Miss Tezsla, who reached the final of the prestigious James Doherty Memorial, showed her class to a Pennsylvania Stallion Series field Monday at The Meadows when she rolled to victory in a stakes-fastest 1:57.3.
The $100,000 event for freshman filly trotters was contested over five divisions, with Rose Run Reanna, Goodtogo Hanover, Thisladysdynamite and Ardwyn Hanover taking the other splits. Blake MacIntosh enjoyed a trainer/owner double with Rose Run Reanna and Thisladysdynamite.
After finishing second in her Doherty elimination, Miss Tezsla broke stride in the $389,450 final and finished ninth. But her placement in the Doherty shows how highly her connections — trainer Jimmy Takter and owners Christina Takter, John Fielding, Jim Fielding, Brixton Medical and Herb Liverman — regard her.
“She probably could go in the sires stakes, but Jimmy likes to win,” said winning driver Dave Palone. “No one evaluates his horses better, and no one places them in spots better than Jimmy. When the connections are confident, I’m confident.”
On Monday, the daughter of Andover Hall-Filly At Bigs quarter-poled to the lead and toyed with the field thereafter, downing Twice A Night by 4-1/2 lengths. Ameliosi earned show.
Fresh from a third-place finish in the Pure Ivory final at Mohawk, Rose Run Reanna moved determinedly first over for David Miller and, though snaky in the stretch, wore down the leader, Lady Athens, to capture her maiden victory in 1:58.2. Move Over Darling rallied for second, while Lady Athens saved show.
“She has talent, but she’s had troubles breaking,” said MacIntosh of the daughter of Explosive Matter-Excusez Moi, a bargain yearling acquisition at $9,000. “We made some equipment adjustments on her, and she’s reacted well to them. Now, we have to get the steering part down and we should be okay. She has a sore on her mouth, and the bit we have on her is a little severe. Because she gets a little aggressive, we have to leave it on. In a couple weeks when she calms down a bit, we’ll switch the bit.”
Goodtogo Hanover, who had raced at or near the front in her five previous starts, rated kindly — more or less — for Brian Zendt and moved first over to victory in 1:58.2, 1/2 length ahead of Turn The Paige. I Luv Blackhawkred completed the ticket.
“I had my hands full just to sit where I was at,” Zendt said. “She’s been used to front-running, and that didn’t work the last couple starts. She was getting tired and sour, so I wanted to race her out of a hole. She was good about it. She thought about pulling up down the backside, but when they turned for home, she was game to go after the horse on the lead.”
Bill Zendt trains the daughter of Explosive Matter-Grammy Hall and owns with Gary Saul.
In the $20,000 Preferred Handicap Trot, Tall Cotton made it four straight, despite a parked-out opening panel, when he triumphed in 1:53.2 for Palone, trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Edwin Gold and Howard Taylor. Major Athens was second, two lengths in arrears, while the first-over Tamarind finished third.
With the victory, the nine-year-old Revenue S-B Cor Peatra gelding soared over $700,000 in career earnings.
Tuesday’s program at The Meadows features the Delmonica Hanover, a $205,840 PA Sires Stake for two-year-old filly trotters. First post is 12:55 p.m.
(The Meadows)