Queen Of The Pride made quite a 2019 debut at Miami Valley Raceway on Friday night (April 12). The three-year-old Ohio-sired daughter of McArdle, a winner of $367,229 at age two, paced the fastest mile in North America thus far this year by a sophomore filly.

The stunning victory behind the defending Ohio Sires Stakes champion was one of four on the program for driver Tony Hall, a southwest Ohio native who originally honed his craft at old Lebanon Raceway, but is now a regular at The Meadows in western Pennsylvania.

Hall sent Queen Of The Pride directly to the front in the first of two $15,000 James K. Hackett Memorial eliminations to whittle the field down to nine for the $40,000 championship tilt next Friday.

The classy lass cruised through fractions of :27.3, :56 and 1:23.2 before sealing the deal in 1:51.4. Rylee Roo (Aaron Merriman) sat a cozy pocket most of the mile and finished a strong second, while Final Offer (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), Giggles In Dreams (Shawn Barker II) and Bad Sammie (Brett Miller) were next across the finish line to qualify for the final.

Frank Chick owns Queen Of The Pride and entrusts the training duties to Kevin Lare.

High Reward (Wrenn Jr.) was a 2-1/4 length winner of the second Hackett heat, topping Avaline Hanover (Chris Page) and trainer Brian Brown stablemate Carmen Ohio (Ryan Stahl) in 1:52.4. Also joining the championship fray will be fourth-place finisher Officially My Way (Jason Thompson). The winning daughter of Yankee Cruiser, owned by Country Club Acres Inc., Joe Sbrocco and L&H Management Services, won just one race as a freshman but banked $129,897 in nine starts.

Up Front Flor Ida (Brett Miller) was a repeat winner in the $20,000 Mares Open on the Friday night card. The razor sharp four-year-old daughter of Woodstock is now five-for-seven in the win column in 2019 and has earned over $50,000 already this season. The heavily-bet favourite was just a neck better than Rosemary Rose (Page) with Golden Paradise (Wrenn Jr.) nabbing the show spot. Tim McKoy conditions Up Front Flor Ida for owners Kevin McKinney and Virginia McKoy.

Besides the 1:51.4 national season’s mark that Tony Hall hung on Queen Of The Pride, his other wins came behind Mr McDreamy (1:52.4) in a $12,500 claimer, Always About Farah (1:51.4) in a high condition class for mares, and Mikey Hanover (1:54.3) in an optional $15,000 claiming trot event.

(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)