Yo Tillie was not eligible to the Hambletonian Oaks earlier this month, but she will meet four horses from that event’s final – including champ Conversano – when she brings an eight-race win streak to this Saturday’s $250,000 USD Delmonica Hanover, a Grade 1 stakes for three-year-old female trotters, at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

Purchased this past November by Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman and trainer Andrew Harris following the completion of her two-year-old season, Yo Tillie is unbeaten in five starts this year. The daughter of Tactical Landing-Consolidator finished her rookie campaign with three consecutive victories for then owner/trainer/driver Verlin Yoder as part of an eight-win season that included Kentucky Sire Stakes titles at Oak Grove and Cumberland Run.

Over her past four starts, Yo Tillie has won twice in 1:51 and once in 1:51.1. The next fastest victory time this season by a sophomore trotting filly is 1:51.2, set by Conversano when she captured the Grade 1 Hambletonian Oaks at The Meadowlands on Aug 2.

Conversano, trained by Juan Cano, and driver James MacDonald will leave from post three in the Delmonica Hanover and get the 5-2 nod as morning line favourite. Yo Tillie, the 3-1 second choice, and driver Todd McCarthy will start from post seven in the field of eight.

“She’s been doing great and she’s coming into the race good,” Harris said about Yo Tillie, who is ranked No. 6 in the current Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, four spots ahead of Conversano. “Obviously, we respect the heck out of Conversano; she’s a very nice filly. I’m just like the fans; I get to watch this and see what happens.”

Yo Tillie heads to the Delmonica Hanover, which is part of Pocono’s Sun Stakes Saturday card, off a three-length, 1:51.1 win in the first round of the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series at the Red Mile. Her remaining four victories this year have all been by more than three lengths, including her 1:51 score in a division of the Grade 2 Del Miller Memorial at the Meadowlands on July 12.

Her other triumphs this season came in divisions of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes, Reynolds Memorial and Garden State Trot for three-year-old trotting fillies. All were at The Meadowlands.

“Did I expect her to be as good as she is? No,” said Harris. “But at the same time, nothing she does surprises me. I had a feeling she was the real deal and that’s what attracted us to try to buy her.”

So, what has been the key to her success?

“I think it’s just that she has such a big set of lungs,” said Harris. “She’s obviously fast, but there are a lot of fast horses. I think it’s the lungs. She can just take so much more air than most horses. And she’s doing it any way Todd wants to do it right now, so she’s not trip dependent. I think her lungs allow her to do that. She can make a sweeping move and just keep going.”

For her career, Yo Tillie has won 13 of 17 races and banked $642,359.

Conversano will make her first start since winning the Hambletonian Oaks. The daughter of Muscle Hill-Celebrity Ruth has hit the board in all nine of her starts this season, with seven wins, one second and a third. In addition to the Oaks, her victories include the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship and a division of the Reynolds.

The remaining Hambletonian Oaks finalists heading to the Delmonica Hanover are third-place finisher Delaney Hanover, fifth-place finisher R Charm and seventh-place finisher Torrisi. Delaney Hanover, who came home in :26.3 as she rallied from eighth in the Oaks, leads the trio at 5-1 on the morning line. She leaves from post six with Scott Zeron in the sulky for trainer Lucas Wallin.

Also among the field, at 4-1 on the morning line, is 2024 Goldsmith Maid winner What A Bid Hanover. She will start from post two with trainer Åke Svanstedt doing the driving. She was a 1:51.4 winner in her Del Miller Memorial division last month but went off stride in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination and failed to reach the final.

The Sun Stakes Saturday card at Pocono also features the $250,000 USD James M. Lynch Memorial (Grade 1) for three-year-old female pacers, $300,000 USD Max C. Hempt Memorial (Grade 2) for three-year-old male pacers and $300,000 USD Earl Beal Jr. Memorial (Grade 2) for three-year-old male trotters.

Miki And Minnie, the sport’s No. 1-ranked horse, is the 5-2 morning line favourite in the Lynch, which also includes Canada’s 2024 Horse of the Year, Chantilly, in her first trip away from Ontario’s Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Prince Hal Hanover, coming off victories in the Adios and Carl Milstein Memorial, is the 5-2 morning line favourite in the Hempt while multiple graded-stakes winner and Hambletonian runner-up Super Chapter gets the 5-2 nod in the Beal.

Racing begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Pocono Downs. To view the complete entries, click here.

For free program pages from the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association, click here.

(USTA)