by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — Trailing by nine lengths at the half, Summer Blast took advantage of live cover and blasted through the stretch to win a division of the Whotookwhat, an early-closing series for 3-year-old filly trotters, on Thursday (April 16) at The Meadows. ML Brown Sugar captured the other $15,000 division in the opening leg.

Summer Blast, a daughter of Ilooklikemymom-HM Striking Faith, had won only a fair race in her previous 14 starts and was dismissed at 10-1. But she performed like an accomplished veteran for Dave Palone, riding third-over cover before tipping wide for the stretch drive. She scored in 1:59.4, a head better than Northmedo Esther, in her first start since October. Allthatnabagofchip finished third.

Roy Brown trains Summer Blast, whose previous mark was 2:02.3 in a qualifier, for Daniel J. Miller. The victory was one of four on the 14-race card for Palone.

ML Brown Sugar erased an even larger deficit, making up 10 lengths for Aaron Merriman en route to a half-length victory over Pleasure’s Song in 1:58.4, a career best. Sue’srayofsunshine was third.

The win was the sixth in 12 races for the daughter of Band’s Gold Chip-Corwins Nora, who captured Michigan’s juvenile sires stake final last year. Paul Kennedy, Jr. trains ML Brown Sugar for Paint Creek Farms.

The series is named for Whotookwhat, a 7-year-old trotting mare — still active at The Meadows — who is approaching $600,000 in lifetime earnings.