by Ellen Harvey, HRC, a division of the USTA

Creamy Mimi (Brian Sears) made quick work of the field in the third and final $35,000 elimination for the Hambletonian Oaks on Saturday night at The Meadowlands, winning by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:55.1.

USTA Photo

Creamy Mimi (Brian Sears) made quick work of the field in the final elimination for the Hambletonian Oaks.

Sears had the daughter of Conway Hall on the move right off the gate, with the 6-5 shot making the lead at the :27.4 quarter. They led the field down the backstretch with Star Gazer (Yannick Gingras) following them, with No Pain No Gain (David Miller) behind them. By the three-quarters, No Pain No Gain was on the move on the outside, trying to get to Creamy Mimi. In deep stretch, she put in a strong finish, but not enough to pass Creamy Mimi.

“She looked like she was maybe going to collar me, but my filly dug in and hung on,” said Sears. Asked which of the three Oaks elimination winners he might drive in the final, as he qualified all three winners [the others being Stage Show and Lantern Kronos], Sears was non committal. “I really haven’t given it that much thought. I’m trying to stay focused on the task at hand.”

No Pain No Gain was second and Prada Hall third. Fourth place finisher Star Gazer did not advance as Celebrity Tribe had higher earnings.

Creamy Mimi is trained by Trond Smedshammer and owned by Marvin Katz and Al Libfield of Ontario.

Driver Brian Sears and Stage Show put on a furious rush in the last few strides to win the second $35,000 elimination for the Hambletonian Oaks on Saturday at The Meadowlands by a neck in 1:54.3, a career best for the daughter of Broadway Hall.

USTA Photo

Driver Brian Sears and Stage Show (2) trotted past One Tough Lass in the final strides to win the second $35,000 elimination for the Hambletonian Oaks by a neck in 1:54.3.

When the field left the gate, the 1-9 favorite Snow White got away fourth, with Tim Tetrick and One Tough Lass first to hit the quarter mile mark in :28.1. Stage Show and Sears followed her second down the backstretch. Snow White and John Campbell edged off fourth place along the rail and were on the move at the :57.4 half. When the field trotted into the turn, Snow White had not yet cleared to the lead and was making up no ground before making a break and going wide out of the race. One Tough Lass got the three-quarter credit in 1:26.2, with Stage Show still at her back and Diana Hall, back from a skip behind the gate up in third.

One Tough Lass led down the stretch, with Sears tipping Stage Show off the rail and urging her on about 12 lengths before the wire to get her past One Tough Lass in the final strides. It was only the fifth lifetime start for Stage Show, who had three wins in her four starts prior to Saturday for owners Arlene and Jules Siegel and trainer Jim Campbell. “She’s an absolute professional, she’d only had a few starts, but she stepped right up and didn’t disappoint. I didn’t train her last year and she was turned out at Mr. Seigel’s farm until January. She was a nice looking filly and the little bit we were doing with her [at staking time], she was good gaited, so we had to keep her eligible [to the Oaks].”

“I wanted to get away as close as I could, sit in and see what happened. When I saw Snow White make a break I thought I could slide out and sit in a hole for a long time. She had some trot down the lane, so I asked her for more and she stepped up.”

Diana Hall was third, with There’s A Way finishing fourth, but not advancing because her lifetime earnings are about $1,000 less than first elim winner Celebrity Tribute. Snow White finished seventh and last. Trainer Kevin Lare said Snow White has struggled of late, “We’ve dealt with soreness ever since her first start and we’re still dealing with it. We’ve been to the best places around and we’re having an issue pinpointing where it is. John (Campbell) said it’s like we were back to square one tonight. I don’t think it’s a crippling injury; it’s not career-threatening or anything. But we’ve got an issue we still have got to deal with. We’ll go back home and do our homework again. She was never comfortable. We know where it’s at; we just don’t know what it is. We can’t pinpoint what it is. We’ve done everything we can do and we can’t find it. All we can do is come back to fight another day.”

Lanter Kronos dominant in 1st Oaks elim

Lantern Kronos, with the services of driver Brian Sears for the first time, won her $35,000 elimination for the August 2 Hambletonian easily in a time of 1:52.4 on Saturday night at The Meadowlands.

Fancy Vacation and Andy Miller got to the quarter first in :27.3, before being almost immediately challenged and passed by Lantern Kronos who was on the lead by the three-eighths mile mark. Those two held through a :56 half and put some ground between them and the field by the 1:25.2 three-quarters.

There were no serious challengers in the stretch, with Lantern Kronos winning by four lengths for trainer Jimmy Takter and owners Falkbolagen AB of Malmo, Sweden. Saorse trotted strongly in the stretch to get second with Louis Baudron, the 22 year-old grandson of Jean Pierre Dubois, driving. Two Nts With Her (Tim Tetrick) was third.

The fourth place finisher, who will advance if her earnings are the highest of any other fourth place finisher, was Celebrity Tribute (John Campbell).

QUOTES:

BRIAN SEARS: Every time you get up behind for a first time, especially with a filly like this who’s got a lot of ability, it’s a learning experience for both of us, but it turned out well. She kind of likes to go along at her own pace, she responded well when I asked her so I feel happy with her. She’s a very talented filly; we’ll just have to see what happens. I’ve been runner-up in this race a few times; it’d be a nice one to win.

JIMMY TAKTER:

Asked about her one miscue this year, when she made a break in her elim of the Miller Memorial. “She came down here from Canada and started racing and got a little too excited. Paul (MacDonell) took her back off the gate and she was a little grabby, lost contact with the horses up front, took a misstep and made a break.