Yale and Legend Of Rock became the third and fourth horses, respectively, to register preliminary wins in the Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund (DSBF) series for three-year-old male trotters at Bally's Dover, taking their respective $27,778 second-round divisions on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

In the second division, Legend Of Rock and driver Corey Callahan stalked from midfield as Delaware Xactly (Jason Thompson) took over after a :28.2 quarter and trotted a :58.1 half. Legend Of Rock then sustained a first-over push to wear the pacesetter down past the 1:27.4 three-quarters and dug in to fend off a late bid from runner-up Royalty Star (Troy Beyer) by a neck to win in 1:57.4. Bucky Highway (Ross Wolfenden) finished third.

Nick Callahan trains Legend Of Rock, an E L Platinum-Rock The Game gelding, who has won five of 22 starts and earned $140,995 while competing as a homebred for Dolly Callahan's Breakaway Racing. As the 6-5 favourite, Legend Of Rock paid $4.40 to win.

In the first split, a non-betting pre-card race, Yale (Art Stafford Jr.) controlled fractions of :28.3, 1:00.4 and 1:30.1 before using a :28.2 closing quarter to fend off a late push from first-round winner Melvin G (Tim Tetrick) by a half-length in 1:58.3. Chex Check (Montrell Teague), another first-round winner, faded to third after gapping the pocket on the final turn.

Yale, an E L Platinum-Press Corp colt, competes as a homebred for owner/trainer Stacy Johnson-Stafford. He has won five of eight starts and banked $151,789.

The eight qualifiers for the $110,000 USD DSBF final for three-year-old male trotters on Tuesday, Dec. 16. are: Melvin G, Yale, Chex Check, Legend Of Rock, Royalty Star, Wolfpack Cheddar, Bucky Highway and Delaware Xactly.

Sophomore pacing fillies conclude the preliminary stage of their DSBF series on Wednesday, with 24 entrants split into three $20,000 USD divisions, carded as Races 2, 3 and 6 on a 15-race card at Bally's Dover. First post is 4:30 p.m.

(DSBF)