by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Dealt A Winner (David Miller) dealt his backers a huge payoff when the 26-1 longshot paced across the wire to win the $319,400 Cane Pace for 3-year-old pacing males on Saturday (Aug. 8) at The Meadowlands in 1:47.3, a stakes record and world record for 3-year-old pacing geldings on a mile track.

The Cane is the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Dealt A Winner (David Miller) won the $319,400 Cane Pace for 3-year-old pacing males in 1:47.3, a stakes record and world record for 3-year-old pacing geldings on a mile track.

Dealt A Winner is owned by Jeffrey Snyder and is trained by Mark Silva.

It was a cavalry charge off the gate, with Yankee Bounty (Yannick Gingras) and In The Arsenal (Brian Sears) making aggressive moves to try for the lead. Wiggle It Jiggleit (Montrell Teague) was also on the move from post two and with four horses within a few feet of each other, he hit the quarter-mile marker on top in :25.4.

Sears soon had In The Arsenal on the outside and was pressuring Wiggle It Jiggleit all the way down the backstretch. Wiggle It Jiggleit had a tenuous lead at the :52.1 half when In The Arsenal began to fall off the pace. Dealt A Winner, coming from fifth, was outside of him, moving for the lead at the 1:20.4 three-quarters.

The field failed to make up ground on Dealt A Winner when he got to the lead and he held it to the wire, winning by 1-1/4 lengths. Artspeak (Scott Zeron) came up to be second and Dude’s The Man (Corey Callahan) was third. Wiggle It Jiggleit faded to fourth.

“I got him away I think fifth and they were going really hard into the first turn,” said David Miller. “They kept marching pretty good up the backstretch, you know :52(.1) to the half. I never had to move him until the last turn. He actually swelled up in the hole and when I moved him, he just took right off. This horse has struggled a little this year, but he’s got plenty of ability. He got to show it today.”

The victory was the first in eight starts this year and sixth lifetime for Dealt A Winner, a son of Cam’s Card Shark-Lazan Hanover, who has now earned $243,560 in 2015 and $363,439 lifetime.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Stacia Hanover’s connections celebrate in the winner’s circle.

The $109,500 Shady Daisy, the 3-year-old filly companion to the Cane, was captured by Stacia Hanover and driver Scott Zeron in a stakes record time of 1:49.2.

Sent off at odds of 10-1, Stacia Hanover came from off the pace, flying five wide down the stretch to defeat Bettor Be Steppin (Corey Callahan) and Divine Caroline (David Miller) who finished in a dead heat for second.

The winner is a daughter of Western Ideal-Stolly Up Bluechip, owned by David Van Dusen and Michael Cimaglio. Steve Elliott is her trainer.

The victory was the sixth in 16 lifetime starts for Stacia Hanover, who now has $238,746 in career earnings.

She paid $22.00 to win.