She might have difficulty equalling the career of her award-winning mother, but Darlinonthebeach will be looking to turn heads in Saturday’s $455,000 Shes A Great Lady Stakes for two-year-old female pacers at Mohawk Racetrack.

The first daughter of Dan Patch Award-winning mare Darlins Delight, Darlinonthebeach heads to the Shes A Great Lady off a second-place finish to L A Delight in her elimination last weekend. She will start the 10-horse final from Post 6 for trainer Nancy Johansson.

For the year, Darlinonthebeach, by stallion Somebeachsomewhere, has won one of five races and finished no worse than third in any start. She has earned $58,785 for breeder/owner White Birch Farm.

White Birch Farm, headed by Michael Parisi, also bred, raced and owns Darlins Delight, who earned $2.9-million in her career and received the 2006 Dan Patch Award for best three-year-old female pacer.

“Darlins Delight was a great mare,” Parisi said. “I’ve kept (Darlinonthebeach) as a future broodmare and I’m just hoping for the best. I think we’ll have fun racing her, but I don’t think she’s her mom. Her mom was probably the best mare my family ever owned. She really was special.”

“I was really happy with her last start. I think she’s going to put in a good mile this week.”

Darlins Delight’s first two foals were colts, both by Rocknroll Hanover, and were sold at yearling auctions by White Birch. They have combined to win six races and $40,498.

“The first two colts didn’t pan out like I thought,” Parisi said. “This one looked a lot different than the colts. The colts were a little short-legged and she was long-legged. ‘Darlin’ was a very small mare, so that’s why I really liked this filly.”

L A Delight defeated Darlinonthebeach by one and a half lengths in 1:54.2 in their Shes A Great Lady elimination. L A Delight, a daughter of Bettors Delight-West Of L A, has won seven of eight races this year and earned $136,359 for trainer Bob McIntosh, who owns the filly with C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings. She has won seven consecutive starts, including a division of the Eternal Camnation Stakes, since finishing third in her debut.

“That one filly (L A Delight) she’s been racing against is going to be the tough one,” Parisi said. “I just hope (Darlinonthebeach) gets a good trip and gets a piece of it. I think she’s going to race good.”

Thatsoveryverynice won the remaining Shes A Great Lady elimination by two and a half lengths over Upside Surprise in 1:54.2. A daughter of Vintage Master-Fox Valley Zena, Thatsoveryverynice has won four of five starts and earned $109,764 for trainer Tony Alagna and owners Alagna Racing and Marvin Katz.

The field for the Shes A Great Lady, with listed drivers, appears below.

1 – Three Dreams – James MacDonald
2 – Albany Girl – Doug McNair
3 – Thatsoveryverynice – Jody Jamieson
4 – L A Delight – Randy Waples
5 – Upside Surprise – Doug McNair
6 – Darlinonthebeach – Brett Miller
7 – Highland Rocksolid – Rick Zeron
8 – Ivy League – Matt Kakaley
9 – JK Fannie – Matt Kakaley
10 – Blue Moon Stride – Scott Zeron

That doesn’t mean Parisi is unhappy with what he’s seen so far from Darlinonthebeach. The filly finished second in her debut and won a division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes before missing a month because of illness. She returned with two third-place efforts prior to her second-place finish in her Shes A Great Lady elim. David Miller drove Darlinonthebeach in the elimination.

“I really thought a lot of this filly off her first couple starts,” Parisi said. “After the second start she got pretty sick on us and it took a while for her to bounce back. She qualified good off the layoff and now she’s starting to come back to her own, I think.

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.