by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Balmoral Park
Crete, IL — A compact field of seven state-bred 3-year-old trotting fillies took center stage on Sunday night (September 25) at Balmoral Park as the diagonally gaited sophomores lined up behind the starting gate for the $25,500 Lady Ann Reed Stake consolation.
Balmoral Park photo
Sassy Kat trotted to a one length victory in Sunday’s Lady Ann Reed consolation for 3-year-old trotting fillies.
After a third place finish in her elimination and then a tough luck fifth place showing in the rich final, Donald Huddleston’s Sassy Kat returned to her winning ways as she trotted to a one length victory in 1:58 for driver John De Long.
Perfectly positioned in third by De Long after leaving from post position two, the daughter of Vaporize-Speedy Sahara was content to bide her time as Make It Rain (Robert Smolin) rolled along through splits of :30, :59.1 and 1:27.4.
Popping off the pylons on the final turn, De Long had dead aim on the leader as the field turned for home. The Mike Rogers trained miss then proceeded to methodically reel in the top two, grabbing command inside the sixteenth pole, as she trotted to her fifth victory in 16 starts this season. Skyline Happy (Jared Finn) rallied from far back to be a fast closing second while the pocket sitting My Funky Farkle (Dale Hiteman) was third.
With the victory the ultra-consistent Sassy Kat now sports a record of 5-4-4 in 16 starts this season with career earnings of just over $43,000.
Once again the Pick-4 caused quite a stir as the popular wager with its guaranteed pools and low 15 percent takeout was not hit thanks largely in part to leg one winner Mr Casual who kicked off the wager at odds of 35-1. A 10-1 shot (Love To Run) also helped ensure that there would be a carryover for the Wednesday (September 28) program at Balmoral.
A total of $20,543 will be added to the pool on Wednesday night and it has been announced that the Pick-4 will now have a guaranteed pool of $50,000 this Wednesday. The Pick-4 will be contested on races 7-10 with post time for the opener set for 7:10 p.m. (CDT). The seventh race is expected to go postward around 9:15 p.m.