Dover, DE — A two-time Delaware Standardbred Breeders’ Fund (DSBF) champion in his rookie season, Melvin G kicked off the December DSBF series for 3-year-old male trotters at Bally’s Dover in victorious fashion with an easy 1:57.2 score in the first of two $20,000 first-round preliminary events on Tuesday (Dec. 2).
Making just his second start since April, Melvin G and driver Tim Tetrick floated forward at race’s outset and ended up third as Wolfpack Cheddar (driven by Pat Berry) seized control from Delaware Xactly (Jason Thompson) through a :28.3 quarter. As Wolfpack Cheddar began to widen his advantage past a :57.3 half, Tetrick angled Melvin G off the pegs to begin a sustained push forward up the backstretch, and the 3-year-old E L Platinum-Jersey Punk gelding gained steadily to collar Wolfpack Cheddar with a sixteenth to go and win going away by 2-3/4 lengths. Delaware Xactly finished third.
Les Givens trains Melvin G, a 12-time winner from 16 starts with $212,412 in career earnings, for Legacy Racing of Delaware and Nanticoke Racing. He paid $2.10 to win as the overwhelming 1-20 favorite.
In the other section, Chex Check and driver Montrell Teague — whose MST Racing Inc. shares ownership with Elizabeth Murphy — defeated the first-over Yale (Art Stafford Jr.) and pocket rival Bucky Highway (Ross Wolfenden) in pillar-to-post fashion, scoring by three-quarters of a length in 1:58.2. Clyde Francis trains the Iron Mine Bucky-Judy Luns gelding, who has won five times in his career and paid $8.40 to win as the 3-1 third choice.
Sophomore pacing fillies commence their DSBF series on Wednesday (Dec. 3), with 24 entrants split into three $20,000 first-round events, carded as races 5, 8 and 10 on a 15-race program at Bally’s Dover. First post is 4:30 p.m. (EST).