by Steve Wolf, director of marketing, Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — I Am Nasty is the overwhelming favorite to win the $12,100 final of the Seminole Pacing Series at Pompano Park on Friday. But the undefeated two-year-old Florida-bred filly still has to live with her name, which is no way indicative of her demeanor.

“She (I Am Nasty) is a petite, beautiful little filly,” said trainer Dan Hennessey. “But by no means does she live up to her name. She is a pleasure to work around, a little on the smallish side for a race horse, but she is a bundle of dynamite when she races.”

Bred and owned by Craig McEvoy of Casselberry, Florida, I Am Nasty is sired by Scoot Outa Reach, from the No Nukes mare Nasty Nukes. Last week, in the final preliminary round of the Seminole Pacing Series, I Am Nasty posted an easy two and one-quarter length victory in a lifetime best 1:58.4 clocking for the one mile race and has been installed as the 6-5 morning line favorite in Friday’s Seminole Final. She will be driven from post five by Dan’s brother, Wally Hennessey.

“It’s an oxymoron the way this filly was named,” Dan Hennessey explained. “Her mother is named Nasty Nukes and her full sister, the first foal born, was named Nasty As Can Be and she went on to win $148,000 with a record of 1:53.1 and was a good stakes winning mare. But she was really a nasty filly. She would bite and kick and needed a special caretaker to handle her. She most certainly lived up to her name. But in keeping with the naming cycle, Craig McEvoy named this filly I Am Nasty although it is not befitting her at all.”

Hennessey gives most of the credit for I Am Nasty’s early success to trainer Ray Van Dreason, who first broke the filly to racing and trained her down to going a mile in 2:15 before handing her over to the Hennessey Stable to start her racing career.

“Ray does a superb job with young horses,” Hennessey explained. “He also broke and trained her sister, Nasty As Can Be, and she turned out to be a stakes winner, just as he has done with I Am Nasty. And I think that this little filly is going to do very well in her career despite her name.”

After the final of the Seminole Pacing Series on Friday, I Am Nasty will be prepped for the upcoming Florida-bred Sires Stakes, where if she can continue her winning ways and capture the finals of the four major Florida Sires Stakes events, will be eligible for the $100,000 bonus award offered by the Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association and Pompano Park.