Ideal weather conditions with a sunny sky, temperatures in the low nineties, and a balmy breeze of 10 miles per hour coupled with a very fast track set the stage for the Illinois Department of Agriculture sponsored Violet and Cardinal stake events for ICF 3-year-olds of both gaits at Springfield on Friday (June 21).

Driver Mark Athearn and trainer Gretchen Athearn swept a pair of Maine Sire Stakes trotting events on Friday at Cumberland Raceway, recreating a similar instance last season where the same two youngsters won their stakes debuts on the same day.

With three races on the card Friday night, the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Drivers Club races went back to their norm, with favorites losing in all three races.

Santafe’s Appetite completed a three-race sweep of the TrackMaster Series for female pacers with a rating of 76.5 or less Friday night at The Meadowlands by using her usual late-closing kick.

Stepabovetherest (Braxten Boyd) and Tarrific (Jason Bartlett) each set the track record (1:49.4) for sophomore fillies getting wins in the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) for 3-year-old pacing fillies at Vernon Downs on Friday (June 21).

Beginning to harken back to her record-setting form of 2023, the Heston Blue Chip filly Odds On Hail Mary paced to her second victory in a row Friday (June 21) afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, capturing the featured $13,000 distaff handicap in 1:50.4.

A softer test and an inside post was the perfect recipe for Muskingum ($2.90) as the lone mare in the field showed the gentlemen how it is done by taking the $9,000 trot at Buffalo Raceway on Friday afternoon (June 21). She beat Spirit Of Success by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:57.4 over the fast track.

The Ohio 2-year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year has started defense of her title with a bang. She has won all four of her starts earning just under $100,000.