second quarter, faster than the first and against the wind) after that mental sulky chess match, with Princess Fabulosa in the pocket and Darlinonthebeach backing off to second-over, and they went down the backstretch that way to a 1:22.4 three-quarters.

When left-out-first-over Sail To The Beach gave way on the far turn, Miller again had to go three-wide, while Princess Fabulosa (Jim Marohn Jr.) attacked in the stretch to the left of Newborn Sassy. Darlinonthebeach showed grittiness, striding on to outfoot Newborn Sassy by a neck, while 20-1 Princess Fabulosa was another neck back in third.

The winner is a daughter of Sombeachsomewhere trained by Nancy Johansson for owner White Birch Farm.

The matter was much more tactically simple for second division winner I Said Diamonds. Driver Matt Kakaley fired her up early from the outermost post eight and grabbed the top after the :26.4 opener, posting middle splits of :55.3 and 1:23, then drawing clear on the turn to win by 3-1/4 lengths over another daughter of Well Said, I Said Please.

The winner has never been off the board in nine career starts, and her 2016 record is now 3-2-1-0, the second in finishing behind Pure Country in the Miss Pennsylvania final, for trainer Matias Ruiz and the ownership of Little Bapa LLC.

Like I Said Diamonds, Shesasmokinlady has now been 1-2-3 in nine career outings, running her record to two-for-two this season in taking the third division for trainer/driver Ray Paver. The victorious smoke-colored daughter of McArdle was out well past the :26.3 first quarter, made the lead in front of the stands and then yielded to a brushing Eloquent Grace before the :54.2 half.

The 7-5 chalk Yankee Moonshine attacked first-over to the 1:22.2 three-quarters, but when that foe backed off, 8-5 second choice Shesasmokinlady came to the outside, went past the pacesetter, then held off the late Pocono Pike thrust of 14-1 early leader Some Fancy Filly by a head.

Iris Horowitz owns the late-developing and powerful-looking filly.

Pennsylvania All-Stars action for 3-year-olds concludes Tuesday (May 17) at Pocono, with three $30,000 divisions for trotting fillies.