Worldly Hanover rallies, upsets in Keystone Classic
September 25, 2018,by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows
Washington, PA — Trailing by 10 lengths at the half, Worldly Hanover unleashed a powerful three-wide move into the final turn that carried her to a 10-1 upset in Tuesday’s (Sept. 25) $75,700 Keystone Classic at The Meadows. Megadolce took the other division of the stakes event for 3-year-old trotting fillies.
Chris Gooden photo
Worldly Hanover was one of two Keystone Classic winners on Tuesday at The Meadows.
Worldly Hanover was racing for the third time in eight days, including two Pennsylvania fair stakes with her trainer Harold Brocklehurst in the sulky. But winning driver Bryce Brocklehurst, Harold’s son, indicated the daughter of Donato Hanover and Wherley responded well to the heavy schedule — and the sloppy surface — to prevail in 1:57.1.
“She had a pretty good hold of me the whole mile, and they were going pretty good fractions up front, so I felt pretty good about it,” he said. “My dad kind of raced her easy at Bloomsburg because he knew we had this race coming up. It was a tightener for her, really.”
Super Trump used the Lightning Lane for second, 1-1/4 lengths back, with Donato’s Jewel third. Double R Farms, David Obley and Richard Williams campaign Worldly Hanover, who will appear next on Oct. 6, when The Meadows hosts all eight Pennsylvania fair finals.
Megadolce grabbed the early lead but was shuffled mildly to third before Tony Hall steered her to the Lightning Lane. The daughter of Cantab Hall and Bella Dolce had just enough racetrack to down Bandol Rose by a nose in 1:56.4. The first-over Lima Charisma completed the ticket.
“She felt great. I just had to wait for the passing lane to open up,” Hall said. “The leader looked pretty strong, so I was pretty confident we would have a shot.”
Megadolce now has earned $138,124 for trainer Nifty Norman and owner David McDuffee.
Dave Palone piloted four winners — including three for trainer Ron Burke — on the 13-race card.
Live racing at The Meadows continues Wednesday (Sept. 26), when the program features a pair of rich pool guarantees — $10,000 for the Pick-5, $7,500 for the Pick-4 — as well as a $694.60 jackpot in the Super Hi-5. First post is 1:05 p.m.