East Rutherford, NJ — Miss Dolce used a well-timed move by driver Vinny Ginsburg to pull off a mild surprise in the second of two $45,000 finals of the Renaissance for 2-year-old pacers at the Meadowlands on Saturday night (Oct. 17).
The Perfect Sting-Beautiful Candy product took the split for fillies from off the pace, winning for the first time in 10 lifetime tries in 1:53.2.
In the early going, predictably, 7-2 second choice Perfect Hope Deo led at the quarter in :28 before 1-2 favorite Perfect Body, the New Jersey Sire Stakes Platinum-level champion, took over well before the half, which she reached in :56.3.
Nearing the far turn, Call Me Crazy made a bold move first-over to get into contention going after the leader, and Ginsburg popped out of three-hole to pick up some brief yet effective cover as Perfect Body went past three-quarters in 1:25.3.
Through the stretch, Miss Dolce was tipped off cover and was vicious for the final eighth of a mile on the way to a half-length score over Perfect Body. Perfect Hope Deo was third.
“(My horse) was really nice and I wanted to give her a shot,” said Ginsburg. “I qualified against (Call Me Crazy) last week and she qualified pretty good, and when I saw her come first-over and I was able to slide her out, I knew she’d get me there. I wanted to get (my horse) out and rolling.
“When I moved her over, it was a little bit tight, and she wanted to go. She got a little doubled up but once I fanned her out, she cleaned up pretty nice.”
As the 9-2 third choice, Miss Dolce, a Joe Holloway trainee, returned $11.80 to win.
In the Renaissance dash for colts and geldings, a race that was conducted before the betting program, Aintmyfirstro Deo won for the sixth time from seven starts, doing so in wire-to-wire fashion for Big M leading driver Brett Beckwith and trainer Megan Scran.
The gelded son of Perfect Sting-Some Renditions reached the quarter on the point in :27.2 and, after backing down the middle half to :57.2, used a :27.3 kicker to record an easy 2-3/4-length score in 1:52.2. Finishing second was Five Alarm Fire, a Dr. Ian Moore trainee who dealt ‘Deo’ his only career defeat in the $150,000 New Jersey Classic final on Sept. 11.
A LITTLE MORE: Mark Herschberger led the driver colony with four wins on the night. … John Urbanski and Rico Robinson topped the trainers with a pair of walks down victory lane apiece. … All-source betting on the 15-race program totaled $1,983,659. … Racing resumes Friday (Oct. 23) at 6:20 p.m.