All victories are memorable, but one of the three triumphs in the $12,600 features at Harrah’s Philadelphia Friday afternoon may stand out a little bit more for one driver.
Michel Heijnen, a horseman from The Netherlands who usually drives only his own small stable of trotters (his previous catch-drive was four years ago), picked up the mount behind a three-year-old filly from trainer Luc Blais and owner Determination – Viva La Deo, a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere out of the $2.2M-winning Rocklamation, a $200,000 yearling. And this was his first-ever drive (in North America, anyway) behind a pacer!
But ignoring all that and any pressure from 3-5 favouritism, Heijnen placed Viva La Deo right behind Ideal In Miracles through fractions of :27.2, :57.4, and 1:25.2, then wheeled her out in the stretch and got the decision by the smallest possible margin in 1:54.2 for the memorable triumph.
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Two $50,000 divisions of Ohio Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies were featured at Scioto Downs on a humid Friday night.
Dragons Lucky Lady proved that she was just that as she cruised to a 1:52.2 clocking in the first split for driver Tyler Smith and trainer Eddie Foulk.
The daughter of Dragon Again notched her seasonal fourth victory from nine starts, upping her 2021 earnings to $58,335 for owners L&L Stables of Springfield, Ohio and William A Hartt, of Carmel, Maine. Leaving the gate as the 4-5 favourite, Dragons Lucky Lady prevailed easily over Babs Jansen (Kayne Kauffman), with She Knows It All (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) garnering third-place honours.
While heavy favourites won in two of the three divisions of the second preliminary of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old pacing fillies Thursday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, the fastest winner upset the favourite – and she came to the race not only from the Stallion Series, but from a second in the second-tier series.
The Always B Miki–Gallie Beach filly Hit Me Up was developed by noted Midwestern Brian Brown, and it was for his barn that she was second, beaten only a neck, by Lyons Serenity, in a first round Stallion Series contest. In sending her east to race for trainer Jennifer Bongiorno, her connections, including owner Joshua Graber, decided to try her against Sire Stakes competition.
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