by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Maywood Park

Maywood, IL — Illinois conceived and foaled 2-year-old pacers shared top billing on the Friday, Oct. 3 card at Maywood Park as some of the state’s top fillies gathered for the $43,600 Violet Stake while their male counterparts battled in the $43,350 Cardinal Stake.

Maywood Park photo

Sportsmuffer and driver John De Long rolled to an easy win in Friday’s Violet Stake at Maywood Park.

Both races left no doubt as to who was best on this night as Jessie De Long & the Hamm Family Trust’s Sportsmuffler romped to a 6-1/2 length victory in the Violet while Bo & Pat De Long and Ernest Miller’s Earndawg continued his recent dominance of his division with a devastating 4-1/2 length romp in the Cardinal.

Taking advantage of a perfect pocket sitting journey as Luvniecestopieces (Ryan Anderson) rattled off splits of 28.0 & 57.1 driver John De Long moved Sportsmuffler to the outside as the field hit the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:26.1.

Fit and fresh as the fillies moved around the final bend the Jessie De Long trained daughter of Sportsmaster—Whatthere’smore overpowered the pace-setter as the field turned for home then drew off impressively, tripping the timer in 1:56.3 for her seventh win in 11 lifetime starts. Fox Valley Charm (Kyle Wilfong), who picked up brief cover from the winner turned in a nice effort to be the bridesmaid while Luvniecestopieces held on to be a distant third.

A close second choice in the wagering Sportsmuffer returned $5.00, $3.20 & $3.20 while upping her career bankroll to more than $67,000.

Using the “give and go” to perfection in the Cardinal Stake driver Todd Warren allowed entry mate King Of The Swamp (Ridge Warren) to grab command through a quick opening split of 27.2.

Sweeping back to the top after the opening panel Earndawg proceeded to pace through fractions of 57.2 & 1:26.2 while keeping Lucpark (Dave Magee) hung on the outside. With the difficult trip finally taking a toll on that one, the Roger Welch trained son of Sportsmaster—Pacific Sister K simply sprinted away from the rest of his rivals leaving them in his wake as he cruised under the wire in 1:55.4 for his fifth win in 12 tries this season. King Of The Swamp followed the winner all the way but was simply second best on this night while C Note (Travis Seekman) shook loose late to finish third, 8-3/4 lengths behind the winner.

This year’s Orange & Blue champion may have put a stamp on divisional honors with Friday’s win as he now boasts a record of 5-2-2 in 12 starts with earnings of more than $141,000. Bet as though defeat was out of the question the Welch trained coupling returned $2.20, $2.40 & $2.10.