In what could best be described as a battle of attrition, James Bafia, Eugene White and Samuel Daddono’s Trot Fudge Sundae wound up toting home the first-place cheque in Sunday’s $12,000 Fox Valley Diva Stakes at Balmoral Park.

With early season sensation Sara The Spy (Todd Warren) making a break well before the start, the field of Illinois conceived and foaled three-year-old trotting fillies was basically reduced to a four-horse race.

That left Little Ms Chrissy (Robert Taylor) to lead the field through pedestrian splits of :29, :58.3 and 1:27.4 while the fillies raced single final around the oval.

As the field reached the top of the stretch, Little Ms Chrissy made a nasty break. The pocket-sitting American Empress (Homer Hochstetler) was impeded by the breaking filly while an unlucky Trot Fudge Sundae (Dave Magee), who was in the three-hole at the time, took evasive action causing the daughter of American Native to make a break. That left Just For Fun (Casey Leonard), who was biding her time at the back of the pack a clear path to the wire. The Robert Taylor-trained miss then proceeded to trot right by the field for an apparent victory while Trot Fudge Sundae recovered nicely to edge American Empress for the bridesmaid role.

Almost immediately the inquiry sign was posted, and when all was said and done, the stewards had determined that the break of Little Ms Chrissy caused interference to other horses (American Empress and Trot Fudge Sundae), thus improving the position of Just For Fun. Since the fillies were coupled in the wagering, Just For Fun was disqualified from first and placed third behind Trot Fudge Sundae and American Empress. Little Ms Chrissy wound up fourth while Sara The Spy was a distant fifth.

The victory now gives Trot Fudge Sundae 13 career wins in 18 starts with earnings of just over $201,l00.

Freshman pacing colts were also in action on Sunday night as a field of seven ICF youngsters squared off in the $6,000 Bingo Johnnie Stakes.

This race was incident free as Bart Seales' good-looking youngster Unlocked made his career debut a winning one, cruising to an impressive win in 1:56.2 for driver Kyle Husted.

Given a confident steer by Husted, the son of Duneside Perch and Miss Major Power swept from fourth to first after watching Fox Valley Nico (Jimmy Daniel) put up an opening quarter of :30.

Pacing along on the front end like a seasoned veteran, the Curtis Rice-trained homebred clicked off middle splits of :59.2 and 1:28.2.

Finding another gear as the pocket-sitting Fox Valley Nico inexplicably pulled from the garden spot for the second straight week, Unlocked left that rival in his wake as he cruised home in :28 to secure the victory. Fox Valley Nico was forced to settle for a runner-up role again while Fancy Creek Mitch (Dean Magee) was third.

(Balmoral Park)