by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association
Delaware, OH — Driver Ron Pierce vacated the two hole with Mystical Escapade at the three-quarter pole and blew past the 1-5 favorite, Oasis Dream, to win the first division of the $66,232 Standardbred for 2-year-old filly trotters on Wednesday afternoon (September 21), the first Grand Circuit race at the 2011 Delaware meet.
USTA/Mark Hall photo
Mystical Escapade won the first division of the Standardbred for 2-year-old filly trotters in 2:00.4.
The winner is campaigned by Mystical Marker Farms of Indiana and DM Stables of Florida and trained by Jeff Smith. She recorded a 2:00.4 victory over a rain-dulled track. Mariko Hanover (John Campbell) was second and Say What (David Miller) finished third.
Dave Palone and Oasis Dream sprinted clear in the first turn and Pierce dropped the eventual winner into the two hole as the field sped to a :28.3 first quarter. There was no movement after that — until Pierce took the daughter of Valley Victor and the Speedy Crown mare Armbro Orbital off the pylons before entering the final bend.
The victory represented vindication for Mystical Escapade, who looked for all the world like the winner of the $250,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Final in her prior start, on Sept. 11, in which she broke stride with a clear lead in the Red Mile stretch.
“I was very surprised (about her mile today),” co-owner Dean Miller (DM Stables) said. “She raced last week in the Kentucky Sire Stakes Final and she was going a big mile, but got very tired in the end and made a break. She looks like she is going to be a nice 3-year-old.
“Ronnie (Pierce) blamed himself for the final last week. He said she felt really good today and she got a little hot on him last week. He got a good trip with her today.
“He sat behind that horse and then went right on by. It surprised me. I think we will go to Lexington with her. She’s in some overnights or late-closers, and then we will just quit with her (for this year) after that.”
Wednesday’s win was Mystical Escapade’s second in six starts and pushed her earnings to $19,418. She was bred in Illinois by Fox Valley Standardbreds and Nathan Patterson.
USTA/Mark Hall photo
End Of Innocence, driven by David Miller, converted a pocket-trip into a 2:03 victory in the second division of the Standardbred for 2-year-old filly trotters.
Lohmeyer Racing’s End Of Innocence, driven by David Miller, got a textbook garden spot trip and converted it into a 2:03 victory in the second division of the $66,232 Standardbred for 2-year-old filly trotters here this afternoon.
When Lindmeyourvictory (Ron Pierce) moved away quickly from the rail to take the early lead, End Of Innocence sat on his tail until deep in the stretch, where a narrow hole opened that permitted Miller to bring the daughter of Broadway Hall-Pacific Centerfold through to victory. Lindmeyourvictory held on to finish second and Niblick Hanover, who had been third through the early going, finished in that position.
End Of Innocence, trained by Ed Lohmeyer, who bred the winner in partnership with his wife, Dr. Patty Hogan, and Joan Stoddard, broke her maiden on Wednesday.
“She’s been great, but we stopped with her in the middle of the summer to give her a break,” co-owner and co-breeder Patty Hogan said. “She had a filling in a tendon sheath and rather than trying to treat it, we just gave her some rest. She’s always been a nice filly and she’s come back well. He’s (Ed Lohmeyer) conservative. He just likes to get them going and see what he’s got. He takes good care of them. The last time we were here was when her mother won the Buckette. This is so exciting.”
“We are going to take her to the Keystone Classic at the Meadows on Friday,” Lohmeyer said. “Her mother won the Buckette. Her and her mother both wore trotting hopples, but she is better gaited than her mother. (This filly) needed the trotting hopples early on and I could probably take them off now, but why do that?”
“She is bigger and stronger than her mother was. She was a fine-boned S J’s Photo. Tall, but fine-boned,” Hogan added.
— Kimberly French also contributed to this report