by Karen Briggs, WEG media

Toronto, ON — Striking Pockets struck with authority in the C$20,000 second leg of the Lifetime Dream Trotting Series on Monday night (Jan. 14), setting herself up for a possible sweep of the three-part series.

Striking Pockets held off Winnie The Who in their division of the Lifetime Dream Series.

The daughter of Striking Sahbra-Bisou Francais enjoyed a perfect second-over trip under the guidance of Rick Zeron, to overtake a tenacious Tymal Francesca in the stretch and surge to the wire in 1:57.2. A gutsy late rush from Winnie The Who (Paul MacDonell) came up a neck short, while Psyche Unseen came from well out of it to grab third.

“She’s getting confident and she’s getting stronger, too. She’s getting to be more of a mare than a filly now,” said Zeron. “I was happy Jody (Jamieson, with Dynamic Lavec) stepped out in front of me down the backstretch instead of me coming first-up and having to fight them off, because if I’d had to come first-up then Paul (MacDonell, with Winnie The Who) probably would have come on my back and beat me at the wire. I would have had to use my mare up a little too much. I was dragged to the head of the lane and she was good from there.”

Striking Pockets is trained by Daniel Martin for the M T Pockets Stable of Pompano Beach, Florida.

New Image Media photos

Lovely Louann was a 1:58.3 winner in the Lifetime Dream Series opener.

In the first split, favored Southwind Renata made a break before the gate and was never a factor, leaving the Tony O’Sullivan trainee, Lovely Louann, to romp to a 1-1/2 length front-end victory over Matriarch and Fighting Filly in 1:58.3.

The chestnut daughter of Valley Victor, who was second to Southwind Renata in the first leg of the Lifetime Dream a week ago, now has three wins in 26 starts, and a bankroll of $57,197 for owners L And L Devisser LLC of Holland, Michigan.

Driver Chris Christoforou remarked, “I thought Jody (Jamieson) might come back around with Fighting Filly, but I didn’t see him so I just kept going. They cut pretty decent fractions out, and my filly raced quite well. She’s versatile. She can race from anywhere, and she proved that tonight. Last week, she was more off the pace, tonight she was on the front, and she raced well both times.”

The C$55,200 Lifetime Dream Trotting Series final will be featured next Monday night (Jan. 21) at Woodbine.