by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — Despite a demanding journey to the lead, SJ’s Minolta had plenty of pop in the lane as she captured the $29,000 final of the Whotookwhat Trot, a series for 3-year-old fillies, on Thursday (April 30) at The Meadows.

SJ’s Minolta was stuck on the outside past the quarter trying for the front; when she got there, she yielded to Pleasure’s Song. But SJ’s Minolta brushed by that rival in the stretch, scoring by a neck in 1:57, a career best. Allthatnabagofchip finished third.

It was the fastest mile this year by a sophomore trotting filly on a five-eighths-mile track. What makes the performance even more remarkable is that SJ’s Minolta is under treatment for equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a progressive, degenerative neurological disease of the central nervous system that typically impairs coordination. Breeder/trainer/driver David Wade, who owns the daughter of S J’s Photo-TJ’s Royal Tigress with Gerald Brittingham and Kelley Rogers, diagnosed the condition last year and has been treating the filly ever since.

“EPM is a hideous disease that has cost owners millions of dollars,” Wade said. “The difference with this filly is she wants to win, she wants to perform. She has so much heart and desire; you can’t teach that.”

Wade said he plans to space the filly’s races and keep her close to her western Pennsylvania home to accommodate her medical condition, recognizing that many EPA victims don’t realize their full athletic potential.

“She may never achieve that,” Wade said. “We just have to work with what we have. I had her stake schedule set out last July for her 3-year-old year, and I had her going everywhere to everything. In February, I was unable to train her in 4:00, she was that bad. So I cut her stake payments down to the bare bone. I’m not sorry that I did that because I don’t think it would be good for her to ship all over and race hard week after week.”

Classic Bloom took the $15,000 Whotookwhat consolation with a wire-to-wire jaunt for Ed Hensley, trainer Sharlene Dufford and owner Phillip B. Sollon. The daughter of Sebelia-Byes Classic scored in 1:59.4, shaving a tick from her lifetime mark.

In the $25,000 Filly & Mare Preferred Handicap Pace, Osborne’s Gypsy took the overland route on a track rendered sloppy by afternoon showers. Though parked out for a half-mile, the 5-year-old daughter of On The Attack-Myopia’s Mop prevailed for Aaron Merriman in 1:53, equaling her career best. Natalie, assigned post position nine, raced well to be second by a half-length while Jans Luck was third. Eric Hamlet trains Osborne’s Gypsy for Jerome Osborne.

Dave Palone drove three winners on the 15-race card, raising his career victory total to 12,997.